1.  There’s still something so pure and heartfelt and emotional and genuine about a bouquet of flowers that, even with all the advances of technology and the millions of ways we have to communicate with each other, flowers are still relevant in my opinion.
 
2.  Our standards for motherhood are so high that many of us harbor intense, secret guilt for every harsh word we speak to our children, every negative thought that enters our minds.
 
3.  The Victorian language of flowers began with the publication of ‘Le Language des Fleurs,’ written by Charlotte de Latour and printed in Paris in 1819. To create the book – which was a list of flowers and their meanings – de Latour gathered references to flower symbolism throughout poetry, ancient mythology, and even medicine.
 
4.  I’ve worked with homeless kids, kids in foster care, and I’ve never met a kid who couldn’t be reached.
 
5.  The names of common flowers change from decade to decade, so I spent a lot of time with old outdated dictionaries, with awful flower names like ‘mouse-eared chickweed.’
 
6.  We all make mistakes, and we all need second chances. For youth in foster care, these mistakes are often purposeful – if not consciously so; a way to test the strength of a bond and establish trust in a new parent.
 
7.  We are more and more into technology. Everything is texting, and everything is instant. Flowers are completely impractical as a method of communication when you could just send a text.
 
8.  You have to really prove yourself to young people, and if your answer is clear and consistent and loving – even if it’s angry and disappointed – what’s important is that you’re being real and honest and not going anywhere.
 
9.  The most violent and troubling stories become part of our national consciousness about foster care.
 
10. My last book, ‘The Language of Flowers,’ I wrote completely on naptime, when my little kids were asleep.
 
11. It is stories – both real and fictional – that can captivate hearts, change minds and, in the most powerful examples, spur action.
 
12. There aren’t always, especially in low-income communities, the arts and the dance and the drama and the things that can really show a kid, ‘Look, even if I’m three years behind in math, there’s something I’m good at that can help me be successful in life.’
 
13. Though politics is by nature divisive, surely we all can agree that foster children need stability, safety, education, opportunity – and love.
 
14. I was a screenwriting and studio art major in college, so even though I don’t have any training as a floral designer, I have a very particular visual aesthetic.
 
15. I don’t think there is anything magical about the language of flowers in real life or in my book.