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I think that technology - computers and smart phones and 24-hour availability - often leaves me, and others I know, feeling blank and depressed at the end of a day. I also believe that hyped expectations for raising children leaves many women and men feeling as if their days are a blur of carpools and play-groups and tutors.

I'm very aware when I share a stage with other writers that I'm much less driven than they are. I don't wake up in the middle of the night, pregnant with paragraphs. I don't suffer for my text twenty-four hours a day.

Writing never had the immediate gratification I was looking for.

I'm never more miserable than when I write, and never more happy than having finished and having it sitting in front of me.

I used to feel that I spent too much of my time in my pajamas doing nothing, and I'd think 'in the time that I don't spend writing, I could raise a family of five.' In a lot of ways, being a writer is lonely and alienating.

There was a point when I almost gave up. I couldn't feed myself. I couldn't feed my pets.

There came a time when I felt I was not going to be satisfied with life unless I could write.

Obviously, I'm suffering from lack of sleep, but it truly is a blessing to be a mother.