Summer in the deep South is not only a season, a climate, it's a dimension. Floating in it, one must be either proud or submerged.

I’ve had a great life, and it all happened because I didn’t plan any of it.

When all else fails, throw a party!

Death stings so harshly, no escape and hiding zone from it.

Writing about people helps us to understand them, and understanding them helps us to accept them as part of ourselves.

If you start thinking about being likable you are not going to tell your story honestly.

I love bookstores. I love the energy in a bookstore and the smell of the paper.

I have always put my own money into Tails of Joy. For years, every time a dog walked by, my husband would say, 'There goes our beach house.'

Even when I am forced to conform - we all are on many levels - that line is definitive. It says exactly what it means: Be an individual, you know? Be yourself.

It's our hearts and brains that we should exercise more often. You can put on all the makeup you want, but it won't make your soul pretty.

The lack of affordable, quality child care is a ticking time bomb.

Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.