Q. How did Make Over come about?

A. I’m fascinated by how putting on a costume can be such fun and so freeing. I love dressing-up for Halloween and host a Halloween party every year where all the guests come in costume. We have a blast.

A costume somehow gives me permission to be sillier and less inhibited than I normally am. I do feel like another person entirely. Your next party, have your guests wear a wig and hand them a microphone and see what happens.

“Make Over” also speaks to my fears. I feel that parts of me remain buried, that I’m not fully myself yet. I’m still trying to pull those parts free. I also fear that my writing will bring embarrassment and shame to my family

Q. What makes fiction necessary for you?

A. When I read and write fiction, I’m transported. I read and write fiction for the sense of wonder and revelation, the emotion. I feel such reward when I get out stories that I didn’t know I had in me, when they take me to the most surprising places.

Q. What song would you pair this story with?

Falling Slowly from ONCE (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)