Sometimes it seems as though not a moment has moved, but then you look up and you're already old or you already have a household of kids or you look down and see your feet are miles and miles away from the rest of you—and you realize you've grown up.

Everything I write, I read out loud. It has to sound a certain way. It has to look a certain way on the page.

I actually don't think of whiteness and heterosexuality as 'the norm'. Maybe there are people who still do but none of them are close friends of mine.

Yes, writing is not easy. But can any writer imagine NOT writing?

I'm still afraid. I'm still afraid every day.

No matter how big you get, it's still okay to cry because everybody's got a right to their own tears.

When you think of how a child experiences a series of events, it feels, for so long, like she's looking at everything from behind this glass and it's obscured.