I think so often, especially if the work is perceived of as being drawn from life, the woman, not her book, is reviewed.

The nonfiction novel or literary memoir as authored by women is usually given a much harder time in mainstream criticism.

I think that writing and publishing are different. I think I will always write; I might not always publish. The idea of not publishing is wonderful!

I think the female first-person is still dismissed, demonized, especially if the book does not end on an empowering note, especially if the main character is perceived as unlikeable, or too privileged.

I think the key to writing the truth of our existences, so much of this is being incubated online, is examining the conflicts and the messiness, our sometimes dividedness, dealing with gender and other hierarchies, and also our identities outside of them, deeply personal and yet somehow critical and circumspect.

The hope in literature is that we are allowed to be imperfect, to write of our imperfection, without being overly critiqued for being unlikeable.

I always remember my childhood as traumatic, for various reasons; I always felt alienated, outside.