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

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.

The decision was too important to make lightly without more prayer.

Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task - people change, they drift apart, they move on.

I couldn't unpeach the peaches.

There is nothing more attractive than a nice smile

There must be a way to get more of these in me faster, thought the inventor of pea soup as he sat eating peas.

You cannot stop. If there is a concrete wall in front of you, you have to go through it. You can never, ever give up or even think in terms of giving up.

I've always prided myself in not reveling in past accomplishments and focusing on future achievement, instead. That's been my career motto.

I've been thinking a lot about next year, which will be the first time in 25 years that I don't have a child at home.

I'd rather be smart than a movie star.

True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share.