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

I'm a grandmother, and a mighty proud one.

I believe in the dull lie - make your story boring enough and no one will question it.

Live disasters are wonderful attractions when you're safe on the other side of them.

I grew up in conservative rural Kansas in the 1950s when it was expected that girls would not have a life outside the home, so educating them was a waste of time

I believe that to create real-seeming characters, the writer must be willing to go on a voyage of self-exploration. It can be revealing and even painful to explore your own weakness, but it gives you genuine emotion. Characters in fiction come alive because of the believability of their emotional lives and that is what I strive to create.

The hope for a messiah puts too much on that one person. And you think that absolves you of personal responsibility and you don't have to act because that person will do it for you.