WORTH IT and perfect are different things. No one’s perfect, yet in romance, everyone becomes WORTH IT. And that’s the trick.

Writing is one of the few careers for which you essentially train yourself, the other two major ones being juggling and pickpocketing.

This wasn't a position she wanted to be in. And yet . . . yet she knew that she was going to do it anyway.

Walk really, really carefully. It's not complicated, but if you mess up, you'll die, so pay attention.

This kind of thing always amazed Ginny--people who just walked away from institutions. People who left school when they didn't see the point. Aunt Peg had done that. Ginny knew she never would. That either made her someone who worked hard and finished things, or someone who didn't have the guts to break away from the pack. Maybe both.

It was clearly one of those mornings when I was particularly American.

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