Diane Johnson — American Novelist born on April 28, 1934,

Diane Johnson is an American-born novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living abroad in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Persian Nights in 1988. Born in Moline, Illinois, Johnson's recent books include Lulu in Marrakech, L'Affaire, Le Mariage, and Le Divorce, for which she was a National Book Award finalist and the winner of the California Book Award gold medal for fiction. Her memoir Flyover Lives was released in January 2014... (wikipedia)

Not having to own a car has made me realize what a waste of time the automobile is.
A novel's whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.
A chaplain's biggest gift is to be present and just listen.
Women have the feeling that since they didn't make the rules, the rules have nothing to do with them.
But novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it.