And when I look at my mother, I reflect on her strength and endurance. She's cranky sometimes, but she is lovable and loving. I'd be happy to be there at 86.

I get up around 8 o'clock, which gives me enough time to walk dogs and feed chickens and horses. Then I get to work in my home office upstairs, and basically, I don't stop until I've written 2,000 words and/or the Stephen Colbert show is over.

Even if it's not what you planned, you can make a life for yourself on your own and be happy.

I am an open book, literally. I don't mind if people know way too much about me.

I am really, I think, truly an easygoing, positive, fun person.

I like terrific writing, but I also like a terrific story. My favorite books have both, and they're by contemporary, commercial American writers.

I love the dignity in the name Philadelphia, but at heart, we're Philly.

I still think I'm writing Nancy Drew with a mortgage.

I was a lawyer and I loved it, but my Francesca was born, and a divorce followed way too soon after.

If it weren't for book tours, I would never leave my house.

My animals are a really important part of my life.

The truth is that every writer, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, is trying to write something truly original and that's what I think I'm doing.

Truly I never thought of myself as writing legal thrillers, and I still don't think I do. I write stories about women.

Truth is, every writer has to be a good editor, and you have to edit yourself. It's a skill every writer has to acquire.

You can really help support a character if you understand the setting. So for that reason I generally write about Philadelphia.

You don't have to be dead to write a classic, and you don't have to be literary to be smart.

And wouldn't we be better off if every New Year's, we thought about the things we did right and we resolved to keep doing them, no matter how wacky they were.

Any middle-aged woman knows that our feet are not for the faint of heart, especially in midwinter. I wear clogs, so it's actually like my feet are wooden now.

But the fact is, I'm not work-identified. I'm not a lawyer or a writer. I'm a mom, and I'm a woman, and that's the kind of people I want to see in books in the starring role.

I love everything about Philadelphia, and its food is like the city itself: real-deal, hearty, and without pretension. We've always had an underdog vibe as a city, but that just makes us try harder, and I love our scrappiness and scruffiness.