I am really interested in the way we relate to time. In particular, the way readers and writers talk to each other. Casting your voice out into the future is very beautiful to me.

Canada has always been a great place for literature. It's strong and growing stronger, and there will always be reading, and there will always be great writers.

It makes me nuts, the idea that if you put a political struggle at the heart of your book, then it has to be that the author - me - is trying in some way to push my views onto my readers.

When I write fiction, I have the illusion of being able to control these fictional worlds and these characters, and to make them say what I want them to say. Of course, the problem is that it is an illusion, and by the end of it you realize that you're not in control of it at all; the characters have taken over, and they're driving the vehicle.

In fashion, my inspiration comes from pop culture - the 1960s and the following years. Whereas in interior design, my influences are much broader.

When you do one more 'Cinderella' or whatever, what is there to learn? Every part in the repertoire has a good side and a bad side, and the more often you do the same ballet, the more often the bad side comes out. If you want to give dance life, you must give it fresh food, not keep going back to the garbage to look for old scraps.

When you spend time working on something for a time period, and then it doesn't correlate, it decreases in your motivation.

I got a lot of motivation from my character of people-watching. And if they do something that annoys me, I steal it and do it because I know it annoys other people. If it annoys me, it's going to annoy you.