I'm not the kind of writer who's able to block out the world around me. I'm mindful of our own haves and have-nots, how our culture often blames and punishes the have-nots. I worry about our precarious economic and political climate.

Basically if you burst into my office the walls themselves will flutter as if alive - maybe that's the reason for all the wings in 'Pure.'

The basic rule of storytelling is 'show, don't tell.'

Try to think of writing as a gift – more complexly put: it is the curse and the cure.

Writers aren’t born properly labeled so it is hard to know one when one appears.

I’m a woman, but I’ve been a sexist, too.

These are the little things that people should really appreciate, simple pleasures.

I’d always wanted to know what it was like. Happiness.

I’ve either been in love a dozen times or never. I can’t tell.

Don’t shame the young for releasing their pent-up fear.