All my adult life I've felt drawn to ask long-married couples how they were able to stay together. All of them said the same thing: "We worked hard at it.

I have never thought of writing as hard work, but I have worked hard to find a voice.

It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not.

We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well.

Apologies are not pass/fail.

Be willing to apologize. Proper apologies have three parts: 1) What I did was wrong. 2) I'm sorry that I hurt you. 3) How do I make it better? It's the third part that people tend to forget. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.

Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories and they will figure out how those stories apply to them.