Abandonment doesn't have the sharp but dissipating sting of a slap. It's like a punch to the gut, bruising your skin and driving the precious air from your body.

If there was ever a time to boil up some grits it is now.

I take mentoring very seriously and I am on the board of an organization called Girls Write Now, where we match teen girls and writing mentors because it changes their lives.

Remember that the writing itself is good for you. If your story is so close to home that you are afraid to write it, it probably means you need to write it.

When you write a novel, you make other people see your imaginary friends.

I take mentoring very seriously and as a result I hardly get any work done during the school year.

This is what I have come to know: Our past is never passed and there is no such thing as moving on. But there is this telling and there is such a thing as passing through.

When it comes to memoir, we want to catch the author in a lie. When we read fiction, we want to catch the author telling the truth.

My first novel, Leaving Atlanta, took at look at my hometown in the late 1970s, when the city was terrorized by a serial murderer that left at least 29 African-American children dead.

It's funny how three or four notes of anger can be struck at once, creating the perfect chord of fury.

When I am writing a story it feels as real as the life I am experiencing off the page. It's an emotional illusion, I guess.

If you keep fighting with yourself, you will always win.

In peace there is profundity from which the highest respect arises from respect comes power and command therefore observe peace.

Why do they call it research if I've only done it this one time?

The atonement of Jesus Christ is the supreme act of love, the supreme example of selfless concern for others.

I like analyzing human behavior. It's complex. That's what keeps me going.

Bees are not as busy as we think they are. They just can't buzz any slower.

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

I hate to see a guy who insults a girl or is bad with her. Immediately I think she would be better if she was with me.

Brokenness is the operative issue of our time - broken souls, broken hearts, broken places.