From writer and editor Andrea Pinkney:

What do you bring that nobody else can bring? Show me in your writing. Depart your comfort zone.

Gems from a summer SCBWI conference agent panel:

Keep Trying. Keep going, even on those days you want to curl up and hide under the bed. Keep going.

Don't rush your endings.

Do it because you love it. Be willing to scrap a manuscript, because each one brings us to the next. Seek out your peers.

From the wonderful and witty Carolyn Mackler:

Aim high! Remember the excitement, hope and novelty of the teen years. Anything can happen -- your life can change in an instant.

A great nugget from Melissa Manlove:

If you tell a story that has truth buried in it, it will feel true. There's no pressure to discover the emotional core of your story at the beginning. The first draft comes from your subconscious -- you leave yourself clues as to what the story is about.

From the grossly talented Matt de la Pena:

It's all about how hard you work when nobody's watching you.

The wonderful Kirby Larson, quoting Robert Frost:

Leap and the net will appear.

From my friend and amazing writer Laurie Halse Anderson:

Resolve to write. Exhausted and sleep deprived equals great writing. Don't put kids to sleep - wake 'em up, for God's sake!