Any institution becomes a community - whether it's a high school or a boarding school or a publishing company or a small town where everybody knows certain things about people.

They weren't true stories; they were better than that.

He wanted pain, I saw that in him, and what a man wants he will often manage to find.

Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.

I can't really work on more than one thing at a time

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 always quit at three when my kids come home from school so I feel pretty spoiled