“It's not easy to writing thank-you notes for the stuff you didn't want in the first place.”

“When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.”

“It's easy to make up weird stuff. It gets trickier when you want the weird stuff to be interesting and make sense.”

“It's not easy having a good marriage--but I don't want easy. Easy doesn't make you grow. Easy doesn't make you think. I thank God everyday that I am married to a man who makes me think. That's my definition of true love.”

“Don't quit. It's very easy to quit during the first 10 years. Nobody cares whether you write or not, and it's very hard to write when nobody cares one way or the other. You can't get fired if you don't write, and most of the time you don't get rewarded if you do. But don't quit.”

“Different people were good at different things, Lena mused. Lena was good at writing thank-you notes, for instance, and Effie was good at being happy.”