I wanted to be a cowgirl... But, you know, it was pointed out to me that, you know, growing up in Brooklyn, there wasn't much opportunity... for cowgirlery.

We joined a Conservative synagogue. I began learning through engagement, rote and reading. Suddenly, I belonged... well, to the extent that a novelist can ever feel she is part of a group; we may be part of a minyan, but we're not fully merged into the community.

I like to show ordinary people reacting to extraordinary circumstances. It's an opportunity for adventure, and I like women to have adventures. There's been far too little of it with women.

There are days where I lose track of time, of place, of everything else, because I've been transported to another universe.