I tried his cell over and over but he never answered. Then I’d call just to hear his voice on the outgoing message, until eventually that was gone too.

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.

In a way, “failure” is just another word for “the journey,” for not being there yet but on the way. It’s the road we walk on to get wherever it is we’re trying to go.

No one measures a life in weeks and days. You measure life in years and by the things that happen to you.

The one reader I'm trying to please as I write is me, and I'm pretty difficult to please.

My whole life has been one big broken promise.

I didn't 'decide' to write YA, per se. But every time I thought of a story, it featured characters 15, 16, 17.