I think I'd rather have my heart broke than do the breaking. —Lena

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

Fifteen. Sixteen was probably something, but fifteen - fifteen was a place between here and nowhere.

I've learned a lot as a writer about poetry.

Because I write realistic fiction, I generally don't think about fixing anyone - I just think about how I want to feel at the end of the book - And I try to write toward that feeling.

Don't trust women, my mother said to me. Even the ugly ones will take what you thought was yours.

I feel like the world stopped. And I got off...and then it started spinning again, but too fast for me to hop back on. I feel like I'm still trying to get a...to get some kind of foothold on living