"I really liked drama and being in plays, so when I was playing a character onstage and I could act like somebody else, then I wasn't scared or nervous, but I didn't like meeting new people when I had to be myself. That was scary."

"For each book, I do end up making a kind of playlist to fit the characters."

"Growing up, I mostly read comic books and sci-fi. Then I discovered the book 'Jane Eyre' by Jane Austen. It introduced me to the world of romance, which I have since never left. Also, the world of the first-person narrative."

"This is how many people become artists, musicians, writers, computer programmers, record-holding athletes, scientists... by spending time alone practicing what they love."

"Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts."

"I try to dig deep into the well of my subconscious. At a certain moment in that process, the lid is opened."

"I'm never going to let nobody take those kids. They Michael's kids. They have no right to try to take those kids. It's going to be a big mess over that."

"There's a catharsis in cutting down trees. But there's absolutely none of that in picking cotton. It's maddening! It's fiddly, and it pricks your fingers, and it's something that's a very hard skill if you have no alacrity for it."