There is a theme that runs through my work, and that is: the toxic property of keeping secrets.

I believe every one of us possesses a fundamental right to tell our own story.

More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue.

For a parent, it's hard to recognize the significance of your work when you're immersed in the mundane details. Few of us, as we run the bath water or spread the peanut butter on the bread, proclaim proudly, "I'm making my contribution to the future of the planet." But with the exception of global hunger, few jobs in the world of paychecks and promotions compare in significance to the job of parent.

Some literary types subscribe to the notion that being a writer like Salinger entitles a person to remain free of the standards that might apply to mere mortals.

Every child, woman, and man should possess license to speak or sing in his or her true voice.

[On home births:] In a house where there had been three people, there were now four, although no one had come in the door.