I do not outline. There are writers I know and count as my friends who certainly do it the other way but for me part of the adventure is not knowing how it's going to turn out.

A good home must be made, not bought. In the end, it's not track lighting or a sun room that brings light into a kitchen.

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

It's a great thing when a man knows how to dance, she said. When a man can dance, the world is his oyster." Adele, Henry's Mother

If I told you about all the stories I don't tell, I would be violating the very boundaries I set for myself.

Long after Salinger sent me away, I continued to believe his standards and expectations were the best ones.

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