I am currently in nursing school, so one day I will be both a nurse and a writer.

I knew the basic outline of the novel [The Dissemblers] and would write whatever scene of the book I felt particularly excited about at the time.

I lived in New Mexico until I was seventeen, and honestly I've been homesick ever since I left.

I do think that it is one of the eternal questions about art, though - is all art intrinsically selfish?

Does art play a role in the greater good of society, or does it just promote the satisfaction of the artist? I go back and forth on that question.

The motivation to paint seems more pure, or at least more personal, when the artist is doing it for herself.

I've spent many a day worrying that I will never be able to write again!

I am a tragically bad artist.

I did take one drawing class in school, but for this book I spent a lot of time talking to painters and asking them silly questions.

I read letters and journal entries by [Georgia] O'Keeffe (which were infinitely more useful than any critical analysis of her work).

The book [The Dissemblers] officially came out two weeks after my thirtieth birthday...am I still young?

Girlfriend is injurious to health...!!!

The air between them began to settle into a silence. Awkward, yet softly exciting. Like an unexpected snow day.

The condition of our soul is usually the source of many sicknesses.

There's nothing sillier than fake rough edges, like the handheld camera you sometimes see on "NYPD Blue," shaking and jittering around, unmotivated, way more than any actual documentary camera would.

We've always had a dual role in the region - friend of Israel, and honest broker. We've given up the honest broker role completely.

The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man.

We are always waiting for the perfect brief from the perfect client. It almost never happens [...] Whatever is on your desk right now, that's the one. Make it the best you possibly can.

The comics I've talked to have varied styles as stand-ups, but the throughline is that it's the most intense thing they've ever done.

The eye altering, alters all.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live Out of the teeth of emulation.