Dogs Like Everyone. Cats Choose Who To

She Holds Herself With Such Reserve. She Smiles, But The Smile Doesn't Reach Her Eyes, Even In The Company Of The Girls She's Chosen To Eat With. Why? I Have No Clue, And I Really Don't Want To Spend My Time Worrying About It. But My Brain Pushes At The Question Anyway. Why Are People Aloof? Because They Don't Want To Let Others In. Why Don't They Want To Let Others In? Well, Sometimes Because They're Shy, And Sometimes Because They're Convinced Of Their Own Superiority. But Those Aren't The Only Reasons. Sometimes It's Because Thay Have Something To Hide.

I've Written A Lot Of Novels For Teens And Tweens ... But I'd Never Really Tackled The North Carolina Side Of Me. And It's So Strong And So Important, And Yet I Hadn't Acknowledged It. And So One Of The Things I Wanted To Do In "shine" Is Take That On.

Yes, That Man Acted Ugly," She Told Us In Plain English. "but Throwing More Ugliness Back At Him Ain't The Answer.

Curse False-hand-holding Boys!

Also, As An Author, Character Has Always Been What I'm Most Interested In - Much More So Than Plot Or Setting, Although Those Are Good Things Too.