Parenthood means becoming comfortable with the fact that there are things outside your control, things that end and fail, just as most utopias end and by some measure fail. And just because they're a failure doesn't mean there isn't value there.

My childhood was as conventional as you could get.

In my totally unscientific yet enthusiastic survey of Communal Experiments Throughout American History, I've discovered that the thing most likely to break up said experiments is: Sex, all that murky, dark, dirty gunk simmering beneath human relations.

In this moment that blooms and fades as it passes, he is enough, and all is well in the world.

Amor animi arbitrio sumitu, non ponitur; we choose to love; we do not choose to cease loving.

But I've married a deeply sensible person who is extremely good at talking me down from my various ledges, and who takes care of me in a billion ways.

I've always relied on producing more material than I need. With each of my published novels I've written around four times the amount of material that's ended up in the book.