For me, the lives of children and teens are interesting - they are always changing. There's just so much to sort through. All of this makes for good plots and complex characters.

I teach young people how the arts can be used to stand up against injustice.

In my writing I hope to have a balance between the good and bad, the hard and soft.

Picture books are more difficult for me because it is telling a huge story in the least amount of words.

I have always known that I wanted to work with youth through the arts and I believe the arts can help young people cope with hardship.

There are many writers who have influenced me and who I enjoy reading, but Lucille Clifton and Gwendolyn Brooks are at the top of the list.

It felt terrific. It felt deeper and richer than laughter. It felt like opening a door and tumbling headfirst into a pile of feathers.

Jewels five-words-long, That on the stretch'd forefinger of all Time Sparkle forever.

We had a lot to do with Randy being fired. If we were to do a lot better, then it probably wouldn't have happened.

We trifle when we assign limits to our desires, since nature hath set none.

I strode toward Mr. Coffee with lust in my eyes. We'd had a thing for quite some time now Mr. Coffee and I.

I shall tell my doctors baseball has more curative powers than all their medicine.

I'm never gonna step away from stand-up. I can't. That's what got me where I am, and that's also my muse. That's how I stay level-headed. That's what keeps me going.

I exercise three to four times a week, doing the Tracy Anderson Method, which involves toning and strengthening our small muscle groups.

I was in love many times. This is very good for a woman.

Before me floats an image, man or shade, / Shade more than man, more image than a shade.