I think about my goals. There were a lot of times in gymnastics when I really didn't want to go in and train, but you can't make it to the Olympics if you don't train!
You want to try and win as many slams as possible in your career. As a tennis player, that's what we always dream of as a kid, wanting to play slams, wanting to win them.
I'm not a perfect Muslim; I think none of us are perfect human beings. I do the five pillars of Islam, you know, I pray five times a day.
I think being a woman celebrity is the hardest thing in India... People will ask many things, what you wear, how you speak, when you will have a baby and other things.
At the Olympics, you there to do a job. I feel you should take it seriously. You should be respectful. You are putting on the red-white-and-blue and going out there to perform for your country.
When you grow up on camera and in the public eye, you feel you have to put forth this image. I just took that to the extreme and there was a lot of pressure on me.
Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
I've been in international competition, and now I know what the big boys can do. You don't go out and just run. There's an offense and a defense.
When I was training for the Olympics, I didn't eat the way I should have. I missed out on much-needed protein and opted for every easy carb.
I did an internship with Mike (Shanahan) and the Redskins last summer and I knew after a week and a half that it wasn't for me. I think I knew that going in, but I wanted to make sure.
Even though I'm not running anymore, we still have to try to find a cure for cancer. Other people should go ahead and try to do their own thing now.
I usually balance school by doing online classes and regular classes - that has helped me a lot, and I'm able to get my schoolwork done while I'm traveling too.
I’m good when I’m alone. I’m comfortable when I’m alone. I can sit and do lots of things all by myself. Sex included.
You always dream of going to the Olympics and winning gold. I've learned over the years that there are lots of gold medals, but certain stories stick out and make a difference.
My preferred style is to write in first person, so I always have to play around with possible narrator voices until I find something that works.
Childhood doesn't have to be perfect, and children don't have to be beautiful. From a bit of grit may grow a pearl, and if pearl production doesn't materialise, the outcome will still be preferable to the shallowness of vanity.
My husband is leaving me. No dramas, no slammed doors - well, OK, a few slammed doors - and no suitcase in the hall, but there is another woman involved. Her name is Dementia.
I almost always use first person voice in my novels. It has its limitations, but it gives a sense of immediacy that's hard to create with an anonymous, all-seeing narrator.
Once, every woman owned a small mirrored compact, and it was considered normal - sophisticated even - to flip it open to discreetly check for things like nose-glow or lipstick smudge.
The word 'carer' makes me think of someone with a nylon overall and a long list of 'clients' to wash before she finishes her shift. A companion was something unique. A kind of live-in friend.
My husband is stricken with dementia, and it's a trick of his condition that events and people from his past are more real to him than what happened five minutes ago.
