I've heard people on panels say, 'You must have a Web site. You need to tweet. Repeat the title of your book constantly,' and I just want to say, 'Shut up. Everything you're saying is wrong.' People will know instantly if your only motivation for tweeting is to sell books.

I have no phobias. Phobias are irrational. My fears are rational and CAREFULLY CULTIVATED, like roses.

Prefects. I had learned this one. Student council types, but with superpowers. They who must be obeyed.

I ran like a thing that runs.

Once again, her parents' problems had run through her life like a piece of heavy equipment, smashing everything in their way.

The essay I had to read was called, "An Essay on Criticism" by Alexander Pope. The first challenge was that the essay was, in fact, a very long poem in "heroic couplets". If something is called an essay, it should be an essay.

A woman who shaves or otherwise depilates her pubic curls has a profound interest in recreational sex.