Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.

Good therapy helps. Good friends help. Pretending that we are doing better than we are doesn't. Shame doesn't. Being heard does.

Charles had once remarked that holding onto a resentment was like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.

...one of the worst things about being a parent, for me, is the self-discovery, the being face to face with one's secret insanity and brokenness and rage.

A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way. It's a lie if you make something up. But you make it up in the name of truth, and then you give your heart to expressing it clearly.

Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.

I feel incredibly successful. I make a living as a writer and am able to help support a big family, my church, my bleeding-heart causes.