Hallie Ephron

When something happens far back in the past, people often can't recall exact details. Blame depends upon point of view. There may be a villain, but reality is frustrating because it's often ambiguous. ”

When you put your characters in a dire situation, they often do things that surprise even you, so you have to go back and revise your original conception of who they are. ”

As we got older, we grew comfortable in roles that met our parents' expectations. Nora was the smart one. Delia, the comedian. I was the pretty, obedient one. And Amy was the adventurous mischief-maker. ”

I haven't given any thought to collaborating with my sisters. It would be great fun. My daughter Molly is a wonderful writer - someday I'd love to collaborate with her. ”

I don't think anybody in my family meant there to be any pressure for me to write. But our parents were incredibly verbal and wrote for a living. The house was full of books, and we all grew up steeped in language. I mean, our mother recited poetry at the dinner table. ”

Outlining is like putting on training wheels. It gives me the courage to write, but we always go off the outline. ”

I'd long wanted to write about that moment when a woman steps off the career track to have her first child. For me, that was a scary time. ”

I'm sharpest early, and though I can rewrite any time, day or night, I'm useless after noon when it comes to writing first draft. ”

I'm someone who sits at a computer eight hours a day, and I look in that pinhole camera at the top of my screen and think, 'Someone could be watching me.' ”