At the end of the day, despite all the other great things that literature does in society and in a person's life, I think that we read to escape. And I think that place, more than anything, provides that escape quickly, if an author is engaged with the place.

death should be celebrated...when you put something in the ground you always know where it is

My mother always says that fear and pain are immediate, and that, when they're gone we're left with the concept, but not the true memory.

When I hit a block, regardless of what I am writing, what the subject matter is, or what's going on in the plot, I go back and I read Pablo Neruda's poetry. I don't actually speak Spanish, so I read it translation. But I always go back to Neruda. I don't know why, but it calms me, calms my brain.

When you're in a place, the details you focus on are different than details you focus on when you're writing about it.

My road to publishing actually came through a colleague who connected me to my agent, and the faculty at Cornell was very supportive.

I like dark subject matter. I'm not sure what that means about me!