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

A haunting, harrowing punch to the heart, Among the Missing is flat-out brilliant. About the secrets we keep, the lives we are desperate to live, and….

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 tr….

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

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 anyt….

A product name has to be specific. You know that Tasty Soup is tasty - that Hot Chips will burn off the roof of your mouth..

E-readers are changing the way we read, and the author is now required to get out there and be a kind of showman, an unlikely role for introspective ….

I've always had a clear sense that time is short and we need to live as fully as we can in every moment..

I think it's crucial to live, play and work passionately. I'm inspired by my husband, my son and the sense of possibility in the world..

I think the Internet has made things a lot easier. Twitter and Facebook let you really connect to your readers effortlessly!.

I think my stubbornness has served me well. I just knew at an early age what I wanted to do and I was determined to be able to make it happen, no mat….

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

I just love that feeling of being in another world, of creating characters and watching where they go..

I really want to go into the future 500 years and be a quantum physicist. Not only would I get to see all the incredible inventions I know will be ou….

People love stories. They need stories..

I write about the things that haunt or obsess me..

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

I have to admit that many of the relationships I write about are destructive, but that's the yin to the yang of a good relationship. Maybe you have t….

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

My first husband was a serial cheater..

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