It was like that part of my life, was just gone. It was almost too easy, for something I once thought had meant everything.

I just have to be super strong when it comes to my work time. Shut the browser, ignore the email alerts, and just WRITE.

Writing a novel is like childbirth: once you realize how awful it really is, you never want to do it again.

Everything always gets crazy at the end. You just have to keep going, regardless of how awful it gets. So that's what I do.

Sorry!' Dave's friend yelled when he saw me. 'That was my-' But i wasn't listening as,instead,i took every bit of the anger and stress of the last few minutes and days put it behind the ball, throwing it overhead at the basket as hard as i could. It went flying, hitting the backboard and banging through the netless hoop at full speed before shooting back out and nailing Dave Wade squarely on the forehead. And just like that, he was down.

So much had happened that morning. Yet it was this image, this moment, that i kept going back to hours later, after we'd made it safely to the walkway and gone our separate ways to classes. How it felt to have the world moving beneath me, a hand gripping mine, knowing if i fell, at least i wouldn't do it alone.

"It's gonna be okay," I said. It was the first time in a long time that I believed it. "It will."