“Being a novelist and being a mother have exactly coincided in my life: the call …” — Barbara Kingsolver

The first sentence of a book is a promise.

Most every book I bring into the world is like birthing a baby; it's a lot of effort!

Motherhood is so sentimentalised and romanticised in our culture. It's practically against the law to say there are moments in the day when you hate your children. Everyone actually has those moments.

Every time I step onto an airplane, I turn to the right and take a good, hard stare into the maw of the engine. I don't know what I'm looking for. I just do it.