Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either.

Because my heat was too full of appreciation for what my friends-- my real friends-- had done for me.

It's what's known as an origin myth. What happened to me? That's no myth.

Looks fade,' Mom would go on. 'But intelligence lasts forever.

The fact is, I love him. He's the boy I want and one day he'll be MINE.

All of my characters are a little bit based on people I know in real life. You know when you do that you have to change the character a little bit in case your friend or your relative reads the book, because you don't want them to know you wrote about them... They might get mad.

Mr. Greer timed all our speeches with an oven timer. Things were nothing at Tribeca Alternative, considered one of Manhattan's finest prep schools, if not high tech.