Sitting down with younger women writers and saying, "This is what I do and you can do this" is hugely important.

I do think there's a relationship between a book and a reader that's more intimate, in many ways, than the relationship between an audience member and a play - just by the nature of it being an object that you can have in bed with you and that you can keep and page through.

Art is a way of freezing time, or extending time. ... It's another way to bridge the gaps between us.

What I really value about being a writer is that I can go to rehearsal when I want to, and then, when I need to be at home writing or with my kids, I go home.

Sitting down with younger women writers and saying, "This is what I do and you can do this" is hugely important.

I found that life intruding on writing was, in fact, life. And that, tempting as it may be for a writer who is a parent, one must not think of life as an intrusion. At the end of the day, writing has very little to do with writing, and much to do with life. And life, by definition, is not an intrusion.

It's a privilege to have kids and not live your life in solitude. But we live in a child-hating culture.