There has to be a middle. Without it, nothing can ever truly be whole. Because it is not just the space between, but also what holds everything together.

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

I think part of the problem sometimes is that there's so much happening in my books, to whittle it down into a single script is hard.

But in the real world, you couldnt really just split a family down the middle, mom on one side, dad the other, with the child equally divided between. It was like when you ripped a piece of paper into two: no matter how you tried, the seams never fit exactly right again. It was what you couldn't see, those tiniest of pieces, that were lost in the severing, and their absence kept everything from being complete.

Pieces and parts were always easier to process. The full picture, the entire story, was another thing entirely. But you just never knew. Sometimes, people could surprise you.

The mistakes you make now count. Not for everything, and not forever. But they do matter, and they shape you.

You didn't have to take a punch for me, you know,' he said. 'I'm a lover, not a fighter.' 'You're a freak is what you are,' I said.