Despite the fact that I'm not highly skilled in any visual art, aesthetics have always played a strong role in my art, including my first albums.

I recently did a reading at an elementary school in Ottawa, and one of the children asked me if I was a girl. I said yes. Another child commented that I had a deep voice. I responded: "Can girls have deep voices?" There was a pause and then the group responded, "Yes!"

It's exciting to consider how art, in its ability to reveal, can be ahead of the artist.

I would love to see more dialogue around the "responsibilities" of art consumers - how can audiences better financially support artists we love, artists who are doing the work, so that artists have a more solid foundation upon which to make art?

When I was writing, I wanted every word to be not only deliberate, but musical. Precious.

I always work with text orally in the writing process, saying passages aloud to measure flow.

As a general rule, I tend to collaborate with artists whose work I admire.