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

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.

The motivation to paint seems more pure, or at least more personal, when the artist is doing it for herself.

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 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.

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