The tears that heal are also the tears that scald and scourge.

He sat upon his throne, which is made of skulls.

There's a lot of things people think they can't do and then discover they can when they find themselves tight-wired.

When I knew I was going to be able to write full time, I wondered, "What's going to happen to the relationships within my family?" Are they going to change? Is it going to be the kind of deal where you say, "I can't take this! Get me out of here! I can't stand these screaming kids!" The way it turned out was, I was able to change the diapers okay, after I stuck the pin through my fingers a few times. I had a dawning realization that children are not particularly hard to deal with.

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.

Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

I never have a thematic intention at the outset. The story informs the theme for me rather than the other way around. But as it happens... this is, at least to a degree, about getting old and the rapid passage of our lives.