Writing across genres has made me more prolific. When one is fighting me or simply not cutting it, I turn to another.

I believe we're brutes, but then, miraculously, there are those among us who stand up against that brutishness and remind us of the goodness we're capable of.

The fact is there are many women who nod politely, even agree openly within their male-dominated often highly educated cultures, but vote their own minds.

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.

Don't shame the young for releasing their pent-up fear.

I try not to divide plot and character. I get to know a character by what they want and fear and how those internal forces play out in their lives.

While I was in college becoming a good Catholic I was also becoming a writer - one haunted by Catholicism.