Once I get my writing done, then I can turn my attention elsewhere - and not the other way around. The writing has to be the foundation.

I can think of plenty of writers whose work I revere and whose lives I know little about.

People love honesty. Honesty is medicinal, I think. It makes people feel less lonely in the world.

I feel like it's a good time to be a writer. I'm terminally optimistic. It seems like the publishing industry is in the middle of a big transition, and that the rules of the game are still sorting themselves out.

Oftentimes, if a writer really gets her hooks into me, I'll want to read interviews, or listen to an interview, or read a literary biography or a memoir of some kind. And doing so almost always deepens my enjoyment of the author and her work.

For writers, so much is done in isolation. It can be easy to feel detached, or to get a little lost along the way.

I can only imagine the quiet horror that people must endure when they meet me in person.