“The Summer of Jake and Roxie – it was the best summer of my life.”

“He dropped his pants and went at it looking like Winnie-the-Pooh in his red polo shirt.”

“A life of fiction based on fact”

“Books have always been my escape - where I go to bury my nose, hone my senses, or play the emotional tourist in a world of my own choosing... Words are my best expressive tool, my favorite shield, my point of entry...When I was growing up, books took me away from my life to a solitary place that didn't feel lonely. They celebrated the outcasts, people who sat on the margins of society contemplating their interiors. . . Books were my cure for a romanticized unhappiness, for the anxiety of impending adulthood. They were all mine, private islands with secret passwords only the worthy could utter. If I could choose my favorite day, my favorite moment in some perfect dreamscape, I know exactly where I would be: stretched out in bed in the afternoon, knowing that the kids are taking a nap and I've got two more chapters left of some heartbreaking novel, the kind that messes you up for a week.”

“Life has to be a little nuts sometimes. Otherwise it's just a bunch of Thursdays strung together.”

“Being understood is not the most essential thing in life.”

“I have to learn to find that inner core of strength that I am definitely made up of and stretch it into areas where I don't always use it.”