This was my first novel [The Dissemblers ]. I've never seriously written short stories, and actually find short stories much more intimidating as an art form than novels.

From beginning to end, the novel [Dissemblers] took about three and a half years to write. I didn't write it chronologically.

I tend to only write productively for one to two hours per day, so there is plenty of time left over for me to work a day job!

Writing a book set in New Mexico was partially a way to express my own love for the state, and partially a way to prudently follow the advice to write what you know.

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.

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!

Publishing requires a lot of persistence and a fair amount of luck.