Writing about being vulnerable, desperate, and lost requires a different kind of courage than writing about survival and triumph. It requires admitting you weren't always strong, weren't always making good choices, weren't always the hero of your own story. But that's where the truth lives. And that's what readers need to see.

To be truly alive, we must mourn joyfully all things that reach an inevitable end: seconds, minutes, hours, heartbeats, embraces, kisses