Around the time I turned 30, I wanted to publish a novel

Organizer is kind of a grand term for what I was doing. I answered an ad that the Presbyterian Church of Chicago put up on college campuses. I was at the University of Kansas, and it's somewhat relevant to my life and work that I'm a Jew. But they weren't doing a religious litmus test. They wanted energetic, civil-rights-committed college students to come help them run some summer programs.

The possibility of bringing white-collar criminals to justice is ever receding over the horizon.

When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.

Sisters in Crime now has more than 4,000 members worldwide.

This was a very progressive group of clergy who foresaw the race riots that were going to take place when Dr. King started helping the local civil rights community push for open housing. They were sort of hoping against hope that we could educate kids in a way that could counter some of the racist messages they were imbibing at home. I don't know whether we did any good, but it changed my life in every single way.

Rule number something or other -- never tell anybody anything unless you're going to get something better in return.