I get stage fright with short stories. For me it feels like standup comedy: kill or die. I'm more confident when I begin a novel because I know I have space to fail.

I don't have much of an imagination, but I have a mind bank of details, which I play with. It's how I daydream, so writing like that is natural for me.

I have to say that writing about my writing process is more daunting than writing non-fiction.

At some point, practicality requires that you reach out to people in the business. You have to take care of business if you value your work.

People don’t fear the wind until it fells a tree. Then, they say it’s too much.

I never wanted to be a writer; I just had stories I needed to tell.

I can't say L'Etranger influenced me to write, but for the first time I considered the possibility of telling a story that resembled my own experiences in my own voice.