For me, a story's a story if people want to hear it; it's very much based on oral storytelling. And for me, a story is a story when people give me the privilege of listening when I'm speaking it out loud.

I have to get my will in order. I have to get the Macondo Foundation going. I want to invest the money and resources that I've gotten from working so hard so that it's shared and it has its life beyond me.

I learn through listening and watching other performers that are very good, like Denise Chávez, Dorothy Allison.

We women shouldn't get our driver's licenses till real late in life.

Afterwards, people come and say, "I felt like you said that just to me. What you said is something I'm going through right now," so you know that spiritual connection is going on.

One press account said I was an overnight success. I thought that was the longest night I've ever spent.

I began writing as an experimental writer.