I started trying to write when I was in second or third grade.

The Government justifies keeping everyone else in poverty because people seem to work the hardest when they're right on the edge of survival.

That porch is a happy-looking place, and my father - burdened, stoop-shouldered, cadaverously thin - doesn't seem to belong on it.

...even the most independent people sometimes needed help. And if I'd learned nothing else from my life thus far, it was that you don't always end up where you think you're going.

And Nedley started saying,'Shut Up!Quit that! And i knew it really meant something to him. So I asked for his help,"Mark said. "Don't tell the story like that," Nedley laughed. "What he said was 'Quit pretendin you're a bad guy I need your help, and I need it now!

I like the fact that kids are willing to be imaginative and go along with me when I'm telling strange tales.

Jen, we did it. Everyone's free now.