A lot of my upbringing was about denying or fretting or evading.

She supposed that all those years of loving a person who was dishonest had taught her a few things.

It didn't matter that I wore clothes from Sears; I was still different. I looked different. My name was different. I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories.

He tries to peel the image from the sticky yellow backing, to show her the next time he sees her, but it clings stubbornly, refusing to detach cleanly from the past.

Amid the gray, an incongruous band of daytime blue asserts itself. To the west, a pink sun already begins its descent. The effect is of three isolated aspects, distinct phases of the day. All of it, strewn across the horizon, is contained in his vision.