“I know—better than anyone—that once someone’s made up her mind to leave you, there’s nothing you can do to make her stay.”

“they have seen the likes of you before, they may be intrigued by the looks of you, but they know that you-like everyone else-will leave them in the end.”

“You're swimming so hard in this ocean. Don't you know if you float, it will always hold you up?”

“the goal is to keep yourself moving, remember? don't linger. don't hover. you are not going to stay.”

“I wasn't aware that was how I felt, either, until it was out. And now that I've said it like that, I'm not exactly sure it is how I feel. But this isn't a piece of paper I can crumple up and throw away. they aren't words I can cross out to start over. Now they're out, and I know they'll hang here, between us, maybe forever.”

“writing, you are a girl on a trapeze, swinging high in the air. you know there is no one on the other side to catch you. but your costume is spangly and all eyes are on you and at some point you'll leap--at some point you'll flip. and there may be no net--though it may also be intact, you can't see--but at this point the jumping is everything--it's all that you've got. and as you write you understand this, you understand you won't hit send, but for now you are swinging, swinging, swinging wildly in the air. your eyes are open, your arms are outstretched.”

“no one wants to be a girl who’s picked out her own embroidered heart, string by string, and left it for the birds to tangle in their nests.”