I finished 'Heartsick' with my daughter asleep in her bassinet by my desk, a feat that any new mother will tell you cannot be sufficiently praised.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My last book, 'The Language of Flowers,' I wrote completely on naptime, when my little kids were asleep.
When I was very little my mother would read to me in bed. She gave me a fascination for stories, and for the music in words.
I came out of the womb born to sing and dance. I have to follow my heart.
There were wonderful moments when I was singing for the first time in the Olympia Theatre and I was pregnant with my son, which was very, very strange for a singer.
I came out the womb dancing.
Basically, my mother couldn't hold a tune and when I was a baby, a rather tactless baby, I would ask her not to sing... you can't get to sleep if someone is singing off key nearby.
As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm - this pleased my mother.
It just didn't feel right to let my child scream and holler and thrash by her little self in the dark in her crib when I knew full well that a little rocking in her glider, maybe a song and a sweet nuzzle of her cheek would send her off to dreamland.
I took my daughter to the father-daughter dance, and I cried like a little baby.
The song 'Baby Baby,' I so love that song because I wrote it about my first daughter.