When I wrote 'Home Safe,' I wanted to look at a number of things: the mystery and joy and pain of creativity. What happens when a vital safety net is suddenly removed. The difficulty some people have in growing up. The way a deep love can be as crippling as it is satisfying. But mostly, I wanted to look at the mother-daughter relationship.

I think conflict is one of the things that makes for a good story.

Writing is, of course, a solitary occupation. But for many writers, myself included, it's through writing that we make certain vital connections.

I like my house to feel like a place where I can just lie back and say, 'Ahhhhh, I'm home.'

I enjoy getting things done. My philosophy is the edge, the edge of something. There's where we have to go in local government, in not only the philosophy but the creativity in people around you. They have to go to the edge.

Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. It is a process; it's not random.

The essence of creativity is to look beyond where you can actually see. I don't want to dwell in same place too long.

Shakespeare fascinated me. He hardly ever left the country. His imagination was worldwide though reading.