Although emotionally delicate and eminently bruisable, teenagers are short on empathy. That comes later in life, if it comes at all.

You cannot friend a hawk, they said, unless you are a hawk yourself, alone and only a sojourner in the land, without friends or the need of them.

I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

Let evil wait for the day on which it must fall.

Outside, a gusty October breeze was combing leaves from the trees and sending them across her backyard in colorful skitters.

Any parting could be forever, and we don't know.

It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.