But this is inaccurate. A runaway train is an accident. Me, I'll jump in front of the tracks. I'll even tie myself down in front of the speeding engine. There's some illogical part of me hat still believes if you want Superman to show up, first there's got to be someone worth saving.

I don't have to live the lives of my characters to write about them. It's about really putting yourself in their shoes.

When I was little I bragged about my firefighting father: my father would go to heaven, because if he went to hell he would put out all the fires.

No one ever asks a kid for her opinion, but it seems to me that growing up means you stop hoping for the best, and start expecting the worst.

It turns out that sharing the past with someone is different from reliving it when you’re alone. It feels less like a wound, more like a poultice.

Remember when you were a little kid and you'd fall asleep in the car? And someone would carry you out and put you into bed, so that when you woke up in the morning, you knew automatically you were home again? That's what I think it's like to die.

If you've lived through it, you already know there are no words that will ever come close to describing it, and if you didn't - you will never understand.