I am politically pro-choice, but personally pro-life. I have my faith but refuse to force it on the world at large - especially this world, so brutal and unjust. I cannot make these wrenching personal life and death decisions for others - nor do I believe they should be made by a church run by childless men.

I want women writers to write boldly, wildly, deeply. I want them to feel really liberated to tell the brutal truth, however they see that truth and are moved to tell it.

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

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

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'm a woman, but I've been a sexist, too.

You learn to exploit genre for the more important things - to my mind - like story, character, image, language.