“My anxiety house a house and a fence and a deer in the yard. A zip code. A plague of starlings.”

“I wanted desire that someone set on fire and floated outonto a lake. To ruin entire monarchies with my wanting.”

“The cautious steps of women when something has happened came downstairs, sending vibrations up the spine of the house. The women came down with a kind of congested rush, like lava flowing as fast as it can.”

“Word count doesn't tell me when a story ends, my characters will tell me.”

“He takes my right hand and places it palm down on his chest. Then he traces around it with the pen, craning his neck to see, giving himself double chins.'What are you doing?'He shifts my hand away and starts scratching out letters on his skin. 'I worked out a tattoo - if I had one.'I look at what he's done. He's got the outline of my hand over his heart and in it he's written, Her.”

“Some phone calls he doesn't say much and I know he called just to hear my voice. That's all he wants- to hear me tell him about my day, what the surf's like, what work's like. And that's humbling, knowing that your voice can mean so much to another person.”

“Sometimes what you fear the most to do is the very thing that will set you free.”