I have been loved, Edward told the stars. So? said the stars. What difference does that make when you are all alone now?

Mercy Watson is obsessed with toast. What was blocking me was the challenge of trying to understand what she loves, what motivates her. That was the missing piece. Toast became the physical symbol of Mercy's hopefully endearing greed and obsession. Without that element in place, it didn't make sense.

Her sister, Holly McGhee, is an agent, and she's my agent in New York. She's Alison's agent too. Even though Alison lives here in Minneapolis, I met Alison through Holly, when Holly came to Minneapolis to visit Alison.

You can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.

Miracles and magic pervade the things that I've written, but yet there are no miracles and there is no magic.

In a dark time, doors will sometimes magically open and let us step inside to the warmth and light of a community.

You are down there alone, the stars seemed to say to him. And we are up here, in our constellations, together.