I didn't have a choice growing up but to be more insecure because others had more.

Coming from where I came from, it was unimaginable to ever be wealthy. That was just too far out of my reach.

I certainly could've gone off track many, many times in my youth.

In a way, we women take on more than we need to sometimes.

Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn't have the personality of a politician. We don't see the world that simply.

Everyone thinks I have a coffee plantation in Sierra Leone, but I have a cashew crop project. I wrote about a woman who owns a coffee plantation! When you are talking about a woman writer coming from a hot country, there's a complete assumption that she is writing about her own life.

I could, of course, have written about the film world and the jealousy there and the frequent belief that others don't have talent. But, for some reason, it just struck me to write about art.

Being on film is forever. Television, as well, just lives on and on and on, which is really exciting. But then with theater, it's like an experience. You have to be there that one special night that was like that to see that one performance that was really remarkable. It's more intimate as well. So I like them both.