I always joke that every novel is really about the same thing: one person's struggle against society.

I'm a semi-failed writer, but I'm a capital-F Failed musician.

Yes, things happened to me - brutal things - but I'm not going to give them so much clout by dwelling on them, empowering them to haunt my heart years after the events transpired. And no good comes from that. These ghosts don't need us to help them stay alive. If we're after real deal healing, these ghosts must desiccate.

My job as the novelist is to present the whole case, then the reader gets to render her verdict.

In my life the right question is simply this: What can I do to be happy today?

I'll never be the sort of author who sells that many copies. You'll never see a book of mine being sold on a table at Costco, between the extra-large jorts and a barrel of salsa. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll be indie till I die.

I used to consider myself to be a cineophile, and then I had a daughter. Ha! Now I barely see any movies.