Ellen Gilchrist

My main home is in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a college town in the Ozark Mountains. I live on the highest hill in a quiet cul-de-sac, surrounded by friends.

Ever since I was a child, I've kept boxes and drawers and pages of things that I liked. I suppose that it constitutes a journal of sorts, but it's not in a ledger or a notebook.

I love New York, but I wish they wouldn't put clothes on their dogs.

They said I couldn't play anything but an English boy. I knew I could. So I went to New York.

You have to have really wide reading habits and pay attention to the news and just everything that's going on in the world: you need to. If you get this right, then the writing is a piece of cake.

If you're not having a good time, find something else that gives you some joy in life.