You can't judge Islam by those people any more than you can judge Christians by abortion clinic bombers or white separatists. Love turn to hate at the fringes of any belief system.

...we can say we love each other if my life is better because you're in it and your life is better because I'm in it.

It's a scary thing; moving on. Part of me wishes life were more predictable and part of me is excited that it's not. I think it's impossible to tell the good things from the bad things while they're happening.

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

If you think your life sucks, it probably does. Do something about it.

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.

I don't think I'll ever lose the feeling that I had when I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' - Harper Lee was going back into her childhood. I grew up in a real small town - Lee's was in the South, mine the Northwest - but small towns have a lot in common. There was such a revelation in knowing that a story could be told like that.