You forget your victories, but you remember the losses.

Show me a girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and I'll show you a girl who can't put her pants on. -Annik Marchand

He'd pushed her. He'd scared her. He'd besieged her. He'd vowed he wouldn't, and he did.

But then she hadn’t just learned to love this summer – she had also learned how to need.

She had never had a boy talk to her like that. There was no cover of bullshit, no flirtation, no added charm, but his look was searing. He was different from anyone she had known.

Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.

Your problem isn't the problem, it's your attitude about the problem.