I still get rejections - frequently - and my goal isn't to never fail, to never be turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't. And in order to do that, I have to constantly put myself out there, to judgment, critique, and rejection.

Young people like to think they're invincible. They don't like to face any situation where they've gotten weaker instead of stronger.

As for advice for aspiring authors, the best I can give is to be brave. It sounds like a simple enough thing, but it's not. Rejection is such an integral part of this journey, and it never goes away.

I love being new places and hate getting there, and have been known to say on multiple occasions that I would give anything from a piece of my soul to a limb to a portion of my life savings to teleport. Especially when bad weather keeps me off planes.

The police came to me to say I had death threats and that I had to be careful!

The courage of the Syrian protesters is remarkable, for they face prison, torture, or death every time they lift a banner.

For some odd reason, the expression 'death of a poet' always sounds somewhat more concrete than 'life of a poet.'

Sometimes I have to compromise my views, but I never compromise on issues like the death penalty and the arm trade laws, despite what the readers or letters may say.