I wanted to make sure that the man who found the genie would not take terrible advantage of her, so he needed to be a person of integrity and honor - which is why I made the male lead an astronaut. The rest, as they say, is history.

Womens value has been under-recognized for far too long.

The part of my writing I find the most rewarding is when people write to me or speak to me in public to tell me how his or her life has been changed by my books.

Because there was a hunger in me to see everything and do everything. I wanted to be everyone I saw. I wasn't enough for me. Can you understand that?

When you write a movie, you have a hundred collaborators. But when you write a novel, it's yours.

The fact that my female characters have strong personalities but are also physically attractive probably reflects the women I've known in my life.

you are my sun, and if the sun went out, the shadow would die.