Open adoption, when it works, is fabulous. But when it goes wrong, it's so traumatizing for everybody.

Writers are magpies, and we collect details about people and we use them for fictional characters.

I had a nervous breakdown at 17 when my first love left me, and he was a typical bad boy, albeit a charismatic one, with a string of broken hearts trailing behind him.

Do what you love. Live fearlessly and take risks. Don't take no for an answer from anyone - go ahead and prove the naysayers wrong. Believe that anything can be possible.

I always think that in a big city, anything is possible, including reinventing yourself.

Everyone thinks that a new place or a new identity will jumpstart a new life.

I was a bookworm who aced every test - until third grade, when my teacher handed out a pop quiz about Jesus and the Apostles.

L.A. is a place people come to for all sorts of reasons, often to reinvent themselves, and that fascinates me.

My first husband was a serial cheater.

Never be with anyone you couldn't imagine yourself being able to live without.

People love stories. They need stories.

Knowledge is merely brilliance in organization of ideas and not wisdom. The truly wise person goes beyond knowledge.

Be not deceived God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

Every time I conjure up a rock, I throw it.

Any idea that is held in the mind, that is emphasized, that is either feared or revered, will begin at once to cloth itself in the most convenient and appropriate form available.

Always wear high heels. Yes, they give you power. you move differently, sit differently and even speak differently.

Jesus is our Advocate before God.

The older we get and the longer we labor in the Church the more there is that we can do. There is no need for any person in this Church to have an empty hand or an empty heart.

Enjoy the peace your valor won. Let independence be our boast, Ever mindful what it cost; Ever grateful for the prize, Let its altar reach the skies!

I tend to overuse the word "project" only because "book" is terrifying while I'm still in the middle of something. A project can fail. I don't want a book to fail.

My sister gave me a big bucket of Cool Whip. Isn't that awesome? For two weeks I basically watched Emergency! and ate cool whip with a spoon.