I did indulge myself in a lot of history reading, to inform myself as to who the real woman was. As far as other actresses’ portrayals, though, I tried to stay clear. It muddles your process, I find.

I love all history because it’s storytelling. But, I will always have a special place in my heart for the Tudor dynasty.

Writers are great lovers. They fall in love with other writers. That's how they learn to write. They take on a writer, read everything by him or her, read it over again until they understand how the writer moves, pauses, and sees. That's what being a lover is: stepping out of yourself, stepping into someone else's skin.

Have you murdered anyone in the last day, week, month, year, decade? Probably not. Then don't worry about it. Give yourself a break. You're probably a really fine person.

Our minds hurtled outward in all directions. We became absurdly creative, Homo artifactus, intolerant of bare cave walls and naked clay pots.

I did indulge myself in a lot of history reading, to inform myself as to who the real woman was. As far as other actresses’ portrayals, though, I tried to stay clear. It muddles your process, I find.

It's fun to come back to the town where I went to school and see all the new Wildcat players