We have all come from a woman in some fashion.

I've spent many hours of my life browsing in stores. At 21, I admired clothes I couldn't afford. At 30, I bought them. At 40, I sometimes go simply for the pleasure, of seeing what is new, of learning what counts as beautiful now.

If writing really is empathy, then understanding your place in society might actually help you achieve it.

Summer is meant to be for travel, for exploration, for leisure, but sometimes budgets and schedules dictate otherwise.

My mother's parents died when I was quite young, so I would like to be able to go back and know those people as an adult.

You should be waking up and being excited about what you're going to do today, and your friends and your family, and what you're going to achieve in life.

My working life has always been wrapped up in doing my job to the best of my abilities and doing the best for my family. It is not a contest between the two.

The orphan in children's literature allows the child protagonist to move the story forward themselves. I think that, however happy a family, every intelligent child thinks: 'How did I come to be born to these parents?' - it is about finding your place in the world.