You must find the right voice (or voices) for the timbre that can convince a reader to give himself up to you.

I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.

This is the sad bed of chosen chastity because you are miles and mountains away.

When I met my husband, I refused to invite him home for Passover because I was embarrassed my mother might serve all the catered dishes in the wrong order.

You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

The trick is not how much pain you feel--but how much joy you feel. Any idiot can feel pain. Life is full of excuses to feel pain, excuses not to live, excuses, excuses, excuses.

writers do not choose their subjects; their subjects choose them.