I think readers are just looking for things that maybe they recognize or can relate to in the books.

Because if you were the problem, chances were you could also be the solution. The only way to find out was to take another shot.

Hey, and for what it's worth? Friends don't leave you alone in the woods. Friends are the ones who come and take you out.

It hadn't even occured to me that somebody would believe mine.

When I was in high school, I was always really envious of those girls who seemed to have everything: the perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect boyfriend, perfect life. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that nobody's life is perfect, and that those girls probably had a lot of the same problems I did.

Times like this it did seem real I was leaving, and even more that my family, and this life, would go on without me. And again I felt that emptiness rise up, but pushed it away. Still, I lingered there, in the doorway, memorizing the noise. The moment. Tucking it away out of sight, to be remembered when I needed it most.

I wasn't ready for this, but then I probably never would be, and this year, like so much else, wouldn't wait. I had no choice but to get out of my car, with everyone watching and begin in earnest, alone. So I did