Why do writers, say, give up a job in economics and decide to write poetry? Or, why do they give up a job in a bank and decide to paint, like Krishan Khanna? They want to convey something.

I don't pick and choose subjects or settings; they pick and choose me.

I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. Of course, I also know people who write really long books.

I know from an editor's point of view or a publisher's point of view it's easier to slot me into a particular niche. But I know that I'd be bored unless I wrote a book that in some senses was a challenge.

If you look at any creative person's work, you can see bits and pieces of their influences. That's what an artist does.

If you feel bored or uncomfortable as you're writing, ask yourself what's bothering you and write about that. Sometimes your creative energy is like water in a kinked hose, and before thoughts can flow on the topic at hand, you have to straighten the hose by attending to whatever is preoccupying you.

In my music, I'm uncensored, which has helped me stand out as a female artist.

The music of language became extremely important to me, and obvious to me. By the time I was seven I was writing myself. I was a poet.