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 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.

One thing that was inspiring to me in my research about [Georgia] O'Keeffe was to learn that in addition to her success she had very hard times, and times when she was frustrated and uninspired.

I did make several trips to the very wonderful [Georgia] O'Keeffe museum. Besides the art (my favorite paintings are from her Pelvis series) my favorite thing about the museum is the architecture. I love how enormously tall the doors are - it is like going into a church. There is also something home-like about the layout of the museum. I wish I could live there!

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

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