I don't have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.

I'm mainly an airport author, and if you're trying to take your mind off the journey, you're not going to read 'King Lear.'

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

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 was the big, bossy older sister, full of enthusiasms, mad fantasies, desperate urges to be famous, and anxious to be a saint - a settled sort of saint, not one who might have to suffer or die for her faith.

We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.

My brother married young, and his is the best marriage I know.