The portrait of my parents is a complicated one, but lovingly drawn.

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

A good home must be made, not bought.

It troubles me that people speak about writing for money as ugly and distasteful.

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.

The vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what I've written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval.

Nothing like being visible, publishing one's work, and speaking openly about one's life, to disabuse the world of the illusion of one's perfection and purity.