Sarah Dessen
But there was something I liked about the idea of those seeds buried so deep having at least a chance to emergeCollection: Ideas
No," I snapped. "I mean, no. I'm answering. I'm just collecting my response." Another few seconds passed. Is there a time limit for this?" he asked. I shot him a look. "Just wondering.Collection: Mean
Even if you do make tons of new friends,” I told him, “try not to forget where you came from, okay?Collection: Trying
The chances we take, knowing no better than to fall or to stand back and hold ourselves in... protecting our hearts with the tightest of grips.Collection: Fall
There was only so much space between us, not even a real distance if measured in miles or feet or even inches, all the things that told you how far you'd come or had left to go. But it was a big space, if only for me. And as I moved forward to him covering it, he waited there on the other side. It was only the last little bit I has to go, but in the end, I knew it would be all I would truly remember. So as I kissed him, bringing this summer and everything else full circle, I let myself fall, and was not scared of the ground I knew would rise up to meet me.Collection: Summer
The way I see it," she continued, "is that some things are just meant to be the way they are.Collection: Way
closed my eyes and listened. It was like music I'd heard all my life, even more than "This Lullaby." All those keystrokes, all those letters, so many words. I brushed my fingers over the beads and watched as her image rippled, like it was on water, breaking apart gently and shimmering before becoming whole again.Collection: Eye
The silence wasn't like the ones I'd known lately, though: it wasn't empty as much as chosen. There's a entirely different feel to quiet when you're with some-one else, and at any moment it could be broken. Like the difference between a pause and an ending.Collection: Differences
And so, while the rest of the world went on unaware, drinking their coffee, reading the sports page, and picking up their dry cleaning, I leaned forward and kissed Dexter, making a choice that would change everything. Maybe somewhere there was a ripple, a bit of jump, some small shift in the universe, barely noticeable. I didn’t feel it then. I felt only him kissing me back, easing me into the sunlight as I lost myself in the taste of him and felt the world go on, just as it always had, all around us.Collection: Sports
I'd chosen instead to just change my route, go miles out of the way, as if avoiding it would make it go away once and for all.Collection: Going Away
I hoped this was true. Even if it wasn‟t, all I could do was hand over what I could, with the hope of something in return. But of course, this was easier said than done.Collection: Hands
Don't give me no rotten tomato, 'cause all I ever wanted was your sweet potato.Collection: Sweet
It's nice to have options even if you can't take them.Collection: Nice
If this was my instinct talking, I didn‟t want to hear what it was saying.Collection: Talking
But the original was there as well—more jaded and rudimentary, functional rather than romantic. It fit not just the yellow house but another door, deep within my own heart. One that had been locked so tight for so long that I was afraid to even try it for fear of what might be on the other sideCollection: Heart
Was it really this easy, once you escaped, to just not care?Collection: Care
There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.Collection: Heart
Oh darling, don’t be bitter. It’s the first instinct of the weak.Collection: Firsts
I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t tell anyone. As long as I didn’t say it aloud, it wasn’t real.Collection: Real
Something had changed in me, even if I didn’t know what it was just yet. All I could think was that I felt alive for the first time.Collection: Firsts
I find that the more I depend on real life, the less interesting the story is. It’s much more common for me to take something that almost-happened, or I wish had happened, and then follow that possibility.Collection: Real
So maybe it wasn’t the fairy tale. But those stories weren’t real anyway. Mine were.Collection: Stories
I don’t talk about my books while I’m writing them: not even my husband knows what a novel’s about until it’s done.Collection: Book
In school, writing was the only thing that really came naturally to me, but it wasn’t until college that I realized that I could do it for more than just fun.Collection: Fun
Again, it occurred to me how weird it was to be permanent in a place that to everyone else was only temporary. Like I could never be sure if they were the ones who weren’t real, or if I was.Collection: Real
I mean, it’s impossible to fake anything if you’ve already seen the other person in a way they’d never choose for you to. You can’t go back from that.Collection: Real
This is personal, she’d said. Real. This moment was too, even if you couldn’t see it at first glance. It was fake on the outside, but so true within. You only had to look, really look to tell.Collection: Real
I have SO many books I didn’t sell. Some my agent rejected outright, others made it all the way to my editor to be turned away. Not everything is a winner, which is tough when you’ve devoted eight or nine months of your life to something.Collection: Book
I think my biggest problem, though, at least in drafts, is not repeating myself. After eight books I get worried that a character or piece of dialog might be too much like something I’ve already done. So it’s a challenge to keep it fresh.Collection: Book
All we had was her room, her stories, and the quiet that settled in as we tried in vain to spread ourselves out and fill the space she’d left behind.Collection: Stories
Remy: Did you really believe, that first day, that we were meant to be together? Dexter: You’re here, aren’t you?Collection: Firsts
My agent is so totally honest, which is just what every writer needs. She won’t let me sell a crappy book, even if I want to.Collection: Book
Isn’t that the way everything begins? A night, a love, a once and for all.Collection: Romance
I always say that teenagers are the first to know if you’re pandering to them.Collection: Firsts
Not for the first time, I wished both of us could just say what we meant. But that, like so much else, was impossible.Collection: Firsts
I’m just writing what I know. I’ve never been much of a reader of fantasy, and I think you write what you, personally, enjoy reading.Collection: Reading
I think if you’re going to show a true representation of any one life, it can’t be about any one thing. I try to see more of a full picture, with the romance just a single part.Collection: Romance
I think part of the problem sometimes is that there’s so much happening in my books, to whittle it down into a single script is hard.Collection: Book