I've left the Church - for many reasons that I've written about publicly - but it's still a large part of my identity, and I still have my faith, if not my Church.

I'm a writer of faith who worries about the intolerance of religion. I look at the past and fear we haven't learned from it. I believe that humanity is capable of evil as well as great acts of courage and goodness. I have hope. Deep down, I believe in the human spirit, although sometimes that belief is shaken.

Women are constantly underestimated in our power, our reach, our collective pull.

Writing stories is the habit of lying put to good use.

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 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.

Sometimes the only way to fix a mistake- is to make it twice.