I grew up in San Francisco, and I trained as a ballet dancer until college.
I am somebody who has always struggled with uncertainty. And, of course, uncertainty is so core to life. I seek out knowledge to help me deal with that. But I'm also aware that knowledge can be really a double-edged sword.
My mom is Episcopalian; my dad is ancestrally Jewish but personally atheist. After their divorce, however, my dad married a Jewish spiritual director, and I became fascinated by the traditions she brought into our lives.
I did invent the idea of using lucid dreaming to treat sleep disorders, but I was influenced by many real-life researchers - from forefathers like Freud and Jung to Stephen Laberge and Rosalind Cartwright, who explore lucid dreaming and parasomnias.
I think readers either love or hate nonlinear storytelling, and it's true that it can be more difficult, both to write and to read.
Sometimes, we writers find the perfect research material. I can't overstate how how precious that feels - it's as though you're having an intimate conversation with someone who has the key to unlock your project.
I wish I'd had more fun in college. I spent a lot of time in my dorm room, reading or writing while listening to my Sarah McLachlan Pandora station.
When people ask how I came up with the concept for my second novel, 'The Immortalists' - four siblings visit a fortune teller who is rumored to be able to tell anyone the date that they will die - I always wish I had a better answer.
I think much of my own quest in life is to figure out how best to cope with my own uncertainties.
