At the beginning of the book [The Dissemblers], Ivy [Wilkes] has a long way to go in order to achieve self-sufficiency. Although she is very independent, even somewhat of a loner, she is very affected by other peoples' opinions. At the opening of the book, her ideas of success and achievement are largely defined by the approval of others; over the arc of the story, I think that begins to change a little.

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

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.

Yet [Georgia O'Keeffe ] always stayed true to her vision, and was at times uncompromising in following the path she saw for herself.

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

I lived in New Mexico until I was seventeen, and honestly I've been homesick ever since I left.