One of the reasons I write in different genres is that I get to have the feeling - even fleetingly - that I'm not just writing like Baggott again. I can escape myself.

My childhood was marked by the great fear of nuclear holocaust. We practiced our Civil Defense Drills, lining up in hallways, curled to the floor, but we knew we'd die or, worse, survive only to suffer radiation and slow death.

I want to keep looking at ways to stride forward with positivity.

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.

As a writer, my main objective is to tell the story urgently - as if whispering it into one ear - and to know the characters intimately.

I believe that one of the most damning things about our culture is the adage to never talk religion and politics. Because we don't model this discourse at the dinner table and at Thanksgiving, we don't know how to do it well and we're not teaching our children about the world and about how to discuss it.

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.