I think the spirit survives when we die, and nothing is wasted in nature and just as our material body disintegrates and becomes something else in the soil. The spirit becomes something else, reunites with a spiritual force that is out there in the universe. Not as individuals but as part of this spirituality.

The first lie of fiction is that the author gives some order to the chaos of life: chronological order, or whatever order the author chooses.

In times of conflict, war, poverty or religious fundamentalism, women and children are the first and most numerous victims. Women need all their courage today.

Heart is what drives us and determines our fate.

The pain of losing my child was a cleansing experience. I had to throw overboard all excess baggage and keep only what is essential.

As I travel through life, I gather experiences that lie imprinted on the deepest strata of memory, and there they ferment, are transformed, and sometimes rise to the surface and sprout like strange plants from other worlds. What is the fertile humus of the subconscious composed of? Why are certain images converted into recurrent themes in nightmares or writing?

Fiction happens in the womb. It doesn't get processed in the mind until you do the editing.