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 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!

I've spent many a day worrying that I will never be able to write again!

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 am a tragically bad artist.

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

Ivy [Wilkes] does exhibit a certain impatience at the beginning of the book [The Dissemblers]. She doesn't want to wait through years of hard work and insignificance to make her mark on the art world. Part of her growth is in realizing - even embracing - that the process of art is more important than the product or the recognition.