I write across genres so I see them, more often, as complementary instead of separated by boundaries.

Different genres allow me to not feel so hemmed in by my own voice, tics, style.

Weakness, like not being able to bury the past. Weakness, like not giving up hope when you know you should.

The lessons learned in journalism also apply. Writing for NPR has taught me to cut a piece in half and then in half again - without losing the essence. Apply that to the swollen prose of a bulky novel and you might reveal a beautiful work.

If I'd learned nothing else, it was this: If you want to be a great writer, be a man. If you can't be a man, write like one.

Our love is our burden.

The generation of women who came before us did much of our shouting. They laid the groundwork and now we can be calm and constant and steady.