I grew up in a household of women, they ran the show, they kept it all together. I credit my ability to write in female voices, as well as male, with having grown up with older sisters in a neighborhood largely populated by girls.

So many bad things have happened to them that they can't trust the good things. They have to shove them away before someone can get it back.

I work hard, do my best and send it out to the world hoping that people can relate to it. I accept any reaction and hope they think it is worth reading.

Dialogue comes naturally to me and I can hear the characters' voices in the scenes.

Look, don't just stare at the pages," I used to tell my students. "Become the characters. Live inside the book.

The greatest griefs are silent.

Love grows from the rich foam of forgiveness, mongrels make good dogs, and the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.