Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.

You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.

I write because writing is the gift God has given me to help people in the world.

When we did art with the kids, the demons would lie down.

I liked those ladies! They were helpers, and they danced.' These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced.

Here are the two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me' and 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's intrusive for grandparents to think they're in charge. It's manipulative. Also, it's self-destructive, since if the parents have to resist you, you won't get your mitts on the kid as often.