“I write until the first draft is finished, and then I feel that I can ...” — Isabel Allende Quote

I write until the first draft is finished, and then I feel that I can get out. But, during the time of the writing of the first draft, I don't go out. I'm just locked away, writing. It's a time of meditation, of going into the story.

Everything I write has to be connected to my life. One of the things that always comes up in my writing is the search for freedom, especially in women.

I like historical fiction. I fell in love with New Orleans the first time I visited it. And I wanted to place a story in New Orleans.

Kids are smart: don't underestimate their bull detector. Contemporary kids have access to a lot of information, so don't even try to fool them. I have never been more nervous about my research than when writing for young adults because they pick up every single error.

In 2012 there was a megafoolish, if well-funded, effort by a group called Americans Elect to raise an independent Cincinnatus to run for president via an Internet draft. It flopped, spectacularly.

I have to do draft after draft... It takes me a long time, but I love doing it, and I have to do it every day, or I feel slack.

I didn't think I was going to be drafted, to be honest. I'm so serious. I mean, wholeheartedly, too. I don't know. I didn't realize it, probably, until about a week and a half, two weeks before the Draft.

I have just finished my novel (rough draft). It is to be called 'Anacoluthon.' This will make the public think it is an historical romance.