I am very interested in place, and the influences of place on characters.

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.

Yes, I guess I am bi-coastal.

I think the mythology of death really ran away with me when I was very young.

In the mess of moving from place to place, I skipped two grades in the space of one year.

In terms of people that I know, my grandmother and my mother are huge influences on my writing life because they are both massively supportive and always have been of my career.