Vanessa Diffenbaugh

“I did a minor in creative writing in college, but I didn't start writing until I stayed at home with my own children.”

“I never really considered writing something that was nonfiction.”

“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.”

“It is stories - both real and fictional - that can captivate hearts, change minds and, in the most powerful examples, spur action.”

“I traveled a full two years with 'Language of Flowers.'”

“I’m talking about the language of flowers. It’s from the Victorian era, like your name. If a man gave a young lady a bouquet of flowers, she would race home and try to decode it like a secret message. Red roses mean love; yellow roses infidelity. So a man would have to choose his flowers carefully.”

“My husband was working as principal of an urban transformation high school - the kind of public charter school determined to do whatever it takes to give its mostly minority, low-income student body the education they need and deserve to be successful in life.”

“I have spent a lot of time with foster children over the years - kids for whom I have not necessarily acted as a foster parent.”

“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.”