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.