I was reading all these male writers who were doing wild and wonderful things. It gave me permission to experiment.

There was a time when I used to go to Mexico every year. But then Mexico changed a lot - between 1995 and 2005, Mexico changed a lot.

I was looking at a lot of experimental writers, and I was very intrigued by short-short fiction, writers who would write little things, what I call buttons now, little vignettes.

I have to say that the traditional role is kind of a myth. I think the traditional Mexican woman is a fierce woman.

If you start thinking about who's going to read it [you're writing], or what grade will you get, or is it going to win that award, or are you going to get into this graduate program, you're blocking the light, and the light is that guidance and love we get when we open up our hearts and are guided by our higher selves, or God, or the Buddha Lupe [Buddha and the Virgin of Guadalupe fused together, as they are in the tattoo on Sandra's right arm], or whatever you believe in, or love.

I was reading all these male writers who were doing wild and wonderful things. It gave me permission to experiment.

Revenge only engenders violence, not clarity and true peace. I think liberation must come from within.