I am a tragically bad artist.

I was envious of [Vincent] Van Gogh because I could never make a painting that beautiful! (Ridiculous, I know.) That was when the character of Ivy [Wilkes] began to take shape for me.

I hope to work through disappointment and frustration with as much grace as [Georgia] O'Keeffe did, and I hope to have the same confidence in my own vision.

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

I was loosely aware that most of my characters were fundamentally selfish people, but I didn't intentionally make that a theme.

I did take one drawing class in school, but for this book I spent a lot of time talking to painters and asking them silly questions.

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.