Why did I not know that birth is the pinnacle where women discover the courage to become mothers?

Since 1985, I have written about contemporary Jewish practice and the Jewish community.

The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.

I got nice rejections explaining that historical fiction was a difficult sell. But I kept trying.

The painful things seemed like knots on a beautiful necklace, necessary for keeping the beads in place.

The more a daughter knows the details of her mother's life [...] the stronger the daughter.

One of his tears fell in my mouth, where it became a blue sapphire, source of strength, source of strength and eternal hope.

I tell writers to keep reading, reading, reading. Read widely and deeply. And I tell them not to give up even after getting rejection letters. And only write what you love.

My husband, Jim, converted to Judaism just before our wedding.

One of my great secrets was knowing I had the power to make her smile.

The more I do bookstores, the more people come up to me from church groups. I spoke at Pittsburg State College and had 2 or 3 ministers and book groups from a couple of churches.

The vision is always for the appointed time. Though it tarry, it will not fail. It shall surely come to pass in perfect moment.

Danni was his reward for all the bullshit he'd gone through, the torture, the anger, hatred and the bitter loneliness. She was going to be the band-aid for his torturedsoul.

Trust comes through honesty.

The prospect of being pleased tomorrow will never console me for the boredom of today.

Mystery's a thing not easily captured, and once deceased, not easily exhumed.

Never open a book with weather. There are exceptions. If you happen to be Barry Lopez, who has more ways to describe ice and snow than an Eskimo, you can do all the weather reporting you want.

My departure from Hollywood was described as a walk-out. No one understood that I was cracking up.

I like to prove things wrong.

My platform might be a little bigger than someone else's, but everyone has a purpose. For me, that purpose in my life right now is soccer. There's a cool, personal testimony that goes along with it.

Acting is not a mystery. There's nothing that I know that other actors don't know. We all act, we're all actors, we all know the same thing. The only thing that separates us is experience.