"When dad told me Mr Steptoe had passed away, I broke down."

"Sometimes I like to play the soundtracks to famous musicals so we can all sing along. South Pacific is one of my favorites. Our neighbors must hate us."

"I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long."

"How do you build a relationship when you've hardly shared a word but suddenly share a child? How do you love a daughter you don't see for nearly two years? When does she become your daughter? How does she become your daughter?"

"Kids who are poor often have families that have not really been kept informed about... how important it is to read to your child, to reduce stresses in their life, to use positive incentives and words."

"I spent several years acquiring the obsessive, day-to-day discipline that's needed if you want to write professionally, then several more, highly valuable years studying fiction writing at the University of Iowa."

"Otherwise I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it."