I don't want to own something that you can't take into your apartment at night.

From my apartment in Arlington, I could see Washington. It was always nice to be near home.

Something happened during the 1980s - perhaps the political climate of that time - that caused me to ask how a people would become part of a system that oppresses their own people.

I've never been comfortable with the idea of using family and friends in stories. Which is why it takes me longer than something else. Because you make them up out of nothing. Doing that is harder.

The problem - when you cast your net that wide - is you inevitably catch something you don't want to catch.

There are those who write because they believe they have something so marvelous that it will make them famous and wealthy, a lauded commodity who will be invited to a lifetime of cocktail parties.