I love school, and I love learning, and school really does inspire me for a lot of my writing - just being in public school with people and watching things happen.

There have been contestants on 'The Voice' from past seasons that didn't even win, and I have been so inspired by them. To think that I am now one of those winners? I really, really hope there is a little girl out there that is believing in herself and knows that she can be here.

If everyone loves you for the person you are, let alone your music is incredible, I think that's a really great place to be.

The support from back home has been more than I ever expected. They always knew me as the lacrosse player or the girl playing field hockey. Now they're seeing me on national TV, and they've been so supportive.

I was playing a singer-songwriter, so I started writing, and I started going up to different places around Los Angeles and reading poetry of my own, which terrified me, but I had to do it. I picked up a guitar and started learning guitar.

I was always into film, but theater was my entry point. I always felt like film didn't make sense to me as a kid. It was just so magical that I was like, 'There's something going on back there that I don't know.' But, when I watched theater, it was something that was happening in front of me.

The glamour of air travel - its aspirational meaning in the public imagination - disappeared before its luxury did, dissipating as flying gradually became commonplace.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.