I make up the characters in my books, but of course my consciousness is filled with every child I've ever known, including my two grandchildren, my own kids (I had four) and especially myself as a child, because that person still lives inside me, too.

Writing is self employment, so you can make your own schedule.

The whole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained the same. "And they lived happily ever after.

Ellen had said that her mother was afraid of the ocean, that it was too cold and too big. The sky was, too, thought Annemarie. The whole world was: too cold, too big. And too cruel.

I don't know what she is now. A stranger, mostly. It's as if she has become a part of a different world, one that doesn't include me anymore.

And it was lonely, to yearn, all alone.

Take pride in your pain; you are stronger than those who have none