There is this notion that the lives of the comfortable-off middle class don't merit being treated seriously and with compassion.

Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn fast.

There are dozens of great American writers who write about the family.

Everyone deserves to be the hero of a novel.

We write to know we are not alone

We read to know that we are not alone.

I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.