I've been on television saying, "¡Vamos a la biblioteca!". That was great. Nobody had ever asked me.

I learned from the Macarturos. I had never been at a table with a labor organizer and a playwright and a performance artist and an anthropologist and a human rights lawyer. Usually at most gatherings, it's all writers. But suddenly I was at a table with all these different people and I learned from each of them, learned from the work they're doing, learned new ways to solve my problems.

How can art make a difference in the world?

I can't do a linear novel. I'm just going to write what I need to write.

I can't stand it when people say, "If you're writing a novel, you should read this and that." Because it's like giving someone another person's prescription. How do you know that's what they need?

I was interested in cross-pollinating the two. I thought there was something lovely in the little vignette forms. I wanted to explore that.

[Courage] always bigger than what you think you can handle, but you're never going to be given something you can't handle. So you say, "Okay, when you tell me what it is that I'm supposed to do, please give me the courage to do it."