There were about ten years of trying, failing, trying again, suffering rejection, etc. My first published book, 'Story of a Girl', was the fourth book I wrote.

It's hard to say when my interest in writing began, or how. My mother read to my sister and me every night, and we always loved playing make-believe games. I had a well-primed imagination. I didn't start thinking about writing as a serious pursuit, a career I could have, until after college.

I know I shouldn't say this—I know it as surely as I know the earth is round and beats are evil—and yet here it comes: “It's not too late to change your mind.

You were never what I wanted to forget.

I lived too much in my head instead of the real world.

Because love, love is never finished. It circles and circles, the memories out of order and not always complete.

I played the clarinet, and my sister played the violin... If wed had the discipline and the passion, maybe we could have been good.