I'd known enough flush times and lean ones to understand that money came and went. And that one day I'd also lose my looks, my seemingly boundless energy and maybe the ability to catch the eye of an attractive man and the audacity to Rollerblade. My name would be forgotten. So would bad reviews, and good ones. But loving a child is something that lasts. Long after all the rest is gone, that's what endures.

Those who rhapsodize about the ease and joy of childhood have perhaps forgotten what it's like to be 12 years old.

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too.

I had known there had been a serial killer on Mount Tamalpais, and it felt so incongruous in such a beautiful, peaceful spot.

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.

I compromised my ability to tell my story, at the most basic level.

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