Amazing, Yetta thought. Back home I couldn't have chosen my own husband. And here I'm thinking about choosing presidents, governors, mayors, laws.

bitter is a bad way to live!

I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait

After Ive sent my revised draft to my agent and editor, they suggest more improvement sand again, this revision phase can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months.

Generally I finish a first draft in 2-6 months, then I set it aside for a while so that when I come back to it I can read it with fresh eyes and figure out how to improve it.

When writing isn't going well-then the bad thing about being a writer is that I also have the freedom and flexibility to do something badly, and no one else can fix it for me.

I started trying to write when I was in second or third grade.

It's just so much fun to make up characters, situations, and everything else about a story. I have so much freedom and flexibility to do whatever I want.

I am not just what I remember. I am also what I dream.

I like playing around with the words; I love it when I feel like I've picked the exact right word to describe whatever it is I'm trying to describe

I like to know what I'm celebrating before I put on a party hat.

Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom.

The way to live well is to feel intensely.

Why do men carry guns and build prison camps, when the nurturing earth is made for freedom?

The truly great man dwells on what is real and not what is on the surface.

Breathe in and take one step, and focus all your attention on the sole of your foot. If you have not arrived fully, one hundred percent in the here and the now, don't take the next step.

You grow, learn, and the more I can sit in silence and be comfortable with myself, the more I can make noise, as ironic and Zen Buddhist and satanic as it sounds!

I will try to work for greater reconciliation, cooperation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history.

The pathway to your best life isn't the route of denial. It's owning every moment.

Poetry is certainly something more than good sense, but it must be good sense, at all events, just as a palace is more than a house, but it must be a house, at least.