She began to feel like the plastic doll she had been named after, without even a hole where her mouth was supposed to be.

Welcome Beauty, banish fear.

But be careful; sand is already broken but glass breaks. The shoes are for dancing, not running away.

I am constantly thinking ahead to what I want to write about in the future, and when I'm done with one project, I give myself a little time and then start the next one.

I want to be untouchable and beautiful and completely dead inside.

Dear Angel Juan, You used to guard my sleep like a panther biting back my pain with the edge of your teeth. You carried me into the dark dream jungle, loping past the hungry vines, crossing the shiny fish-scale river. We left my tears behind in a chiming silver pool. We left my sorrow in the muddy hollows. When I woke up you were next to me, damp and matted, your eyes hazy, trying to remember the way I clung to you, how far down we went. Was the journey too far, Angel Juan? Did we go too far?

love is the only thing we have to save us