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.

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

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

I am currently in nursing school, so one day I will be both a nurse and a writer.

One thing that was inspiring to me in my research about [Georgia] O'Keeffe was to learn that in addition to her success she had very hard times, and times when she was frustrated and uninspired.

Finally, I found a wonderful agent who wanted to work with me, and she sent it to one billion publishers and received one billion rejections, until I was fortunate enough to be matched up with the Permanent Press.

Does art play a role in the greater good of society, or does it just promote the satisfaction of the artist? I go back and forth on that question.