Graduating high school was really emotional for me. I'd obviously made a huge thing out of what that experience was for me, and saying goodbye to it was very weird. So I had to be like, boom, onward and upward.

Sometimes people are so unbelievably vitriolic on the Internet because I think that everybody wants to be heard, and the easiest way to be the loudest is to be the hater. But you don't know who's behind the keyboard, and you don't really know if their complaint is about the topic at hand or if they're just bitter about something else.

My only job has been to say that you have to, try different things and let yourself become a different person, have experiences.

I have a lot of love for the resilience personified in so many achievements made by Americans. I feel not American when that idea of resilience is appropriated to justify discrimination, e.g., "Make America Great Again."

I've never really felt like a journalist. I've felt like a writer and a diarist. I have made myself vulnerable in my writing, and I think that vulnerability makes people strong. My favorite performances or works of art are always people showing that side of themselves.

What makes a strong female character is a character who has weaknesses, who has flaws, who is maybe not immediately likable, but eventually relatable.

Just really be passionate and stick to your creative vision. Because it's competitive, and there are so many mind games and so many things that could get in the way. But success is the best revenge, so build yourself up rather than knock others down.