I grew up with sports, but I was definitely not good enough to become a professional athlete - I just loved the storytelling aspect of it.

There is part of you as a female - no question - that feels like you have to be overprepared and outwork the men because people are automatically going to look at you and say, 'Well, you didn't play football,' or, 'You don't know what you're talking about,' because you are a female.

When there is a certain subject matter where I want to get involved, where I think I could add to the conversation, and especially with gender issues, I appreciate having that voice and that seat at the table.

My friends would always joke that I'm 'the grandmother' and 'the homebody' because I can't stay up past nine o'clock, but a lot of that rest is so important for me.

When I start to write, words have become physical presence. It was to see if I could bring that private world to life that found its first expression through reading. I really dislike the romantic notion of the artist.

I love my parents. Coming out to them was sort of coming out to myself. I educated them, and I wanted our relationship to keep growing. I wanted them to be a part of my life still. I wanted to be able to share with them what I was going through.

My husband, after two weeks of dating, asked me, if our relationship were to work out, would I be OK with our first boy being named Ace.

By age 19, I was married to a high-profile, much older musician and was mother to a baby girl. Since then, I've been divorced, been a cheater, been cheated on, gotten happily remarried, and raised a couple of great kids.