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.

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

Writing a book set in New Mexico was partially a way to express my own love for the state, and partially a way to prudently follow the advice to write what you know.

At the end, I cobbled scenes all together and smoothed out the transitions as much as possible. Incidentally, I would not recommend this approach to writing a book, and will probably not write that way again!

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.