Like a blinking cursor on an empty page, it was just the first thing. The beginning of the beginning. But at least it was done.

I'm incredibly flattered when people tell me that my books helped them through high school. Because of my own experience, the thought that something I wrote might help someone who felt the way I did when I was a teen...that's huge. It awes me.

That was the thing. You just never knew. Forever was so many different things. It was always changing, it was what everything was really all about.

I think having a good agent is key. I've been with mine for ten years now, and she's very honest with me. There are a lot of times I've sent her books that were not so good because I was tired of writing, or panicked about money, and she's told me flat out, "You don't want this to be your next book. Trust me."

Was it really this easy, once you escaped, to just not care?

It's funny how someone's perception of you can be formed without you even knowing it.

The first boy was always the hardest.