We have to make our own happiness, and we have to make our own decisions and play the hand that is dealt to us.

If you write what you know about, you will always be on safe ground. I am very edgy and nervous about going into territories I know nothing about. That's why you don't find much high finance, group sex, or yachting parties in my stories.

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.

If you woke up each morning, and immediately dwelt on your ills, what sort of a day could you look forward to?

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

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

I once got a huge, expensive flower arrangement from a person I didn't like, who sent it out of pure guilt. It had a hideous bird-of-paradise in the middle, and I thought it would never fade and die. I hated it.