Many of my books come from what if questions that I can't answer, things that I'm worried about as either a woman, a wife, a mom, an American.

When your existence is hell, death must be heaven.

When the news you don't want to hear is looming before you like Everest, two things can happen. Tragedy can run you through like a sword, or it can become your backbone. Either you fall apart and sob, or you say, 'Right. What's next?

And the very act of living is a tide; at first it seems to make no difference at all, and then one day you look down and see how much pain has eroded

Not everyone understands how you can spin two lassos at the same time, one of hope and one of grief.

You can't win. Either you have the baby and wear your pain on the outside, or you don't have the baby, and you keep that ache in you forever

Life sometimes gets so bogged down in the details, you forget you are living it. There is always another appointment to be met, another bill to pay, another symptom presenting, another uneventful day to be notched onto the wooden wall. We have synchronized our watches, studied our calendars, existed in minutes, and completely forgotten to step back and see what we've accomplished.