I remember when they started publishing Latino fiction years ago. You had to be really good to get published. Now you don't have to be that good.

Being on a highway, all that speed and aggression, is very terrifying to me.

That's why it's important to be multilingual, because it teaches you so much about your own language.

I don't think I'll write a large novel again because it was like being in jail for me. Even though that's the funniest book I've ever written, it was the saddest period of my life.

Everything that I write comes when it wants to, out of its own need and it dictates its form. I don't say, "I am going to write a novel."

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.

Generally if you're a daughter in a Mexican family, no one wants to tell you anything; they tell you the healthy lies about your family.