When I was growing up, for example, everybody on our street was Irish. And all the girls did Irish step dancing. It was pre-Lord of the Dance - it was before anybody knew what gillys were - but we did, and there was such pride among the members of my family and people I grew up with.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I read as much poetry as time allows and circumstance dictates: No heartache can pass without a little Dorothy Parker, no thunderstorm without W. H. Auden, no sleepless night without W. B. Yeats.

J. Courtney Sullivan

Early on in the writing process, there is sometimes this temptation to write around the central drama instead of just aiming for the bull's-eye. The bullseye is harder to hit, of course, but it's so much more satisfying when you do.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I still think of myself as a Bostonian.

J. Courtney Sullivan

One of the best parts of being a writer is getting to peer into other worlds - even if you aren't going to stay very long.

J. Courtney Sullivan

In high school, during marathon phone conversations, cheap pizza dinners and long suburban car rides, I began to fall for boys because of who they actually were, or at least who I thought they might become.

J. Courtney Sullivan

A high percentage of each of my books has been written in Des Moines.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I call my mother every day for things: 'How long do you cook an egg for?' Or, 'Can you remind me of our dentist's phone number at home?'

J. Courtney Sullivan

When I was in fourth grade, a novelist came to talk to my English class. She told us that being an author meant sitting at the kitchen table in pajamas, drinking tea with the dogs at your feet.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I knew that my dollhouse was a toy, but in a way, it seemed more like a portal to adulthood. I didn't play with it the way I might with my Barbie dream house. Instead, I furnished it. I kept it pristine. I decorated the house for each season. I had jack-o'-lanterns in the fall and a Christmas tree with working lights in the winter.

J. Courtney Sullivan

Character development is what I value most as a reader of fiction. If an author can manage to create the sort of characters who feel fully real, who I find myself worrying about while I'm walking through the grocery store aisles a week later, that to me is as close to perfection as it gets.

J. Courtney Sullivan

A glimpse at my night stand gives the mostly true impression that I am a book hoarder.

J. Courtney Sullivan

For my seventh birthday, my parents gave me a plain, unfinished wooden dollhouse. It had six empty rooms, two floors, a staircase, and a door that swung out onto a little front stoop. The windows opened, and the roof retracted on one side, revealing an attic.

J. Courtney Sullivan

On Saturdays, I get up early, spread out my notes from the week on the kitchen table, and create stories from them.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I've never understood why some people think it's virtuous and essential to finish every book they start.

J. Courtney Sullivan

The hardest part about writing fiction is finding long stretches of time to do it: for me, this means writing mostly on Saturdays and Sundays. But I am always thinking about my characters, jotting down ideas in stolen moments and hoping I'll be able to make sense of them when the weekend rolls around.

J. Courtney Sullivan

Reading poetry gives me a sense of calm, well-being, and love for humanity - the same stuff more flexible women get from yoga.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I know a lot of women who embody what it means to be a feminist but do not want to use that word. The misperceptions about what it's all about have gotten into their heads.

J. Courtney Sullivan

For whatever reason, various outlets and individuals are committed to making the world think that young girls don't talk or care about feminism anymore, that it's totally over. But it's not.

J. Courtney Sullivan

I sometimes read on the subway, but I'm a hopeless eavesdropper and get easily distracted by strangers' conversations.

J. Courtney Sullivan

Fiction will always be my greatest love, with poetry close behind.

J. Courtney Sullivan