Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister, in-laws, and darling nephews.

A horse herd was, in its very essence, the manifestation of the expression 'It's always something.

When I came home for the summer after my first year of college, I told my mother that my best friend and I were driving to California. She laughed out loud - 2,000 miles in a what? Well, my best friend had an old Chevy. What could go wrong?

Not every novel that wants to be a tragedy gets to be one.

I was an only child. I've known only children. From this experience, I do believe that the children should outnumber the parents.

Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.