The Hazards of Sleeping Alone (47 page)

THERE'S A LOT OF HEART IMAGERY IN THE BOOK-BOTH LITERALLY AND METAPHORICALLY. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO INTEGRATE THAT IDEA?

I think it's interesting how the pounding of the heart is a symptom of both fear and excitement. When you're waiting for a date to pick you up, or you're at the peak of the roller coaster, or you hear a strange sound in the middle of the night—the physical responses are so similar. You heart thuds when you're falling in love, and it thuds when you're scared to death. For Charlotte, the things that ultimately bring her comfort—connecting with people—are the things that always scared her most.

WHAT ARE YOU WRITING NOW?

I'm working on a short story for an anthology to be published in Summer 2005, a collection of stories evoking summer.

ONE MORE QUESTION: WHY THE TITLE THE HAZARDS OF SLEEPING ALONE?

A couple of reasons. On the one hand, the hazards of being alone with yourself in the middle of the night are very literal. Your mind might start to run wild, you might find yourself wandering the house checking the locks on the windows, you might mistake your own heartbeat for someone pounding on your door. But the hazards of being alone go deeper than that too, as Charlotte comes to realize. They're about being lonely, about not having someone to share your life with.

AND THESE DAYS, ARE YOU SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT?

Not every night. But more than I used to.

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