Florida is kind of notorious. But also because it's a rich place. Phonetically, narratively, historically. I wanted to know Florida better and I could easily find stories. My relationship with Florida is fraught because I didn't want to be living there always, but then after I left I really missed it.

Florida is kind of notorious. But also because it's a rich place. Phonetically, narratively, historically. I wanted to know Florida better and I could easily find stories. My relationship with Florida is fraught because I didn't want to be living there always, but then after I left I really missed it.

Writing helps us heal in certain way, but it doesn't make the experience of thinking about writing that occasion any less painful. When you revisit trauma, you don't know what's going to be triggering for you because you don't know how it's connected in your mind. So in the same way when we write something, it doesn't completely resolve the experience for us. It can feel therapeutic, but that's not the reason why I do it. I do it to ask a question, or just to find meaning.

I feel like I always learn when I'm writing, even when I'm not writing about myself. I'm careful not to judge; I try to internalize and empathize with the characters. Stepping into that person's shoes is transformative. It changes you. Looking at my own life, it's also humbling to write.

I just always felt like animals are spirit guides. I really like animals, I've always felt really drawn to them; they have this energy and magnetism.

You can pretty much do it with anything. You can tell your life story with all the jeans you've worn, or every pair of shoes you've owned.

In "Mother-Father-God," I talk about how the new thought movement led me to be superstitious. I think that might resonate with a lot of Americans, the superstition around optimism, like 'don't say anything negative' because you might jinx yourself with your thinking.