Usually it takes me about nine to 12 months to write a book.

You are truly focused when you're so focused that you don't know you're focused.

Throughout the day, Stargirl had been dropping money. She was the Johnny Appleseed of loose change: a penny here, a nickel there. Tossed to the sidewalk, laid on a shelf or bench. Even quarters. "I hate change," she said. "It's so . . . jangly." "Do you realize how much you must throw away in a year?" I said. "Did you ever see a little kid's face when he spots a penny on a sidewalk?"

No one's hurt is too small, no worry too removed, no blessing so elusive that it cannot be seen by the eyes in the back of the human heart.

How much better might human communication be if words were as precious as diamonds? If each of us were allotted only 100 words per day?

She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow.

I had never realized how much I needed the attention of others to confirm my own presence.