My father is convinced that if I hadn't been a minister's daughter, I wouldn't have anything to write about,

I wanted to do something creatively, having been a beached whale for many months and nursing my daughter.

My father was strict, but he recognised my ability and got a lot of flak from the church for supporting me.

So the first job that I got - my father got it for me - he had his clerical collar on, was a gay bar in D.C., it was Mr. Henry's of Georgetown.

My father was a preacher in Maryland and we had crab feasts - with corn on the cob, but no beer, being Methodist - outside on the church lawn.

The fact that religion plays such a part in how people vote troubles me, troubles me as a minister's daughter. Because I always felt that the separation of church and state was what our forefathers and foremothers really fought for.