She thought of what it would be like to grow up without the one certainty that every baby deseved - when I'm hurt or cold or scared, someone will come and care for me - and how that absence could warp you so that you'd lash out at the people you loved, driving them away when all you wanted to do was pull them closer.

I'm not cut out to be a famous person; I can't do my hair and makeup well enough.

You should be concerned about the state of your soul, not the state of your bank account.

We dated in our early 20s, when we were working at the same newspaper. We broke up, got back together and broke up again. I wanted to get married and have kids, but he wasn't ready. So I married someone else, had my daughters and the marriage ended ... and there was Bill. He'd never gotten married and was finally, finally ready. We discovered that we were still each other's favorite people to talk to.

I wonder if novels work for women because they give us a safe place to talk about our ish.

People say I'm not good at writing about men. My dad left when I was 16. Give me a break. I'm doing the best I can.

My publisher feels that my readers are loyal to the voice of my stories, the characters I'm creating.