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.

I have faith in human beings. I struggle with that faith.

Beauty, you can find it here if you look hard enough.

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.

I always think I know the way a novel will go. I write maps on oversized art pads like the kind I carried around in college when I was earnest about drawing. I need to have some idea of the shape of the novel, where its headed, so that I can proceed with confidence. But the truth is my characters start doing and saying things I don't expect.

And I know I'm supposed to feel guilty for wanting people to buy my books... and books in general? Novels and poetry, they belong to the realm of art. How dirty of us to try to hawk art! But, after a decade of hand-wringing and apologies, I can't quite muster the guilt anymore.

The intricacy of plotting a thriller is akin to writing formal poetry.