When you're not sure whether you're in love with someone or not, the answer is not. Deb Caletti More Quotes by Deb Caletti More Quotes From Deb Caletti I was like a chocolate in a box, looking well behaved and perfect in place, all the while harboring a secret center. Deb Caletti chocolate secret perfect We don't want you convicted for condiment theft. You go to that prison, you'll meet big-time operators. Maple syrup stealers. Deb Caletti syrup prison want But what I wanted back had never really been there. He was a temporary illusion, a mirage of water after walking in the desert. I had made him up. And he could have killed me. You've got to stop the ride sometimes. Stop it and get off. Deb Caletti desert attitude water You were supposed to have hope, right? You were supposed to respect its power and hold on. And so I did. I held, and held, and let hope fill me. But as the days went on, it seemed I could be holding for a long, long time. Hope could be the most powerful thing or the most useless Deb Caletti useless powerful long The hope was, people like me got to finally find our place in college or in the actual world. People who understood this told you that high school wasn't the actual world, that it was more like a temporary alternate reality you were forced to believe in for four years. A video game you played, where you could never get to the next level no matter how hard you tried. Deb Caletti believe reality school Maybe we ought to look at a guy's response to our microwave from now on." Aunt Annie said. Really." Mom said. "The narcissist looks at his reflection in it. The OCD guy thinks you don't keep it clean enough.The antisocial--" Puts his fist through it because it reminds him of his father." Annie said. She'd read all of mom's books, too. And the paranoid one would be jealous of the amount of time you spend cooking." Mom said Were you using that microwave again? Is something going on between the two of you? I caught you looking right at its clock." Annie said. Deb Caletti mom father book The romantic element is what the story Essential Maps for the Lost, sort of sits on, but all the stuff below the surface is really about family. It's about the baggage we bring, both the good and the hard stuff in that baggage. It's more about the other relationships. It's about mothers and fathers and sisters and dogs, all of the pieces. It's really more about - yes, love, in its widest usage. Deb Caletti dog mother father One of the most constant and sustaining truths of my life has been this: I love the library. Deb Caletti my-life library love life I understood right from the start that every set of library doors were the sort of magic portals that lead to other lands. My God, right within reach there were dinosaurs and planets and presidents and girl detectives! Deb Caletti library magic girl god When your arms are out wide, you'll capture love and joy and golden moments but other things, too. Mistrust will sneak in on a wave of that joy, and complications will ride the backs of the golden moments, and there will be both love and the risks of love. That's the way it is. That's the design. Deb Caletti ride you joy love Often, marriage was solitude, with company. Deb Caletti often company marriage solitude I would eat fruitcake if there'd been a nuclear war and I'd run out of canned goods. Deb Caletti eat out run war You never know how - or when - the idea for a book will appear. Deb Caletti never know you book I always say that, for me, writing a book is like a wacky Greyhound bus trip - I know where I'm starting and where I'll end up, but I have no idea what will happen along the way. Deb Caletti end me book way I think a setting is hugely important. I look at setting as a character with its own look, sound, history, quirks, goofy temperaments and moods. Deb Caletti look think character history If you think about becoming a writer, that's just really one of the big dreams I had. It's really important to have those dreams and pursue your passions. Deb Caletti dreams think you important My most memorable teacher was Rich Campe, my third-grade teacher at Fairlands Elementary in Pleasanton, California. Deb Caletti rich california memorable teacher I long for books; I am utterly greedy about them. Deb Caletti books i-am greedy long 'The Nature of Jade' is about a girl who works with the elephants at the zoo near her home, and who, through her involvement with them, becomes involved with a boy and his baby. Deb Caletti boy girl nature home To be a writer is to connect and to play and to attempt to see clearly and understand. It astounds me regularly that feeling things deeply and writing them down is basically my job description. Deb Caletti feeling job understand me