Sitting and waiting for something to happen was the worst kind of torture. Sara Zarr More Quotes by Sara Zarr More Quotes From Sara Zarr I played the clarinet, and my sister played the violin... If wed had the discipline and the passion, maybe we could have been good. Sara Zarr violin passion discipline My first job is to write the characters as full and authentic people as well as I can. Sara Zarr writing jobs character I wouldn't say I'm stuck in my adolescence, but I think, like a lot of people, I carry my teen years with me. I feel really in touch with those feelings, and how intense and complicated life seems in those years. Sara Zarr people years thinking I'm always in a place that is sincere but conflicted about different things that come with being a Christian and being an active, churchgoing Christian. Sara Zarr sincere different christian My books have been translated into various languages and sold in other countries, but I never have any contact with the foreign publishers and am so disconnected from that process that it seems almost imaginary. With 'How to Save a Life', I worked closely with Usborne editors and have been involved in the publicity. Sara Zarr editors country book My parents met in music school and my father was a music professor and conductor. Growing up, we always had classical and contemporary music playing. There was a lot of Mozart and the Beatles. Sara Zarr growing-up father school One of my favorite authors is Robert Cormier. He was a devout Catholic and a very nice man, which might not be the impression you get from reading his books. Sara Zarr nice reading book When the reader and one narrator know something the other narrator does not, the opportunities for suspense and plot development and the shifting of reader sympathies get really interesting. Sara Zarr suspense opportunity interesting I wanted to be free to write the way I wanted to write, and my impression of Christian publishing, at least in fiction, was that there wasn't room for what I wanted to write. Sara Zarr christian writing fiction There's a lot that is awful. That's the struggle of getting old. To make sure you don't let what's hard...obscure the beauty. Sara Zarr obscure awful struggle We'd need a miracle," he says. "A real one. Do you think those happen anymore? Sara Zarr miracle real thinking It's like a Venn diagram of tragedy. Sara Zarr diagrams tragedy It's not words, so much, just my mind going blank and thoughts reaching up up up, me wishing I could climb through the ceiling and over the stars until I can find God, really see God, and know once and for all that everything I've believed my whole life is true, and real. Or, not even everything. Not even half. Just the part about someone or something bigger than us who doesn't lose track. I want to believe the stories, that there really is someone who would search the whole mountainside just to find that one lost thing that he loves, and bring it home. Sara Zarr stars real believe the past only had whatever power you gave it; life was what you made it and if you wanted something different from what you had, it was up to you to make it happen. Sara Zarr up-to-you different past Other memories stick, no matter how much you wish they wouldn’t. They’re like a song you hate but can’t ever get completely out of your head, and this song becomes the background noise of your entire life, snippets of lyrics and lines of music floating up and then receding, a crazy kind of tide that never stops. Sara Zarr hate song memories A know a place called New Beginnings, but I don't think it works quite like that. You can't just erase everything that came before. Sara Zarr erase new-beginnings thinking Can it really be love if we don't talk that much, don't see each other? Isn't love something that happens between people who spend time together and know each other's faults and take care of each other?...In the end, I decide that the mark we've left on each other is the color and shape of love. Sara Zarr color together people Remember that no matter where I am or what I'm doing I've got a special place inside me that's all for you. It's been there since the day we met. Sara Zarr special matter remember I looked at my hand resting on the shelf of the prop cabinet, thinking of the scars that were there whether anyone could see them or not. Sara Zarr cabinets hands thinking Ethan and I are done," I said finally. "I'm sorry." "He was my first boyfriend." "I know." "The only real boyfriend I've had. I'm a senior in high school and he was my only real boyfriend." "I know." "And I won't find another one at Jones Hall. That is guaranteed." "Okay." "This is all very sad and tragic," I said. Alan unwrapped a sleeve of Smarties. "Yet, oddly, you don't seem that upset." "I know. Sara Zarr senior real sorry