My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances

Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don't think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.

She didn't like being twelve. It felt like someplace between who she'd been and who she was about to be. It felt like no place at all.

I feel more influenced in my own work by dreams than I do by other writers' works in a way. Or by popular culture, movies - what else is there to write about than love and loss?

Sometimes movies really are the best medicine.

He fell in love with the way she closed her eyes, long before he fell in love with her.

After a while, the characters I'm writing begin to feel real to me. That's when I know I'm heading in the right direction