I find that time constraints actually make me more productive, and "real world" experiences provide a lot of inspiration to write.

I'm working on a novel about a girl who grows up in the circus and her relationship with her father, who grew up in Hungary when it was under Soviet control and left during the 1956 revolution. It is told from both of their perspectives, and has been a joy (and very frustrating) to research and write. Needless to say, I am very excited about my next project!

I was only loosely aware of [Georgia] O'Keeffe's work. Primarily, I had seen her famous paintings of skulls with flowers, which are not my favorite. I didn't really become familiar with her work until after I started writing the book, but the more I learned about her the more I admired her.

When I finished the book [The Dissemblers], I sent it to one billion agents, and got one billion rejections.

I started writing about New Mexico in an autobiography class I was taking for school, and realized that it was very inspiring place for me.

Now I am as big of an [ Georgia] O'Keeffe admirer as Ivy [Wilkes] is, but that came through writing the book.

I do think that it is one of the eternal questions about art, though - is all art intrinsically selfish?