It was just you had to be strong, and if you weren't strong you're a victim and you're not going to make it. That was the reality when I was growing up.

I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.

Perfection is an unattainable goal. It isn't going to be perfect. Just get words down on paper, and when you stumble to what you think is the end of the book, you will have hundreds of pages of words that came out of your head. It may not be perfect, but it looks like a book.

If I'd been easily discouraged, I could have been a one-hit wonder.

I curate my life in a way. It's always playing on my mind, kind of a love-hate relationship. I'm not one of those people who's, like, 'I wish Facebook wasn't around,' because, you know, it is what it is.

If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own.

Friendship is the most important thing of all.

There is no friendship out there. When you race, you have to fight. That's it.