People with children will know this: when the childcare is over, it's over on the dot. You immediately have to go into child mode; there's no down time.

Your mid-thirties is a good time because you know a fair amount, you have some self-control.

More silence; children's silence, so desperately desired by adults yet eerie when it finally occurs.

Young people understand the world. They should be listened to on matters of politics and world organization. But they know nothing of their own lives.

If you're going to write a good book, you have to make mistakes and you have to not be so cautious all the time.

In my situation, every time I write a sentence, I'm thinking not only of the people I ended up in college with but my siblings, my family, my school friends, the people from my neighborhood. I've come to realize that this is an advantage, really: it keeps you on your toes.