Publishing in a way doesn't have a lot to do with writing, and writing doesn't have a lot to do with publishing.

My first two novels were set in the past, and that freed me up in a lot of ways; it allowed me to find my way into my story and my characters through research.

I find I have to touch what I am working on every day, or a deep-seated dread kicks in that is very hard to overcome.

I will say in open adoption, all these choices you make about race, about the amount of mental illness you can deal with, about special needs and physical maladies, you have to lay all this out there before you know anybody's story.

I know publishing now more as an author than with occasional peaks inside those elite offices than as an industry insider. It was difficult publishing a novel the first time around, while working behind the scenes, knowing all that has to happen to make a book a success and to still make the leap as an author.

I really don't feel that writing is therapy.

The past always sort of haunts us and perhaps inspires us in some ways.