“From the outside looking in, everything looked completely ordinary. The problem was being on the inside, looking out.”

“In some darkened corner, an evil troll named Karma was rolling on the floor laughing, hysterically.”

“She still craved the fantasy while reality was busy sinking in its sharp teeth.”

“Never, ever give up. Ever. Just because one editor rejects you doesn’t mean the whole world is crashing down. Look outside. Sky’s still standing? Yep? Okay, send your work to someone else.”

“I loved Duncan and I loved being his mother but I wasn't sure I was prepared to be only his mother. Before we were even married, when Russell and I had gotten our dog, Humbert, I had walked him early one morning, and as I stood on a line for coffee, someone had offered him a dog treat. "I always ask the mommy first," she said, looking at him expectantly. "Oh, I'm not his mother," I said, "I'm just his...friend," and she looked at me with complete contempt. "You're his mother," she had scolded, "Poor dog.”

“Then he looked by him, and was ware of a damsel that came riding as fast as her horse might gallop upon a fair palfrey. And when she espied that Sir Lanceor was slain, then she made sorrow out of measure, and said, "O Balin ! two bodies hast thou slain and one heart, and two hearts in one body, and two souls thou hast lost.”

“..he was the only one in the world who understood the secret living thing that dwelt in he pit of my stomach...the thing that reared its head from time to time to sear my insides with fear.”