If I could be more vague I'd write more about people in my life but I hate hurting feelings or making people feel uncomfortable. I've done that before. Unless they're sad songs. Those get finished fast but the mean ones often end up at the back of the bottom drawer and it's probably for the best.

I found out about reviews early on. They're mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That's probably why I'm less angry than some writers who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review even a thoughtful one as major treason.

I like 'Bewitched' off the first album because it's one of the happiest songs I've ever written and as any writer will tell you happy songs are a million times more difficult to write than sad songs.

I think coldness is chic among writers and particularly ironic coldness. What is absolutely not allowable is sadness. People will do anything rather than to acknowledge that they are sad.

It can be really powerful to write something when you're sad.

I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away.

It's sad when you can't make everyone happy though. It's impossible but at the same time you still hope. You think 'Maybe I can do it ' but you know you can't. But gosh if I had to rely on giving people what they wanted I would have had to write 40 billion different books and even then I wouldn't get it right.

I think a lot of people think that my parents' deaths is why I write such sad songs but that's not true. Those songs may just be the woman I am.

As a songwriter I hate this whole 'If it's a sad song it has to sound like a sad song thing.' And that goes all the way back to my days with the Format. I'm an insane narcissist so if I have to get something off my chest I'll get something off my chest.

It's much easier to write when you're sad. But you can end up isolated and depressed because you almost need to put yourself in that situation to have that angst to write from.