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

I was envious of [Vincent] Van Gogh because I could never make a painting that beautiful! (Ridiculous, I know.) That was when the character of Ivy [Wilkes] began to take shape for me.

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!

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

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

I knew the basic outline of the novel [The Dissemblers] and would write whatever scene of the book I felt particularly excited about at the time.

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