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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I hope to work through disappointment and frustration with as much grace as [Georgia] O'Keeffe did, and I hope to have the same confidence in my own vision.