I have read everyone of your books. They are wonderful. I watch and wait for a new one, and recommend them to all my friends. You are a real treasure to readers out there. Thank you. Where do you come up with the themes?

Lisa See Oh, Connie, You must think I'm the most awful person for taking such a long time to write back when you wrote me such a lovely note. My excuse: I've been working really hard to finish the next novel by the deadline. I just turned it in last Friday.

So first, THANK YOU for your very kind words about my books.

Now to answer your question. Themes are very interesting to me. As I wrote to someone earlier, I always start with character and emotion. What's the relationship I want to write about? What's the main emotion I want to write about? But even deeper than that is the theme. I wish I knew where they came from. I think it mostly has to do with where I am in my life RIGHT NOW. We change so much through our lives, and we think about the world so differently as we go through the different stages of life. So I guess they emerge out of personal evolution. Gosh. That's sounds pretty highfalutin, but it's my most honest answer.

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