And So, As Generally Happens, Those Who

My Mother's Family Were Full-on Irish Catholics - Faith In An Elaborate Old Fashioned, Highly Conservative And Madly Baroque Style. I Sort Of Fell Out Of The Tribe Over Women's Rights And Social Justice Issues When I Was Just 13 Years Old.

Writing Is Like Bricklaying; You Put Down One Word After Another. Sometimes The Wall Goes Up Straight And True And Sometimes It Doesn't And You Have To Push It Down And Start Again, But You Don't Stop; It's Your Trade.

I Borrowed His Brightness And Used It To See My Way, And Then Gradually, From The Habit Of Looking At The World As He Illuminated It, The Light In My Own Mind Rekindled.

I'm A Praying Atheist. When I Hear An Ambulance Siren, I Ask For A Blessing For Those People In Trouble, Knowing That No One's Listening. I Think It's Just A Habit Of Mindfulness.

I Had Been Afraid Of Breast Cancer, As I Suspect Most Women Are, From The Time I Hit Adolescence. At That Age, When Our Emerging Sexuality Is Our Central Preoccupation, The Idea Of Disfigurement Of A Breast Is Particularly Horrifying.