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 couldnt be a writer without hope. I think I became a writer because Im pretty optimistic.

Sometimes you do have to laugh to keep from crying. And sometimes the world feels all right and good and kind of like it's becoming nice again around you. And you realize it, and realize how happy you are in it, and you just gotta laugh.

You're a part of me...You're in my heart. Forever and always, all right? —D

Mama says it's okay to be on the quiet side—if quiet means you're listening, watching, taking it all in.

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.

One place exists as their interpretation of it. For the people living and thriving inside of it, it's another place.