If writers stuck to firsthand experience, novels would be pretty limited.

Clearly the secret of happiness...is a variation on the general principle of banging your head against a wall, and then stopping.

I definitely do feel a pull toward people and places that are far from my own life.

Endings are never neat, because when life goes on, there is no end. You may want to speculate about what the characters get up to afterwards, but I feel it would be presumptuous of me to dictate that.

I despise this weakness in myself - this endless one-sided conversation that takes the place of action.

I suppose the short chapters and differing narrative points of view are quite "cinematic" devices, which came very naturally to me.

...it just goes to show you can't leave anything behind. You bring it all with you, whether you want to or not.