The birth mother is placing the baby out of love. I still believe that. Well, the ones weve dealt with who were actually pregnant, anyway.

People might seem to have a perfectly fine life but inside, we don't even know if they've suffered.

It would be a lie to say that people are coming to adoption with joy at all times. Hope, perhaps, but it would be disingenuous to say that every part coming to an adoption isn't seriously grieving.

I couldn't really experience being an author when I was still working in publishing - I was trying to negotiate being both. Sometimes the knowledge doesn't translate between the two roles.

I find I have to touch what I am working on every day, or a deep-seated dread kicks in that is very hard to overcome.

I wanted a baby of color, to be honest, because I wasn't attached to the idea that I look like the biological mother. I liked the idea of the adoption being clear; it was and is not something I am interested in hiding.

I feel sometimes like a book tour is a slow series of humiliations and that if you're strong you'll come out of it OK.