I've always wanted to be a writer. I've been writing since I was probably four years old - it was nonsense, but it was still my little attempts at being a storyteller.

Knowing that a story needs to be told is a great motivator, even if telling a given story comes at a price. Writing Hunger has been the most difficult writing of my life, and it's the rawest and perhaps most necessary. We'll see how people take it. I always strive to write beyond personal catharsis because though I write first and foremost for myself, I do recognize that I need to look outward as much if not more than I look inward, so the reader has something with which they can engage.

If I cannot rest and relax, all the work I do is for naught.

The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating.

We have this cultural obsession with work and productivity as if we're better people if we don't stop and take some time for ourselves.

Readers need to stop assuming characters are white if race isn't explicitly defined.

I'll learn how to rest, though. I can still learn new tricks.