“Just five minutes, God, I chant like some hostage negotiator on the brink of a resolution. Five minutes alone. Please, please. Please.”

“It wasn’t as if she’d thought it through or anything, how what a person wanted wasn’t always what they needed, and what a person needed might be the last thing they could ever want.”

“Through career fumbles and life changes, she supported me. Through shattered dreams and hopes almost-realized, she supported me too.”

“Here’s a random factoid: I like cats. And here’s another: I like red wine.”

“I could say it all began with my mother.”

“Of course, I rationalize the fear. I realize it’s not real, that my house isn’t burning down, that the deer aren’t going to kill me.”

“Sometimes, I feel my breath coming in shorter, quicker, spastic bursts, feel my heart threaten to thunder through my ribs, feel sweat beading on my brow...and I know it’s time to bust out those “chocolate frogs” from Harry Potter.”

“My sister and I are so close that we finish each other’s sentences and often wonder who’s memories belong to whom.”

“Wine and a straitjacket. That pretty much sums it up.”

“I am forever an advocate of books, both the reading of them and the writing. There is something sacred to me in that community. Because writing--and reading--is a solitary business. And it’s good to know I’m not alone.”

“When I was twenty-something, I asked my father, “When did you start feeling like a grownup?” His response: “Never.”