Can't nothing make your life work if you ain't the architect.

I used to get a lot of letters from prisoners. It used to get on my nerves. Especially family members. Everybody's innocent.

I'm more interested in interpersonal relationships - between lovers families, siblings. That's why I write about how we treat each other.

I try to create characters that I am fascinated by on some level or intrigued by or can't stand.

don't sabotage your own greatness by succumbing to failure!

Don't worry about how pretty (the story) sounds, how lilting it is, and the imagery, and the metaphor, all that. Most readers don't care. It's the people in your book that matter.

I love writing in first person more than third. I have to basically suspend my own world. I don't exist. I'm just a conduit. So I can be eight years old. I can be the mother of a kid that you find out certain things I'm not going to say.