To me, the Virgen de Guadalupe is just a vessel for me to recognize my own God within myself.

I live in a town that's two and a half hours from the border. I know people who have lived in San Antonio for generations, sometimes seven generations, their families are from there, and they are of Mexican descent, and they've never gone farther than the border.

That's what you need for your writing - to learn how to be present, learn how to be calm. So take that nap, do that meditation.

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.

The border between the dead and the living, if you're Mexican, doesn't exist. The dead are part of your life. Like my dad, who's not here, but he's here.That's why there's the Day of the Dead. There's such a connection with the dead.

The ego's blocking the light from coming.

I'm not afraid to say what I'm afraid of. Does that make me fearless?