Beware the short terminal guy with nothing to lose.

You put yourself out there in the truest way you can and hope others do the same. You'll connect or you won't, but you did what you could.

Certainly working with teens keeps me up to date with language and with certain kinds of thinking. I often feel like I have to go back to that 17-year-old Chris Crutcher, and that forms the core voice. I can draw on teens from 1964 to 2001 to find a part of the voice I need.

You have to be careful not to use anything too colloquial or you date the book.

Beware the short terminal guy with nothing to lose.

Once a thing is known,it can't be UNknown.

You have to be mad in the language you're mad in.