I don't really have special rituals, but I don't try to write fiction unless I have a minimum of a few hours. For me, it takes a while to settle into a mode where I'm truly concentrating

There are so many people who are so much better qualified to write about politics than I am.

I just think that people are complicated, both men and women. It happens that I write more about women.

My boarding school experience was the only thing I had strong enough feelings to write about for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can still smell the formaldehyde of the fetal pigs in biology.

Ironically, writing a novel is not a way to sort out your confusion.

I just write the books that I think I would want to read.