I have these "pinch me" moments when I realize I got to be the thing I wanted to be growing up. I'm right where I belong.

You move forward because thats the way it works; thats the only place you can go.

I don't like futons. They can't commit. I'm a bed! I'm a couch! I'm a bed! I'm a couch!

If you get the you-are-a-genius label, it can limit you. Because I'm not so scrutinized, I have more freedom. And that let's me write what I want.

Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you're working. Tell them it's research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.

Found, I told myself. Try to get found.

There are two kinds of houses in the neighborhood where I grew up-the ones where the parents stayed married, and the ones where they didn’t.