I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.
I'm actually forced to write about Michigan because as a native of that state it's the place I know best.
I can write anywhere.
Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints.
I write novellas because I don't like loose sprawling prose.
I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself.
Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be.
I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was.
