Everyone still deserves to have their say.
Often, when the last page is turned, it will haunt you.
I think that's probably the most devastating thing - when someone who is larger than life winds up a shadow of themselves in a hospital bed.
Write a living will. And become an organ donor!
Have a conversation with your family about your end-of-life wishes while you are healthy. No one wants to have that discussion... but if you do, you'll be giving your loved ones a tremendous gift, since they won't have to guess what your wishes would have been, and it takes the onus of responsibility off of them.
I haven't run out of ideas yet. Usually while I'm working on a book, I'm doing research for the next one!
I think that ordinary people who are placed in extraordinary circumstances find themselves pushed beyond their limits, and learn new truths about themselves.
A lot of the moms of autistic kids I met are so consumed with being their child's advocate that there's no room for anything else - least of all themselves. It's why so many marriages end in divorce, when a child is diagnosed on the spectrum.
Technically I've improved - I might turn a metaphor in five words now, where years ago, it would have taken me a paragraph. I can't say it was intentional - but you know what they say about practice making perfect...!
I think my writing has become "cleaner."
I never lose sight of the fact that before I was a writer, I was a teacher. I still am. My classroom's just gotten a little bigger.
I have always written about subjects that engage me - questions I can't answer myself. They apparently tend to be big moral and ethical issues!
Hopefully, more and more people will come to understand that a child who's "different from" is not one who is "lesser than."
A lot of the hallmark behaviors of autism - flat affect, stimming, not looking someone in the eye - could very easily be misinterpreted as signs of guilt.
The legal system works really well, if you communicate a certain way. But if you don't, it all goes to Hell in a handbasket really quickly.
The book that made me want to be a writer in the first place was Gone with the Wind - I read it and wanted to create a whole world out of words, too.
Life can change in an instant.
I think this is every mother's worst nightmare - something dreadful happening to her child.
Stem cell research has become such a polarizing issue in America... and I wanted to bring it down to the personal level, instead of the political.
I try really hard to ask people to take a look at their bookshelves. Are there female writers on it? Gay writers? Writers of color? There should be.
In America right now, the people who talk about race the most are people of color - and if we are going to move the needle forward, it's WHITE people who need to acknowledge their role in racism.
The question I hate the most is "How did you DO it - write novels and raise your children simultaneously!" I mean, do MALE authors get asked that??
My favorite part of any event is a Q&A. I do get asked a lot of the same questions but every now and then someone surprises me - and I LOVE that.
To me, a good event is governed by the audience.
I love meeting my readers - so the more I can talk to at one event the better!
Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends
or simply: