Say what you mean. Say what you see. Make a photograph, if you can, for the reader.

Writing's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.

Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.

The loss of memory isn't always the problem; sometimes--maybe even often--it's the solution.

It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around.

But now the joy is gone and the sadness is back, the sadness feels like something deserved, the price of some not-quite-forgotten betrayal.

Her body was wrapped in shadows like moth wings, like rose-petals.