I don't feel like my films are about gender; they are about identity - but a different slant on identity.

I don't know if my films are about women in a kind of frolicking - here's a grab bag of women's issues. They are about women of substance with very particular stories.

In May 2006, I had our son, Calder. I spent the next couple of years learning how to be a mom.

In June 2002, I had just finished 'Laurel Canyon' and decided to move back to Los Angeles after nearly a decade in New York. Post-9/11 New York felt different.

Vicky Donor' dealt with a taboo topic, but it was a family entertainer and not cringe-worthy, which helped make it a commercial success.

I write for kids because I think the most interesting (and most humorous) stories come from people's childhoods. When I was writing 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' I had a blast talking on the phone to my younger brother, Patrick, remembering all of the things that happened to our family when we were growing up.

Between planning family vacations and running away for novel-writing retreats, I've spent much of my adult life questing for the perfect beach escape, renting cottages all along the Florida Gulf and up and down the Atlantic Coast - as far north as Nags Head, as far south as Key West.

Couples need time alone to renew their relationship. They also need to sustain supportive networks of friends and family.