It took seven years from the day I decided I wanted to write fiction to actually getting a book published.

I love writing about people on the road.

I almost never slept deeply anymore--as soon as she said my name, I always sat up immediately, no matter how tired I was.

I know a lot about when I was a little girl, because my sister used to keep a diary. Today I keep her diary in a drawer next to by bed. I like to see how her memories were the same as mine, but also different.

For me, books are music for my mind and my imagination. When I am stuck in something I'm writing, I simply read my way out of being stuck. You can never waste time reading.

My sister had taught me to look at the world that way, as a place that glitters, as a place where the calls of the crickets and the crows and the wind are everyday occurrences that also happen to be magic.

It took seven years from the day I decided I wanted to write fiction to actually getting a book published.