Nobody gets to pick their time to die, but living every day to the max is something we all get to do.

What really grabs me is when a reader writes to express her personal story and how a book helped her situation, or her acceptance of a situation she can't change. I read some sad cases in my snail and electronic mail. I respond to all I can, affirming that they are the true heroes of life because they are fighting through adversity and surviving.

Sisters are made by living everyday with each other and wearing each other down until the rough spots are smooth. They're made by sharing secrets you'd never tell mom, and out of doing things for each other just because you feel like it, not because you have to. I guess you could say sisters are 'grown,' not manufactured, in a very special place called a family.

None of us truly knows what we'll do when the circumstances become so overwhelming and complex that we can't even tell right from wrong.

Forgiving's a choice you make—a gift you give to somebody even if they don't deserve it. It costs nothing, but it makes you feel rich for giving it away.

Please don't miss me too much. Please don't be too sad. Find someone else to love, because you have much love to give and it's a gift that shouldn't be wasted. You , Jesse, were the rose that made my life sweet.I will wait for you in heaven.

So this is always the key: you have to write the book you love, the book that's alive in your heart. That's the one you have to write.