I get some of my ideas from watching my three daughters, but most of them come from my own memories of growing up. I can remember how romantic I was, not just about love, but romance in the classic sense - the romantic ideals: of honor and truth, of loyalty, sacrifice and fairness. Those were the elements that made a story satisfying to me.

The human heart was undeniably the stupidest organ in the body.

When I first heard the word existential, I didn't know what it meant. But then I found out that no one knows what it means, so now I use it all the time.

Elizabeth scowled, feeling like a nobody, a nothing. She felt like her entire self had been made worthless. She could change her interests, but she couldn't change her looks. She'd never be six feet tall. She'd never look like a supermodel.

I know you think that when you're 35, 45, 55, you'll be different. But I'm going to let you in on a bit of a secret. You're going to look different, and your life is going to be different, but in your head you'll always be that 16-year-old girl.

She figured if you weren't woman enough to carry your doughnuts with pride, you shouldn't be eating them.

Since I was a small child, I was always writing either poems or plays... plays in which I had the starring part.