Some people don't know what to do with an act of kindness. Jodi Picoult More Quotes by Jodi Picoult More Quotes From Jodi Picoult I consider myself spiritual and I'm married to a man who is both an atheist and a humanist, and my kids have been raised with the traditions of different religions, but they do not go to church or temple. My feeling is that everyone should be able to believe what they want or need to believe. Jodi Picoult atheist spiritual believe I write adult fiction, but a good 40 to 50 per cent of my readers are teenagers. I love that if they have to grow up and move past JK Rowling they can move to me. From Jo to Jodi! Jodi Picoult teenager growing-up moving Instead of plotting the demise of the traditional family, as some politicians and religious leaders would have you believe, gay people mow their lawns and watch 'American Idol' and video their children's concerts and have the same hopes and dreams that their straight counterparts do. Jodi Picoult religious dream children Read a ton. Take a workshop course so you learn to give and get criticism. Jodi Picoult writing-workshop criticism giving Most people in America want an easy read. I call it McFiction - books which pass right through you without you even digesting them. I don't mean a book that has two-syllable words. I mean chapters you can read in a toilet break. Happy endings. We are more of a TV culture. Jodi Picoult two mean book Writing is total grunt work. A lot of people think it's all about sitting and waiting for the muse. I don't buy that. It's a job. There are days when I really want to write, days when I don't. Every day I sit down and write. Jodi Picoult writing jobs thinking I am an activist. I have a really big pulpit with my fiction and I love knowing that I can make people think. Jodi Picoult knowing people thinking Many of my books come from what if questions that I can't answer, things that I'm worried about as either a woman, a wife, a mom, an American. Jodi Picoult wife mom book My first job was as an assistant in the local library. Self fulfilling prophecy? Jodi Picoult library self jobs If he says jump, she doesn't even ask "How high?" She goes out and buys a pogo stick. Jodi Picoult pogo-sticks asks sticks I don't know why it's called "getting lost." Even when you turn down the wrong street, when you find yourself at the dead end of a chain-link fence or a road that turnd to sand, you are somewhere. It just isn't where you expected to be. Jodi Picoult getting-lost finding-yourself links Even though it hurt, there are kinds of pain you couldn't speak out loud. Jodi Picoult speaks-out pain hurt God doesn't give people burdens they can't handle. Jodi Picoult burden giving people Energy can't be destroyed, only converted into something different. So when a person dies, where does that energy go? Jodi Picoult different energy doe Eventually, I told myself not to expect anything from him, and as a result it has gotten easier for me to take what comes. Jodi Picoult easier results But mostly I wondered why the head could move so swiftly while the heart dragged its feet. I still loved him. It felt like anything else permanent that has gone missing; a lost tooth, a severed leg. You might know better, but that doesn’t keep your tongue from poling at the hole in your gum, or your phantom limb from aching. Jodi Picoult feet heart moving If I have gained anything over these months, it is the knowledge there is no starting over- only living with the mistakes you've made. Jodi Picoult starting-over months mistake If you don't know there's an alternative, you can't miss it Jodi Picoult gourmet alternatives missing The best relationships were the ones where both sides went out of their way to make sure the other wasn't disappointed. Jodi Picoult best-relationship sides way It's crazy, right? To love someone who's hurt you? It's even crazier to think that someone who hurts you loves you. Jodi Picoult crazy hurt love