If you have to fight a crowd of boys, it's best to go for the biggest one. That way you won't have to fight them all. The others will see that you mean business and you will win their respect.

I wouldn't characterize my work, however, as directly political.

I think people are sexy when they have a sense of humor, when they are smart, when they have some sense of style, when they are kind, when they express their own opinions, when they are creative, when they have character.

I loved the atmosphere of the dance studios - the wooden floors, the big mirrors, everyone dressed in pink or black tights, the musicians accompanying us - and the feeling of ritual the classes had.

I had some fears as a kid, but I was also relatively fearless. Maybe that's a result of living half the time in reality and the other half in fantasy.

I don't think gender is aesthetically defining for me.

Girls are crazy and mean. They don't fight fair.

A lot of my writing is not terribly civilized.

In the end, my pursuit of the elusive New York State driver's license became about much more than a divorced woman's learning to drive for the first time.

Some girls are taught to be sexy.

How weird it was to drive streets I knew so well. What a different perspective.

There are no rules in fights with girls. Just hurting.

You have to defend your honor. And your family.

Writing is always personal in some way but not always in a direct way.

Writing in other voices is almost Japanese in the sense that there's a certain formality there which allows me to sidestep the embarrassment of directly expressing to complete strangers the most intimate details of my life.