When I got the idea for Notes from a Liar and her Dog, we’d just sold our house in Oak­land and moved to this odd lit­tle place in Mill Valley.

No one liked the new house because it felt like it had been built with a sta­pler. The cab­i­net doors fell off when you opened them. The roof leaked in 11 dif­fer­ent places. When it was cold, freez­ing wind blew right through the house and on a pleas­ant­ly warm day the place was unbear­ably hot.

A few weeks after we moved in, I woke up in the mid­dle of the night and began writ­ing in the voice of the main char­ac­ter, Ant. I don’t know where Ant came from, but her voice was so urgent she would not let me sleep.