There is a phase in the life of every copy editor when she is obsessed with hyphens.

Something there is in cyberspace that doesn't love an apostrophe.

Why, if there is alphabet soup, do we not have punctuation cereal?

The English language is full of words that are just waiting to be misspelled, and the world is full of sticklers, ready to pounce.

Punctuation is a deeply conservative club. It hardly ever admits a new member.

The dictionary is a wonderful thing, but you can't let it push you around.

Commas, like nuns, often travel in pairs.

Everybody is a writer. Everybody uses e-mail and has Facebook pages and tweets.

The comma, if it's left out, sometimes can be a problem. There's a slogan on a T-shirt going around that "Let's Eat, Grandma," and "Let's Eat Grandma."

On the printed page, it's best to have everything - you know, to still mind your P's and Q's, dot your I's and cross your T's, yes.

Nobody knows everything-one of the pleasures of language is that there is always something new to learn-and everybody makes mistakes.

The Gospel of glad tidings is the power of God.

She couldn’t actually think of a time when Colton Brooks hadn’t owned a little piece of her heart.

What a selfish boy you are. You wished for the world and she could only give you the skies.

Do you know the legend about cicadas? They say they are the souls of poets who cannot keep quiet because, when they were alive, they never wrote the poems they wanted to.

Lives are a lot like money

I have a great deal of empathy for anyone who's having a hard time. I believe this ability to see another's viewpoint has served me well as a writer.

Is it possible that my sons-in-law will do toilets? If we raise boys to know that diapers need to be changed and refrigerators need to be cleaned, there's hope for the next generation.

Married people dont look like they have bedrooms on their minds when they look at each other. In this world, either you're virtuous or you enjoy yourself. Not both...Not both.

Venting every feeling isn't mature. Learning to deal with uncomfortable and unpleasant feelings is an important aspect of maturity.

I try to live what I consider a "poetic existence." That means I take responsibility for the air I breathe and the space I take up. I try to be immediate, to be totally present for all my work.