I take the outline from a real person as inspiration, but the in-line is totally made up. Which is why I usually invent imaginary names.

It takes a long time to write a novel when you have to keep interrupting your work to earn money.

All roads lead to Wall Street, but we feel the effects of Wall Street on every street corner. Certainly in Syracuse, N.Y., where I live.

I don't have a lot of skills, but one thing I can do is, I can compartmentalize. I can make that a little world that I can go back to, so I can be a waitress, or I can be a teacher, and then go and work on my book.

I think most writers have to have a practice of writing. For me it is very early in the morning. I try to make it a separate world from the rest of my life.

You are always working towards the moments in which characters experience reckonings or insight or change. I like to track them past those moments.

I am one Dana when I am talking to my daughter, another when I am talking to the IRS, and another still when I do an interview. These characters are just extreme versions of ordinary human self-switching.