If a teacher told me to revise, I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted. I didn't realize the teacher was saying, 'Make it shine. It's worth it.' Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope. It's a new vision of something. It means you don't have to be perfect the first time. What a relief!

Being good felt like a heavy coat, so I took it off.

We dropped our troubles into the lap of the storyteller, and they turned into someone else's.

Getting over what you did to me is not why I get out of bed anymore.

Sometimes there’s no one to listen to what you really might like to say at a certain moment. The paper always listens.

I'm like the weather, never really can predict when this rain cloud's gonna burst; when it's the high or it's the low, when you might need a light jacket. Sometimes I'm the slush that sticks to the bottom of your work pants, but I can easily be the melting snowflakes clinging to your long lashes. I know that some people like: sunny and seventy-five, sunny and seventy-five, sunny and seventy-five, but you take me as I am and never forget to pack an umbrella.

Energy is everything. Rubbing happy and sad together creates energy.