Because, really, what was worse than lying wide-awake in the dark, watching your life drip away, one irreplaceable minute after another?

When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture.

I write about kids growing up, I write a lot about schools and parents, and all of my experiences with those things have been suburban experiences.

I was an English major in college, I went to a creative-writing program, and all my life, I really read and thought about fiction as a craft and an art form. I feel like I know a lot about it, and can trust my instincts.

I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade.

I really wanted to be a musician, but it turned out I had no sense of time.

I know very few writers who outline fully before they start. It just doesn't seem possible to do, because so many things don't come out until you're absolutely knee-deep in the world.