The silence was part of the story I wanted to tell.

I have long observed that the act of writing is viewed, by some, as an elite and otherworldly act, all the more so if a person isn't paid for what she writes.

In the event of an oxygen shortage on airplanes, mothers of young children are always reminded to put on their own oxygen mask first, to better assist the children with theirs. The same tactic is necessary on terra firma. There's no way of sustaining our children if we don't first rescue ourselves. I don't call that selfish behavior. I call it love.

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

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

The word NO, carries a lot more meaning when spoken by a parent who also knows how to say yes.

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.