My books have been translated into various languages and sold in other countries, but I never have any contact with the foreign publishers and am so disconnected from that process that it seems almost imaginary. With 'How to Save a Life', I worked closely with Usborne editors and have been involved in the publicity.

I never had a connection like that to anyone, where every day you think about what you’ll tell them and you wonder what they’re doing, and you know they’re wondering what you’re doing.

The one reader I'm trying to please as I write is me, and I'm pretty difficult to please.

I'm not really a plot writer - I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.

Because love, love is never finished. It circles and circles, the memories out of order and not always complete.

I don't yell back at my mother. When I'm angry or scared or upset, I don't yell. I stay quiet. I've seen how she is, how she would get with Kent and with me and with other people, life if someone at the pharmacy got in the wrong line or asked too long a question, or if someone on the bus accidentally bumped her. I've watched her my whole life, the way people react to her. It doesn't actually help you get what you want, yelling and being like that. It only makes people think bad of you.

I grew up in San Francisco in the 1970s. We were part of a church that belonged to the California Jesus movement.