It was a catch-22: If you didn’t put the trauma behind you, you couldn’t move on. But if you did put the trauma behind you, you willingly gave up your claim to the person you were before it happened. Jodi Picoult More Quotes by Jodi Picoult More Quotes From Jodi Picoult My friends say I have two speeds: fast and blistering. Jodi Picoult my-friends speed two People are always afraid of the unknown - and banding together against the Thing That Is Different From Us is a time-honoured tradition for rallying the masses. Jodi Picoult different together people I'm always writing, even when I'm not at my desk. I write on my hands. I used to write on my kids' hands, too, but they don't let me any more. When I'm driving I sometimes write all the way Jodi Picoult writing kids hands I will say overwhelmingly what means so much more to me than the opinion of one reviewer are the letters I get from fans who tell me how a particular book has changed their life. Jodi Picoult fans mean book There's that unwritten schism that literary writers get all the awards and commericals writers get all the success. Jodi Picoult schism unwritten awards It's certainly my honor to be able to, hopefully, change the world a tiny bit, one mind at a time. Jodi Picoult honor mind world I think there are readers out there and I don't think the book is dead. And more importantly I don't think readers have to choose between literary and commercial fiction. Jodi Picoult book fiction thinking I'm not going to tell a person how to think, don't believe in that. What I want to do, when I write these books, is just to say don't be so sure of yourself. Let me pull the carpet out from underneath you, and let's see if you can still find the footing. Jodi Picoult writing believe book I think many of my books, including "Handle with Care," including "My Sister's Keeper" circle back to how far are we willing to go for the people we love? I think love changes the way we think. It's the thing that takes you out of what your normal set of beliefs would be. Jodi Picoult circles book thinking The act of writing... is the act of trying to understand why my opinion is what it is. And ultimately, I think that's the same experience the reader has when they pick up one of my books. Jodi Picoult writing book thinking I don't have to live the lives of my characters to write about them. It's about really putting yourself in their shoes. Jodi Picoult shoes writing character Writer's block is for people who have the luxury of time. Jodi Picoult luxury block people When your existence is hell, death must be heaven. Jodi Picoult hell existence heaven A duck walks into a bar and the bartender asks, what'll it be? The duck doesn't answer because it's a duck. Jodi Picoult bars ducks answers Maybe Fate isn't the pond you swim in but the fisherman floating on top of it, letting you run the line wild until you are weary enough to be reeled back in. Jodi Picoult fate swim running How could you not want to draw breath one more day? How could your own life be such a cheap commodity? But then I started to understand: when your existence is hell, death must be heaven. Jodi Picoult life-is want heaven A lie, as you probably know, has a taste all its own. Blocky and bitter and never quite right. Jodi Picoult toffee never-quit lying It's because of libraries that books like mine get recommended to book clubs and avid readers, who in turn pass them onto others looking to be whisked away from the world for a little while...and perhaps to learn a bit about themselves in the process. Jodi Picoult library avid book You can argue that it's a different world now than the one when Matthew Shepard was killed, but there is a subtle difference between tolerance and acceptance. It's the distance between moving into the cul-de-sac and having your next door neighbor trust you to keep an eye on her preschool daughter for a few minutes while she runs out to the post office. It's the chasm between being invited to a colleague's wedding with your same-sex partner and being able to slow-dance without the other guests whispering. Jodi Picoult daughter running sex I am not keeping my distance because it is uncomfortable for me, but because it is uncomfortable for them. Jodi Picoult uncomfortable distance