A man notices a womans figure when she walks in a room. Women have eight million words for blue; a man says dark blue or light blue.

The truth is rarely as dreadful or as terrifying as what one imagines.

For me, a good YA novel is the best kind of comfort food.

I was an outsider, never quite part of what was going on, always looking in. It turned out to be great preparation for writing fiction.

Write what you care about, what interests and intrigues you.

The book that made a lasting impression was the one my mother gave each of us when she decided we were ready for our first "adult novel," Lucy Maud Montgomery's The Blue Castle.

Our house was awash in books, and my mother doled out her favorites like they were special treats - which they were.

Phoebe Wolkind Ephron cracked wise like Dorothy Parker and looked like Katharine Hepburn.

Outlining is like putting on training wheels. It gives me the courage to write, but we always go off the outline.

My rule of writing is that no one can do what you can do, so jealousy or competitiveness are pointless. I am always happy when one of my sisters has a book published that I get to read.

AS YOU GIVE OUT SO SHALL YOU RECEIVE.

He wanted nothing to do with her. He wanted everything to do with her.

To wish a life without stairs, without hills and mountains is to wish a dim life without the joy of rising with our own efforts!

I've always wanted to push myself and move with the tide. That's just how I am and it's worked for me.

The only way through death is death itself.

It is, of course, the first recourse of every elitist to see social barbarism in others.

Sometimes being a little out of control makes the best music and allows others to blossom as well.

Being on the road is like a campout. I'm the only girl. The guys in my band are like my big brothers. It's definitely an adventure, but it can be a nomadic lifestyle.

Come near me and I'll rip your wings off and beat you with them.

How in the world any one weighing 185 pounds can be cute is beyond me.