My own way of writing is very meditated and, despite my reputation, rather slow-moving. So I do spend a good deal of time contemplating endings. The final ending is usually arrived at simply by intuition.

When I wrote 'We Were The Mulvaneys,' I was just old enough to look back upon my own family life and the lies of certain individuals close to me, with the detachment of time. I wanted to tell the truth about secrets: How much pain they give, yet how much relief, even happiness we may feel when at last the motive for secrecy has passed.

I was brought up to be sympathetic toward others.

I was writing novels in high school and apprenticed myself in a way both to Faulkner and to Hemingway.

Where there must be a choice, a girl will choose Daddy. Even if you are Mommy, you concede that this must be so: you remember when you were a girl, too.

It is important for me to discover the ideal title, for without this title the story or novel isn't quite in focus.

Though I revise constantly as I write, I will usually revise much of the work again after I've reached the ending.