The big dramas that fascinate me are the quiet ones that happen behind closed doors in so-called ordinary families.

I think of myself as a realistic writer, not a creator of soap opera or melodrama.

Growing up in the fifties and sixties, I can only remember knowing one child, ever, whose parents got a divorce, and hardly any whose mother "worked" at anything besides raising her children.

When people ask what I write about, that's what I tell them: 'The drama of human relationships.' I'm not even close to running out of material.

Many women my age have known the experience of giving up crucial parts of themselves to please the man they love.

To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it.

For 25 years, I did take my responsibilities as a pleaser of others sufficiently seriously.