Privileged people don't march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy.

Shame was an emotion he had abandoned years earlier. Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it.

Writing was not a childhood dream of mine. I do not recall longing to write as a student. I wasn't sure how to start.

There are few writers who, if they publish anything, I am going to buy it: Ian McEwan, Scott Turow, Pat Conroy - he was a buddy of mine and I always read his stuff. Also: Harlan Coben, Elmore Leonard, John Le Carre, but he's pushing ninety.

The mother of a trophy wife is not automatically a trophy mother-in-law.

I've written 17 novels, and I've found out that fiction can't keep up with real life.

I earned my first steady paycheck watering rose bushes at a nursery for a dollar an hour.