the past only had whatever power you gave it; life was what you made it and if you wanted something different from what you had, it was up to you to make it happen.

A know a place called New Beginnings, but I don't think it works quite like that. You can't just erase everything that came before.

I wouldn't say I'm stuck in my adolescence, but I think, like a lot of people, I carry my teen years with me. I feel really in touch with those feelings, and how intense and complicated life seems in those years.

Sometimes rescue comes to you. It just shows up, and you do nothing. Maybe you deserve it, maybe you don't. But be ready, when it comes, to decide if you will take the outstretched hand and let it pull you ashore.

I'm not really a plot writer - I'm more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.

and i don't just mean that they change you. a lot of people can change you - the first kid who called you a name, the first teacher who said you were smart, the first person who crowned you best friend. it's the change you remember, the firsts and what they meant, not really the people......i'm talking about the ones who, for whatever reason, are as much a part of you has your own soul. their place in your heart is tender; a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business.

I grew up in San Francisco in the 1970s. We were part of a church that belonged to the California Jesus movement.