"I'm one hundred percent sure about Edward," I told him without missing a beat."
— Stephenie Meyer (Breaking Dawn)

""...he had a way of taking your hand which made it clear he'd have to be the one to let go."

From Alice Hoffman's "Local Girls", pg.102."
— Alice Hoffman (Local Girls)

"I know hate is a strong word and everything, but its okay: we're teenagers."
— Cecily von Ziegesar (You Know You Love Me)

"It's like I'm thirteen again and he's my crush. All I'm aware of in this entire roomful of people is him. Where he is, what he's doing, who he's talking to."
— Sophie Kinsella (Remember Me?)

"I'm just the librarian. I can only give you the books. I can't give you the answers."
— Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures)

""Whatis ur definition of skan?" I ask
"A skank fucks skeezas she barely knows.""
— Megan McCafferty (Sloppy Firsts)

"“Can I ask you something personal?”

“Six inches but I tell everyone eight.”
"
— John Barnes (Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973)

"Don't forget - no one else sees teh world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell."
— Charles de Lint (The Blue Girl)

"The thing to remember when you're writing is, it's not whether or not what you put on paper is true. It's whether it wakes a truth in your reader."
— Charles de Lint (The Blue Girl)

"Well, it probably won't live. They say the way her mama beat her she lucky to be alive herself.

She be lucky if it don't live. Bound to be the ugliest thing walking.

Can't help but be. Ought to be a law: two ugly people doubling up like that to make more ugly. Be better off in the ground.

Well, I wouldn't worry none. It be a miracle if it live.""
— Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye)

"I believed in immaculate conception and spontaneous combustion. I believed in aliens from outer space and vampires, prophecy, and the resurrection of the dead. I had deja vu many times each day. I was thirteen."
— Kate Braverman (Small Craft Warnings: Stories, Western Literature)

"Mom always taught me not to use the word hate. As if it were profanity."
— Tedd Arnold (Rat Life)

"There is something about the fifteen-year-old mind -- a kind of skin or veil or walling off from feelings not your own."
— Lisa Michaels (Split: A Counterculture Childhood)

"Judul: Penyunting Sinting: Ketika Naskah Bikin Pusing
Penulis: Gari Raka Sambu
Penerbit: Bukune
Cetakan: Pertama, September 2008

Tampilan buku yang menarik. Desain layout simple tapi nice bergambar tumpukan naskah dan mesin ketik, sangat mampu---minimal---membuat mata berhenti sejenak menatap buku yang satu ini. Apalagi ditambah dengan kata "SINTING" pada judul, bisa dipastikan banyak orang "sinting" yang tergerak untuk meraih "Penyunting Sinting".

Pertama kali aku "bertemu" dengannya, tanganku segera mengambil dan mengarahkan mata ke sinopsis di cover belakang. Lucu, kata ini yang hadir pertama kali di kepalaku. Bayangan akan terpingkal-pingkal mampu membuatku tergerak untuk membawanya pulang.

Namun...semua tak seperti harapan."Kutukan John Lennon" aku lewati tanpa ada tawa bahkan senyum, "Lika-Liku Laki-laki Gak Laku-Laku", "Pagar Makan Nasi", "Semua Karena Deadline", "Mr.P" semua hanya terasa sebagai candaan garink yang ada dalam kisah-kisah tersebut. Sang tawa baru hadir saat aku membaca "Fitness Fobia". Canda mengalir---tanpa banyolan ngalor ngidul---saat perjuangan Gari ngangkat barbel 10 ton membuatku ngakak. Selebihnya kembali ke candaan garink yang kali ini hanya mampu membuat bibirku senyum.

Pekerjaan editor.

Buku "Penyunting Sinting" memberiku sedikit gambaran tentang pekerjaan seorang editor. Pertempuran dengan deadline, permainan kata-kata, pentingnya EYD dan gambaran macam penulis. Gambaran yang sedikitnya mampu mengurangi kekecewaan tawa-pingkal yang aku harapkan sebelumnya. "
— Gari Raka Sambu

"Did you hear about that girl?

What? Pregnant?

Yes. But guess who?

Who? I don't know all these little old boys.

That's just it. Ain't no little old boy. They say it's Cholly.

Cholly? Her Daddy?

Uh-huh.

Lord. Have mercy. That dirty nigger.

Member that time he tried to burn them up? I knew he was crazy for sure then.

What's she gone do? The mama?

Keep on like she been. I reckon. He taken off.

County ain't gone let her keep that baby, is they?

Don't know.

None of them Breedloves seem right anyhow. That boy is off somewhere every minute, and the girl was always foolish.

Don't nobody know nothing about them anyway. Where they come from or nothing. Don't seem to have no people.

What you reckon make him do a thing like that?

Beats me. Just nasty.

Well, they ought to take her out of school.

Ought to. She carry some of the blame.

Oh come on. She ain't but twelve or so.

Yeah, but you never know. How come she didn't fight him?

Maybe she did.

Yeah? You never know.

Well, it probably won't live. They say the way her mama beat her she lucky to be alive herself.

She be lucky if it don't live. Bound to be the ugliest thing walking.

Can't help but be. Ought to be a law: two ugly people doubling up like that to make more ugly. Be better off in the ground.

Well, I wouldn't worry none. It be a miracle if it live."
— Toni Morrison