I have had, like most women, a lifelong preoccupation with my weight. My first published short story was a love story between an elderly man and a very young morbidity obese woman.

I feel, holding books, accommodating their weight and breathing their dust, an abiding love. I trust them, in a way that I can't trust my computer, though I couldn't do without it. Books are matter. My books matter. What would I have done through these years without the library and all its lovely books?

How cruel it must be for a man to live past his soul.

Evidence tells that black and Latina woman are more accepting of curves, and that's a good thing.

When we talk about God, I think what most of us mean is some greater thing, some higher power that can help us access our own strength or give us strength.

Winning the lottery is winning the lottery. It's highly unlikely and very unusual.

Now that I live in Southern California, my current world certainly speaks to me, and I sense that my next book will have a more American and southerly setting. But that's certainly not to say I won't be back to Leaford.