My first novel, 'Compromising Positions,' was a whodunit. The protagonist was a Long Island Jewish housewife who turns private investigator. But she was Jewish the way I was: lighting Sabbath candles but envying her Protestant and Catholic friends' December decorating options.

Susan Isaacs

Yin Wish Wife

There are days where I lose track of time, of place, of everything else, because I've been transported to another universe.

Susan Isaacs

Time Where Very

Being a novelist is the adult version of a kid creating a make-believe world. But unlike a child, a writer of fiction has to come up with a structured story, one that has as much meaning for others as it has for her.

Susan Isaacs

Writer Write World

I wanted to be a cowgirl... But, you know, it was pointed out to me that, you know, growing up in Brooklyn, there wasn't much opportunity... for cowgirlery.

Susan Isaacs

You Wing Win

As soon as someone is coming from New York, I automatically think I have to get dressed up.

Susan Isaacs

York Up Tom

With my middle-class metabolism, the suburbs were where I always wanted to be.

Susan Isaacs

Wit Where Were

Our culture is so celebrity-obsessed that for individuals to show they matter, they need to display their intimacy to fame.

Susan Isaacs

Tim T Show

It's not all 'Jane Eyre' out there. In her sweet, honorable, slightly passive-aggressive way, Jane was as perfect as a protagonist can get while remaining interesting; in fact, she's one of my favorites. But most characters are more morally ambiguous.

Susan Isaacs

While Way Us

I love being a grandparent. I'm one of those you want to avoid - I pull out the iPhone and say, 'Hey, wanna see my camera roll?'

Susan Isaacs

Love You Want

I have such admiration for Whoopi Goldberg as an actress and a general smart person.

Susan Isaacs

Art Who T

It's no coincidence that I began writing the day my daughter started school. I knew everything I knew before I began to write, but I was raising two children and didn't have the time to get to the typewriter.

Susan Isaacs

Time Art Writing

I never failed at anything in fiction.

Susan Isaacs

Thing Thin T

Could there be a cowgirl in my future? You know, I never know what character is going to come and tap me on the shoulder and say, 'Hey, tell my story.' So maybe the next one will have boots.

Susan Isaacs

Future You Will

There is no 'right' way to begin a novel, but for me, plot has to wait. The character comes first.

Susan Isaacs

Way Wait T

It's not that I'm apolitical... In my youth, I was a freelance political speechwriter, which taught me a lot about writing fiction, I must add.

Susan Isaacs

Youth You Writing

Everyone has early fiction fantasies, but it wasn't until my second child Betsy was born that I allowed the urge to write a novel bubble up.

Susan Isaacs

Write Wed Very

I can only write about two or three pages of fiction a day.

Susan Isaacs

Age Write Two

I've had lots of commercial success. I've also had some terrible reviews and some wonderful reviews.

Susan Isaacs

Success Wonderful Wonder

I am married to a happy camper. He's a criminal lawyer who thinks people are inherently good and will befriend him. His father, at 93, is the same way.

Susan Isaacs

Good Will Who

I see myself as writing biographies, the complete story of someone's life.

Susan Isaacs

Life Writing Tory

Style is not my long suit, but I'm really fascinated by it.

Susan Isaacs

Ted T Suit

As for writing novels - it's what I've done for 30 some-odd years. I can't suddenly say I'm going to take up golf. I need something in my life. As long as I can write a coherent sentence, I'll keep at it.

Susan Isaacs

At the beginning, I really wanted to be home with my kid. I was a product of my generation. But in the suburbs, you are very isolated, really alone.

Susan Isaacs

I was always the weirdo who wanted to have an egalitarian service in synagogue and felt I was always going against the grain.

Susan Isaacs

I must have been yearning for some Jewish content beyond my genetic makeup because soon after my 21st birthday, I noticed I was no longer dating WASPs.

Susan Isaacs

We joined a Conservative synagogue. I began learning through engagement, rote and reading. Suddenly, I belonged... well, to the extent that a novelist can ever feel she is part of a group; we may be part of a minyan, but we're not fully merged into the community.

Susan Isaacs

My first novel, 'Compromising Positions,' was a whodunit. The protagonist was a Long Island Jewish housewife who turns private investigator. But she was Jewish the way I was: lighting Sabbath candles but envying her Protestant and Catholic friends' December decorating options.

Susan Isaacs

There are so many different worlds in Long Island. That's why it's so fascinating. Between Great Neck and Montauk, there are 10,000 worlds.

Susan Isaacs

Whether you're an obstetrician or a third-grade teacher or a real estate agent, you know when you're doing good work. You're passionate about it.

Susan Isaacs

Just as you can accept Miss Marple going to tea with the vicar, there's no reason why Long Island can't have a universality to it.

Susan Isaacs

I like to show ordinary people reacting to extraordinary circumstances. It's an opportunity for adventure, and I like women to have adventures. There's been far too little of it with women.

Susan Isaacs

For a novelist, no matter what, it's a complete work, even if it's not published. But if you write a screenplay, and it's not performed, then it's a sad and frustrating experience.

Susan Isaacs

I hate when people say, 'Oh, they laughed all the way to the bank.' That's nonsense because the most cynical, unhappy people are Hollywood screenwriters. They earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for work that's never made.

Susan Isaacs