Others said May was best, that sweet green time when lilacs bloomed and gardens along Main Street were filled with sugary pink peonies and Dutch tulips.

Our house was littered with books- in the kitchen, under the beds, stuck between the couch pillows--far too many for her the ever finish. I suppose I thought if my grandmother kept up her interests, she wouldn't die; she'd have to stay around to finish the books she was so fond of. "I've got to get to the bottom of this one," she'd say, as if a book were no different from a pond or a lake. I thought she'd go on reading forever but it didn't work out that way.

I can hurt myself more than anyone else can, she told her sister. I can do it with my eyes closed.

When I write for teens, I feel I can cut through everything and get to the bare bones. I can get straight into the emotional world of the character.

Let everyone see the blood,' he said. 'Don't clean it up. That's the only way people remember.'... I could see the blood inside my head. It was with me forever, whether or not I wanted to forget.

Here's the thing about luck...you don't know if it's good or bad until you have some perspective.

Young people believe that regret is something you will never feel if you simply do as you please, but sometimes it is a matter of degree.