So this is always the key: you have to write the book you love, the book that's alive in your heart. That's the one you have to write.

What really grabs me is when a reader writes to express her personal story and how a book helped her situation, or her acceptance of a situation she can't change. I read some sad cases in my snail and electronic mail. I respond to all I can, affirming that they are the true heroes of life because they are fighting through adversity and surviving.

I have been through a lot of medical trauma. I was diagnosed with breast cancer .

None of us truly knows what we'll do when the circumstances become so overwhelming and complex that we can't even tell right from wrong.

On TV, stories and events are finalized in 30 or 60 minutes, or neatly tied up after a season or two. The best stories are the ones that force us to come to our own conclusions and to explain why we believe in our conclusions.

If it's possible to send a message from heaven, I'll get one to you.

I am very privileged and honored when someone chooses to read a book, especially a book of mine.