The elasticity of imagination and compassion is what writing and reading promote.

There is no end to what can be said about the world

A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.

Don't plan it all. Let life surprise you a little.

But the sensibility of the writer, whether fiction or poetry, comes from paying attention. I tell my students that writing doesn't begin when you sit down to write. It's a way of being in the world, and the essence of it is paying attention.

It's always gratifying to hear from a passionate reader, and as a longtime educator, I'm especially pleased and heartened when that reader is a young student who is inspired to write me and let me know that my book has helped him or her find her way.

Every writer can tell you that a book is only truly alive when it finds passionate readers who bring it alive in their imaginations.