“A dysfunctional family makes for great writing -”

“It's not how great the ideas are. It's about how you write them, to make them great.”

“It's not blood that makes us who we are," Dad said. "It's family. And it's not blood that makes us family. It's love.”

“We'd better go," I say. "It's time for you to make Hmong babies."Toua pulls free from my grasp. "You little--""Go. Further the great Flower Clan. The mountainous homeland will sing from your victorious loins.""You're disgusting!”

“Forget the boring old dictum "write about what you know." Instead, seek out an unknown yet knowable area of experience that's going to enhance your understanding of the world and write about that.”

“A great friend can act like a trash can with a hole in the bottom. To listen to someone else's personal garbage with the same empathy you would spend listening to their joy, and then release that garbage just as quickly as you hear it, without absorbing it, makes you a wonderful friend to that person--and an even better one to yourself.”

“One mistake can cause everything or may I say someone special :-(”