I was also known as Frodo because I was an early adopter of 'The Lord of the Rings.'

It just so happened that for most of my life I’ve lived in the suburbs.

Nothing beats novel writing because it’s complete expression of you. You just control everything. Not even a movie director has that level of control.

All she knew was that she’d inflicted pain on someone she cared about, and that always cost you something, even if you were just doing your job. It left you feeling dirty and mean, exposed to the laws of karma.

As for writing about temptation, there’s no drama without temptation, and no novel without drama.

We’re agnostics, she used to tell her kids, back when they were little and needed a way to define themselves to their Catholic and Jewish and Unitarian friends. We don’t know if there’s a God, and nobody else does, either. They might say they do, but they really don’t.

Doesn’t settle for less than she deserves, or apologize unless it’s absolutely necessary.

She knew exactly what was weighing him down: that helpless feeling that you were wasting your precious youth and it was your own damn fault.

I’m used to adapting my novels for feature film – it can be challenging to cut and compress three or four hundred pages into two hours of dramatic action.

Something had happened to him ove the past couple of years, something to do with being home with Aaron, sinking into the rhythm of a kid’s day. The little tasks, the small pleasures. The repetition that goes beyond boredom and becomes a kind of peace. You do it long enough, and the adult world starts to drift away. You can’t catch up with it, not even if you try.