I don't know when I'm writing dark. I don't know when I'm writing funny or even heartbreaking. I'm always just trying to write it true.

I'm a writer of faith. I was raised Catholic, and I have a deeply Catholic imagination.

I don't have a favorite. I need different genres at different times.

Genres are just bottles for the various boats. The boats matter to me.

But there it is: Everyone is alone, for life, and maybe that's not such a bad thing.

It's not that I bounce ideas off of my children as much as it is that having children has had a profound effect on the way I see the world. They have mined my soul. They've made me a better person and therefore a more empathetic writer.

Our love is our burden.