The fact that I ended up married to a decent man is still a source of amazement to me, thanks to 'The Women's Room.'

I write books for all age groups - young kids, teenagers and adults - because I get a range of different ideas.

I was always told you're not going to make much money from writing. You can actually do it. Now I've built a really good, big house out of words.

In primary school, I was bored witless by Australian history.

I place value on my family above everything else.

I don't like staying in hotels. I like to be in my own bed. San Diego as a city is really awesome. The only hard part of it for me is that I'm away from my family and my house. But as far as shooting down there, we get amazing locations, and the crew is really, really stellar down there. They are really fun.

There's no need to let your family know the details of what you throw out or donate. You can leave communal spaces to the end. The first step is to confront your own stuff.

To believe that your husband, wife, parents, kids, boss, job, bank account, or body is even partly responsible for your emotions, to think that there are bullets 'out there' that you have to contend with, that there are stressful life events to overcome, is to miss something vital.