The past always sort of haunts us and perhaps inspires us in some ways.

Idea of the generations continuing is really important. And that's interesting to me. I write about families I'm interested in families. Even though I think a family can be just two people or two people and a dog, I really wanted children for that reason.

I find I have to touch what I am working on every day, or a deep-seated dread kicks in that is very hard to overcome.

My first two novels were set in the past, and that freed me up in a lot of ways it allowed me to find my way into my story and my characters through research.

I know publishing now more as an author than with occasional peaks inside those elite offices than as an industry insider. It was difficult publishing a novel the first time around, while working behind the scenes, knowing all that has to happen to make a book a success and to still make the leap as an author.

The world is a dysfunctional place in so many ways. It is unstable. So even though that chaos can be reflected in our own homes, I suppose we have to fight that by creating our own versions of safety, which can also turn into ignoring the state of the world.

I feel like if writers used writing as therapy we'd have a ton of happy writers.

I want to say that, in general, when it works, open adoption is great.

I really don't feel that writing is therapy.

It would be a lie to say that people are coming to adoption with joy at all times. Hope, perhaps, but it would be disingenuous to say that every part coming to an adoption isn't seriously grieving.

I'm a morning person: if I don't get up, put the coffee on and get to my desk by 8, the day has already lost a lot of its promise.

I think publishing's strength is also its weakness. It's got such a rich and celebrated history as an industry. For the most part, publishing people are incredibly creative, business is done based on the strength of relationships, and the product being peddled is books.

I couldn't really experience being an author when I was still working in publishing - I was trying to negotiate being both. Sometimes the knowledge doesn't translate between the two roles.

The birth mother is placing the baby out of love. I still believe that. Well, the ones weve dealt with who were actually pregnant, anyway.

I think that when the world feels safe and secure, we probably feel more that way in our personal lives. What goes on in the world affects us, unequivocally.

Publishing in a way doesn't have a lot to do with writing, and writing doesn't have a lot to do with publishing.