My job is to allow the character to live and breathe - and become as real to the reader as he or she is to me.

My favorite book is 'Redeeming Love.' It was my first as a born-again Christian, my statement of faith, and the most exciting year I've spent writing anything.

When we love like Jesus does, lives change for the better.

The goal is to have every character take on a life of his or her own. Sometimes characters will come into the story that I haven't planned.

I want children, but I don't necessarily want to be married because I think marriage is very difficult. To have a successful marriage, you have to work hard and regard it as a job.

Marriage made more sense when it was indissoluble. It's the woman trying to cope with the strains of a one-parent family who will suffer most from the relaxation of the divorce laws.

True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt; its essence is love. It issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper.

Work has been my lover - I've shied away from any commitments.