I struggle with staying clean every day, and what really keeps me from doing something stupid is my daughter.

In my life the right question is simply this: What can I do to be happy today?

I always wished to be a better planner. It seems more elegant, while my trial and error process is more akin to someone scratching an awful case of poison oak.

Yes, things happened to me - brutal things - but I'm not going to give them so much clout by dwelling on them, empowering them to haunt my heart years after the events transpired. And no good comes from that. These ghosts don't need us to help them stay alive. If we're after real deal healing, these ghosts must desiccate.

No matter what we've done, no matter the disappointments and sullied blunders, today is the opportunity to do right by ourselves.

I always joke that every novel is really about the same thing: one person's struggle against society.

If a character is honest with a reader, then (hopefully) that will engage the reader's empathy centers; she'll meet that openness with acceptance, and they'll forge a nourishing and meaningful bond as the book continues.