Sometimes, I feel my breath coming in shorter, quicker, spastic bursts, feel my heart threaten to thunder through my ribs, feel sweat beading on my brow...and I know it’s time to bust out those “chocolate frogs” from Harry Potter.

— Shannon Celebi

The bottom line was that I was in an abusive relationship.

— Shannon Celebi

Then the weeks rolled by in a sinister psych ward haze filled with white-coated orderlies and rocking whack-job patients torn straight from some old Jack Nicholson film, all anti-psychotic meds and padded lonely cells...

— Shannon Celebi

Through career fumbles and life changes, she supported me. Through shattered dreams and hopes almost-realized, she supported me too.

— Shannon Celebi

Using one’s beauty was the only way a smart girl could get by, at least that’s how it was back then, though even for a smart girl there were really only three professions. You could be a nurse or a teacher or a wife.

— Shannon Celebi

Water. Like a blanket. Dark. Intoxicating. Cold.

— Shannon Celebi

We didn’t want to admit it then, but we were friends. Best friends.

— Shannon Celebi

When I was twenty-something, I asked my father, “When did you start feeling like a grownup?” His response: “Never.

— Shannon Celebi

Wine and a straitjacket. That pretty much sums it up.

— Shannon Celebi

Writing is a solitary business. It’s just you and your characters and a blank page you need to fill.

— Shannon Celebi