Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying 'Listen to me'.

Pet names are a persistant remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.

One hand, five homes. A lifetime in a fist.

She learned that an act intended to express love could have nothing to do with it. That her heart and her body were different things.

She has the gift of accepting her life.

If I stop to think about fans, or best-selling, or not best-selling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's like staring at the mirror all day.

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.