I was a shy, terrified kid. But I was also a kid who was lucky enough to have friends. I laughed with those friends. I had adventures. We dreamed together. I relied on them.

Island of the Blue Dolphins' by Scott O'Dell had a huge impact on me.

I think our job is to trust our readers. I think our job is to see and to let ourselves be seen. I think our job is to love the world.

My goal is two pages a day, five days a week. I never want to write, but I'm always glad that I have done it. After I write, I go to work at the bookstore.

The way we work at Pixar is we write the script, but then we quickly move on into story reel, which is basically like a comic-book version of the film. And then we do our own dialogue and music and sound effects, all in an effort to be able to basically sit in the theater and watch the movie before we shoot it, essentially.

My dream artist to play at prom would be Frank Ocean. 'Thinking Of You' is one of my favorite songs. He makes really sweet music for slow dancing at prom.

Writing books takes a long time, and one thing a writer must do is learn to live with his or her project.

As an artist, as an actor, as a writer, you have to use what's personal to you. You have to be personal about your work; otherwise, it doesn't ring true.