Writing let me escape... It let me escape the insistent tug of my family, and its ongoing misery. Sitting in front of the computer, with the screen blank and the cursor blinking, was the best escape I knew. And there was plenty to escape from.

Having a day job again I found really kind of fueled my fiction, because it became almost this forbidden thing where I had to sneak off and do it in private.

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

I'm going to continue writing. I'll always be a storyteller. But I'm also taking time to enjoy my life.

Read everything. Read fiction and non-fiction, read hot best sellers and the classics you never got around to in college.

I think every person who is single should have a dog. I think the government should step in and intervene: If you're not married or coupled up, whether you've been dumped or divorced or widowed or whatever, they should require you to proceed immediately to the pound nearest you and select an animal companion.

I have these "pinch me" moments when I realize I got to be the thing I wanted to be growing up. I'm right where I belong.