Time, Ms. McHenry," Townsend said. "It can be a cruel, cruel thing

Or maybe crying is like everything else we do- it's best if you don't get caught.

Good-bye Dr. Steve,' I said, then climbed the stairs and went to the fifth floor to die.

There are aspectsof this life-- of this world-- from which you can never walk away. Ever. The fact that almost everything you say to almost everyone you love for the rest of your life will be a lie is one of them.

Listen to me." He grabbed my arms, holding me there. " I couldn't find you. And I will never forgive myself for that. Ever.

Don't put your characters on a treadmill. They need to go new places, face new challenges and do new things.

It was easy to believe, between lessons on Shakespeare and Dickens and Austen, that all of the great stories had already been written by dead Europeans. But every time I saw 'The Outsiders', I knew better. It was the first time I'd realized that real people write books.