I think it has as much to do with honoring my own voice as it does with feeling a responsibility to my readers or my daughters.

Head's all empty, I don't care,' he'd sing to me, quoting the Grateful Dead, and I'd force a smile, thinking that my head was never empty and that if it ever was, you could be darn sure I'd care.

Whenever people with money have power over people with less money, you have the potential for exploitation.

I didn’t feel anything but a bone-deep weariness. Like I was suddenly a hundred years old, and I knew at that moment I would have to live a hundred more years, carrying my grief around like a backpack full of stones.

Tell the story that's been growing in your heart, the characters you can't keep out of your head, the tale story that speaks to you, that pops into your head during your daily commute, that wakes you up in the morning.

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

Maybe it was inertia -or worse, fear- that was keeping me in the same place.