How do you balance creative work with other responsibilities?

Well, I make the magic wherever I can. I don’t know if that’s conscious or accidental.

All the damn time, it comes with the territory. My family valiantly put up with most of them. Though the older I get, the bolder I am about saying no.

I would be able to shoot even more if I didn’t have the promotion and all these kinds of things to do. I would do it like Fassbinder — seven films a year — if I could. Making films is a pleasure for me.

Either you’re listening out for the kids or you’re writing. So I wrote when the kids went to bed. I wrote between nine and midnight those years. And my husband would listen out if the little guy was sick or something. It worked out.

I always acted to be able to afford paints.

Generally, my hours are during the first part of the day; hardly ever in the evening. The hours nearer noon, the zenith of the day, are good for working.

I prefer not to compartmentalize my life.

This process has also involved slowing down and refusing a certain amount of labor that has been imposed upon me as a Black woman in this country.

I needed to physically be totally alone and be in a different place to get going.

There are many times for three months in a row I wrote every day, but there are also many times for three months in a row I didn't write a word. What I found is I make an appointment with myself and I don't look at each day, I look at the calendar ahead.