I started writing it the day after Sept. 11. I was living in New York City. We didnt have any phone service and we didnt have any mail. Like a lot of writers do, I started to write in a voice that I missed.

You're gon' have to say to your self, am I gon' believe what them fools say about me today?

Why don't we just build you an house outside Hilly?

The day your child says she hates you, and every child will go through the phase, it kicks like a foot in the stomach.

Stuart needs "space" and "time," as if this were physics and not a human relationship.

Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else.

They say it's like true love, good help. you only get one in a lifetime.....there is so much you don't know about a person. i wonder if i could've made her days a little bit easier, if I'd tried. if i'd treated her a little nicer.