I wouldn't change anything. I think that it's important to let things happen and stay 'happened'. I think that's all part of the learning curve part of fate. I'm just glad that it happened.

In this business if you take too long the landscape changes. So the opportunities that were there when I decided to take a break weren't there when I came back. It's like 'Wait a second - what happened here?' It was a real learning experience. I've paid my dues I will tell you that.

We have now under President Obama's leadership had 29 months in a row of private sector job growth. That stretch of positive private sector job growth hasn't happened since 2005. We still have a long way to go but we are moving in the right direction.

What happened with Hurricane Katrina was the American electorate was forced to look at what lay behind the veneer of chest-beating. We all saw the consequences of having terrible government leadership.

It's extremely hard for athletes to accept what's happened to them sometimes. It's hard to be beaten by a small margin and I've spoken with athletes who for years afterward have been tormented by the knowledge that had they done something ever so slightly different they could have been one-ten-thousandth of a second quicker.

The beautiful thing about my intelligence is that it doesn't really come in one specific department. So even if something hasn't happened to me I have information on how to get you through whatever you may be going through.

Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.

Heaven knows I've exposed myself in my novels through the use of fantasy and imagination... now my new book is about what really happened to me... not my heroines.

Some stories are true that never happened.

The best thing that ever happened to me is that nothing happened in writing. I ended up working for engineering companies and that's where I found my material in the everyday struggle between capitalism and grace. Being broke and tired you don't come home your best self.