CONJUGATE THIS:I cut class, you cut class, he, she, it cuts class. We cut class, they cut class. We all cut class. I cannot say this in Spanish because I did not go to Spanish...

Yes it is, because you can only be brave if you’re scared.

Pie makes everybody happy.

I’d given him bits and pieces of my peculiar life, but colored softer and funnier than they had been. I’d painted my dad as Don Quixote in a semi, on a quest for philosophical truths...

I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner.

I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way…. I didn’t try hard enough to swallow myself.

I reach for funny books all the time to help me get through life.

I wonder how long it would take for anyone to notice if I just stopped talking.

That’s such bullshit, Mythology repeated by parents because it lets them force their kids into sports and push them too hard by pretending that in the end it will pay off with the holy scholarship....

Tell me this is a nightmare

I don’t reread my books after they’re published, because it’s agony.

The best time to talk to ghosts is just before the sun comes up. That’s when they can hear us true.

If I ever form a clan, we’ll be the anti-cheerleaders and walk under the bleacher forming mild acts of mayhem.

I kissed him until everything that hurt inside me melted into a pool of black water so deep I couldn’t touch the bottom. As long as I was touching him, I wouldn’t drown.

I want to be in fifth grade again. Now, that is a deep dark secret, almost as big as the other one. Fifth grade was easy — old enough to play outside without Mom, too...

There was a loud shuffling above. A line of redcoats took their position at the edge of the ravine and aimed down at the rebels.”Present!” the British officer screamed to his men.”Present!” yelled the American...

My parents didn’t raise me to be religious. The closest we come to worship is the Trinity of Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. I think the Merryweather cheerleaders confuse me because I missed out on...

I stuff my mouth with old fabric and scream until there are no sounds left under my skin.

I’ve dealt with depression my entire life, on and off, which makes me the perfect author for teenage readers.

My good sense bitch-slapped my estrogen and told her to get a grip.

Yeah, you’re bigger and stronger, but if you touch this, I will hurt you.

Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it’s because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left...

I’m a big ‘Star Trek’ fan.

I want to eat like a normal person eats, but I needto see my bones or I will hate myself even more and Imight cut out my heart or take every pill that was evermade.

Principal Principal: Where’s your late pass, mister?Errant Student: I’m on my way to get one now. PP: But you can’t be in the hall without a pass. ES: I know, I’m so upset. That’s why...

Can’t escape pain, kiddo. Battle through it and you get stronger.

There is something about Christmas that requires a rug rat. Little kids make Christmas fun. I wonder if could rent one for the holidays. When I was tiny we would by a real tree and...

I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame.

I just thought of a great theory that explains everything. When I went to that party, I was abducted by aliens. They have created a fake Earth and fake high school to study me and...

Melancholy held me hostage, and the bees built a hive of sadness in my soul.

The feedback I get is that my books are honest. I don’t sugar-coat anything. Life is really hard.

Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren’t.

The smoke shifted direction and I breathed in. Breathed out. On the inhale I was angry. On the exhale…there it was again. Fear. The fear made me angry and the anger made me afraid and...

I have never heard a more eloquent silence.

Sometimes things just fall out of your head on the paper, and if you’re smart, you learn not to touch them.

Another page turns on the calendar, April now, not March……….I am spinning the silk threads of my story, weaving the fabric of my world…I spun out of control. Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living...

A little kid asks my dad why that man is chopping down the tree.Dad: He’s not chopping it down. He’s saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By...

Could he hear my heart pounding?

It’s bad timing, but a lot of kids become teenagers just as their parents are hitting their mid-life crisis. So everybody’s miserable and confused and seeking that new sense of identity.

No. Absolutely not. I forbid it. You’ll have nightmares.” “She was my friend! You must allow me. Why are you so horrid?” As soon as the angry words were out of my mouth, I knew...

I watch the Eruptions. Mount Dad, long dormant, now considered armed and dangerous. Mount Saint Mom, oozing lava, spitting flame. Warn the villagers to run into the sea.

I need a new friend. I need a friend, period. Not a true friend, nothing close or share clothes or sleepover giggle giggle yak yak. Just a pseudo-friend, disposable friend. Friend as accessory. Just so...

I’ve written in every imaginable location; a repurposed closet, the kitchen table, the bleachers while my kids had basketball practice, the front seat of the car when they were at soccer. In airports. On trains....

And that’s the problem. When you’realive, people can hurt you. It’s easier to crawl into a bonecage or a snowdrift of confusion. It’s easier to lock everybodyout.But it’s a lie.

Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.

I could never hate you, even if I wanted to.

We’re good at taking care of little kids, and spend a lot of energy teaching them things like how to read. But when kids get as tall as their parents and can look them in...

I am angry that I starved my brain and that I sat shivering in my bed at night instead of dancing or reading poetry or eating ice cream or kissing a boy…

Why are you being so mean?””Friends tell friends the truth.””yeah, but not to hurt, to help.

The world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don’t need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born...