When I'm writing a novel, which is what I like to write, I get up early, sit zazen, make a pot of green tea. I wear wrist cuffs to keep my wrists warm and minimize irritation from extended contact with the surface of my desk. I sit down and write.

It costs so much to make films. With a novel, you can write the whole thing on a ream of paper from Staples for $4.

When I start writing these novels, I go into them with a spirit of inquiry rather than to substantiate prejudices I had in the beginning. If you don't do that, you can't write good characters.

One Bagatelle, and I’ll raise you a novel,” Megan had tweeted back.

“Writing for tea? Now that would have been a solution for the British empire,” Laura returned.

“Writing for me,” Megan had typed.

“I’ll write you a tea fortune.”

“No deal. I want a novel. September sounds good.

I think all characters are facets of the writer. In a way, they have to be if you're going to write them convincingly.

My mind is like a gyre, and odd juxtapositions happen.