I also thought of playing improvisational jazz and I did take lessons for a while. At first I tried to write fiction by making up things that were completely alien to my life.

With hope, a mind is always free.

Her education only made her unhappy thinking about it - that no matter how much she changed her life, she could not change the world that surrounded her.

All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. -Ying Ying

My parents had very high expectations. They expected me to get straight A's from the time I was in kindergarten.

I always thought it mattered, to know what is the worst possible thing that can happen to you, to know how you can avoid it, to not be drawn by the magic of the unspeakable.

You write a book and you hope somebody will go out and pay $24.95 for what you've just said. I think books were my salvation. Books saved me from being miserable.