Taylor Jenkins Reid

I have often lost whole days jumping from one Wikipedia article after another in an attempt to understand the full scope of marriage as an institution.

It wasn't until I set out to write a novel about marriage that I realized how little I knew about the institution.

I had moved across the country, taken internships, networked, worked long hours, and called in favors to get there. And I had done it. I was working in Hollywood. So imagine the melancholy I found myself in when I realized that I didn't love casting the way that I always thought I would.

Try everything with an open heart, looking to fall in love.

I am endlessly inspired by both the tenderness that can exist between two people and the excitement of falling in love. I'm very fortunate that I've been able to explore that in novels, a television show, some early development film projects, and essays about my own life.

My passion is capturing what it feels like to love, be it romantic or otherwise. I love to watch two people realize what they meant for each other - and that goes across all media, books, TV, movies, personal essays; everything.

I love reading books that can break my heart.

We often compare the experience of writing a book to that of playing God. It is up to us, and only us, to determine what happens to the people we invent. It is for us alone to determine what is good and bad, just and unjust, appropriate and inappropriate for the worlds we create. I love that about writing books.

Some days, I'll tell you that everything in life was meant to be and that there is an order to the universe. Other days, I'm convinced it's all a combination of luck and opportunity.

Life is too short to be on a diet.

Notice the times in your life when you go above and beyond simply because you care so much.

You have to know your value, demand to be respected, speak your mind, and dare to ask for what you want. I struggle with every single one of these.