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.

He loved me. He loved me, but he doesn't love me anymore, and it's not the end of the world.

I think it has as much to do with honoring my own voice as it does with feeling a responsibility to my readers or my daughters.

Whenever people with money have power over people with less money, you have the potential for exploitation.

I get really starstruck and tongue tied when I'm around other writers and the conversation tends not to go well.

Is it still there?" I asked, staring at his head, bent over, as he wedged the stethoscope beneath my left breast. And then, before I could stop myself, "Does it sound broken?

Everyone has sorrow. Everyone has obligations. Everyone keeps going. You lean on the people who love you. You do the best you can, and you keep going.