Whenever I write about motherhood - and I write about it a lot - I am drawing on my experiences as a mother and also my experiences as a daughter.

Lately he'd been seen going out less and less, becoming that strangest of animals in a small town: a loner.

She still felt shell-shocked by all of it, numb. Beneath the numbness, though, was a raw and terrible anger that was unlike anything she'd felt before. She had so little experience with genuine anger that it scared her. She actually worried that if she started screaming, she'd never stop.

What good did it do to light the world on fire if she had to watch the glow alone?

Hands down, the hardest part for me is coming up with an idea. I spend about 14 months writing a book, and that's a lot of hours spent thinking about a single project. I simply have to love the idea. I'll go through dozens of workable ideas until I find the one that lights my fire.

The hallmark of my books is the relationships that define women's lives.

Thoughts - even fears - were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.