Whether or not this story has a happy ending depends, of course, on who is reading it. Whether you are a wolf or a girl.

The world is a dangerous place, full of people who don't trust each other. This is why I am staying up in this tree.

You should never poison a witch.

I don't think I'm cut out for a job where you have to look professionally tidy. I prefer working in my pajamas and taking showers after lunch.

As if our happiness, our good fortune, might rub off, contestants ask us for a light: they brush up against us in the halls, pull strands of hair off our clothing. Whenever we leave our bed, our room -- not often -- two or three are sure to be lurking just outside our door.

You have to salvage what you can, even if you're the one who buried it in the first place.

I'm grateful when stories come in a rush, although I keep an eye on them afterwards, to see whether they hold together. It's harder to judge the ones that took so long to finish. With those, I've lost perspective. Mostly I'm just glad that I can be done with them.