When I write, I wear earplugs. I don't want to be self-conscious. I don't want to be thinking about the fact that I'm thinking about it. I just want to be in it. It's one element of hypnosis.
We humans are here because nothing can be perfect. There always have to be some living things that are unsatisfied, itchy, trying too hard. If it was all just animals and rocks and lettuce, the gods wouldn't feel like they had enough to do.
I spend a lot of time obsessing about getting a dignified eight hours' sleep.
My job is to have new ideas and take risks every day, so I'm always looking forward to the next thing being done or making the next thing that I haven't yet gotten to. That's sort of the constant in my life.
Long before I started to write in earnest, Lorrie Moore taught me you could have a woman narrator who was funny and complex and even wrongheaded. She opened up a lot of space that me and a million other women rushed into.
I prefer a great novel, but many novels come with a bunch of novel-y writerliness that feels sort of macho to me, so I do end up reading lots of shorter things.
I'm not embarrassed about not having read any book.
When I had a baby, I was consumed with my body.
It's amazing how little you can see people but still stay in regular contact.
I have a big brother who would make dolls' houses and playhouses and furniture out of wood. He was the one who taught me from such a young age that you could just make something. The physical act of gluing something together was really formative for me.
I've always had a dog phobia.
My husband and I are two people who never thought we'd be married.
I'm the kind of person who is always thinking, 'What if we had to spend the rest of our lives in a particular place?'
I just happen to be from the generation that, like a lot of my older friends, started out writing letters.
As a young artist working in multiple mediums, the work and especially the writings of artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy were very important to me.
I feel like my only safety is in being totally true to myself.
