Writing a first novel was an arduous crash course. I learned so much in the six years it took me to write it, mostly technical things pertaining to craft.

I know there are writers who like to say that every novel is hard, and it doesn't get easier. That may be the case, and I've only written two. But the first, to me, was characterized by an enduring oscillation between perseverance and a profound doubt.

I don't have any outside view of myself, and if I did, I would probably be creatively inhibited. I just write in the way that I write.

I spent ten years riding motorcycles.

One is sometimes meant to reassure the reader that she's qualified to write about a certain topic.

I love the novels of Didion and Bret Ellis and consider them L.A. writers because they write about L.A.