Before we had the kids my husband and I were traveling a lot and working and really enjoying our lives and each other. We both love the theater and books and travel and so we were really having a lot of fun.

Each day as I travel through downtown Tucson I am amazed at how quickly the most ancient of human behaviors have changed. For as long as there have been Homo sapiens - roughly 200 000 years - people have filled their lives principally with two activities: talking directly with other people and doing physical things.

We travel some of us forever to seek other states other lives other souls.

Sometimes overturning brutal regimes takes time and costs lives. I wish it weren't so. I really really do.

I don't have time for their judgement and their stupidity and you know they lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and look at their loser lives and then they look at me and they say 'I can't process it' well no you never will stop trying just sit back and enjoy the show. You know?

People spend too much time finding other people to blame too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being and not enough energy putting themselves on the line growing out of the past and getting on with their lives.

I'm thankful I grew up the way I did. It made me a hard worker and insightful to other people's lives.

It's been quite a roller coaster ride but I've grown and learned a lot about myself. The greatest thing is being able to interact with fans and touch people's lives... for that I give thanks.

Honestly I never thought I'd actually be playing a teen lesbian. I didn't think it was going to go this far. But I'm glad that it did because there have been a lot of fans who have expressed that they've been going through similar situations in their lives.

I take mentoring very seriously and I am on the board of an organization called Girls Write Now where we match teen girls and writing mentors because it changes their lives.