I tend to come up with people more than situations - most of my books start with a character.

People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half.

My husband used to take care of the business part of this, and after he died I found I wasn't really any good at it. I hate remembering who owes me what and bugging them if they haven't paid me.

If there is no way out, the best course of action is to find a way further in.

I was the executive editor on a little magazine called Greek Accent, whose only claim to fame is that its art director went on to be the art director of Discover for many years.

Everybody is a True Believer. Everybody has a little nugget they're convinced of that is the opposite of the nugget on the other side. And they're convinced it's fact.

In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned.