Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.

If there's anything Trollope novels always take seriously, it is money - how it flows from one character to another, how it is managed, who has it, who deserves it, and what it means to a character, male or female.

Your sons weren't made to like you. That's what grandchildren are for.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake up in terror in a way that I would never wake up while working on a novel.

With any novel that you begin, you can't foresee how difficult or easy it's going to be, and you can't really prepare yourself. You just have a take it one step at a time and know that it's all right to keep going - you can always fix it.

My great fear is not that I'll run out of ideas. It's that I'll run out of time.