Racism doesn't know color, death doesn't know age, and pain doesn't know might.

I love slow readers. And readers who think about what I've written, think about how it's written - and copy me!

Keep on doing what you're doing.

I think it's important to remember that writing is a gift and our stories are gifts to ourselves and to the world and sometimes giving isn't always the easiest thing to do but it comes 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.

People are going to judge you all the time no matter what you do...Don't worry about other people. Worry about you.

Where I grew up, it was all people who were black and Latino, people who look like me. Now I live in a neighborhood where very, very few people look like me.