Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don't put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn't say in real life.

I try to make my characters kind of ordinary, somebody that anybody could be. Because we've all had loves, perhaps love and loss, people can relate to my characters.

The most important thing to realize is that everyone is capable of telling a story.

In my stories, whenever there's somebody wonderful and charming and bright and intelligent, that's me!

I believed that old people never laughed. I thought they sighed a lot and groaned. They walked with sticks, and they didn't like children on bicycles or roller skates or with big dogs.

I'm pleased to have outsold great writers. But I'm not insane - I realize I am a writer people buy to take on vacation.

My memory of my home was that it was very happy, and that there was more fun and life there than there was anywhere else.