Writing means not just staring ugliness in the face, but finding a way to embrace it.

I always appreciate people's opinions, but sometimes I have to take a step back and remember why I'm writing and what I want to do with it. Shutting out the voices is difficult but it's been good for me.

I've done without doing things, like sleeping and eating, but I need to write.

Not writing is as important as writing - go out into the world and remember how interesting it, and the people in it, are.

I used to go outside every day and invent these elaborate worlds and scenarios in my head, and when I grew too old for playing pretend, I started to write everything down instead.

I started writing because I decided I was too old to play pretend in the backyard. Then I found that I could create those imaginary worlds on the page.