You can't always be pushing people away. Someday nobody'll come back.

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.

For me as a writer, it was understanding that we're so far behind in our way of dealing with death. We put someone in the ground, we bury them or we burn them, and then we're supposed to just move on and kind of get over it.

I do believe that books can change lives and give people this kind of language they wouldn't have had otherwise.

I think writers are the history keepers, right? We're the ones who are bearing witness to what's going on in the world. And I feel like it's our job to put that down on paper, and put it out into the world, so that it can be remembered.

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

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