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.

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

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!

I was at an art museum with my parents, and was quite taken with a [Vincent] Van Gogh painting. I stood admiring the painting for some time, and then realized that in addition to feeling moved by the beauty of the painting, I felt a little jealous of the painter.

The book [The Dissemblers] officially came out two weeks after my thirtieth birthday...am I still young?

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

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.