I'm A Grandmother, And A Mighty Proud

I Grew Up In Conservative Rural Kansas In The 1950s When It Was Expected That Girls Would Not Have A Life Outside The Home, So Educating Them Was A Waste Of Time

I Began Wanting To Create A Detective Who Really Turned The Tables On That Image Of Women, To Know That You Could Have A Sex Life And Not Be A Bad Person. You Could Have A Sex Life And Still Solve Your Own Problems. It Was Eight Years From When I Started Having The Fantasy That I Was Going To Create Such A Detective To When I Actually Sat Down And Came Up With V. I. Warshawski. It Was A Long, Slow Journey To Come To A Writing Voice And Do That Character.

I Always Wrote; My First Story Was Published In The Magazine The American Girl When I Was 11

I Guess I Don't Have A Candidate Who Makes My Heart Go Pitter-patter The Way I Wish It Would. I'm Thinking, Here's An African American Candidate - Yes! And Here's A Woman Candidate - Yes! Why Can't I Get Behind Either One Of Them? Don't Tell Me I Have Latent Sexism Or Racism That I Need To Confront. I Don't Believe That. I Think We Are So Burned By The Current Situation That We Want Somebody That It Isn't Possible To Have. We Want Someone Who Definitely Looks Like The Messiah.

The Rich Are Different Than You And Me: They Have More Money And They Have More Power.