Min Jin Lee

But the thing that I can control is harm to people I love.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Oh, I didn't think I was a writer.

I was writing and publishing in high school and college.

I even won prizes and things in college, but it never occurred to me that I was a writer.

I think after I quit being a lawyer, I thought nothing can be as hard as this.

Like I was a corporate lawyer and I was a very good little grunt.

I did all the due diligence very well for the most important partners in my firm.

I kept on getting put on these deals.

And after I quit one day, having billed 300 hours, I said, you know, I'm going to quit.

And I went home and I told my husband I hadn't planned on quitting that day.

I know.

It's an incredible story.

It's insane.

I can't believe I did that.

At the same time, it felt like I just don't want to die at my desk because I knew that I could.

I had been told that I would, and I was already 26 at that point.

So if I was told by Dr. Rubin that I was going to get liver cancer in my 20s and 30s, I was right at that point.

My husband Chris and I had $15,000 in our bank account, and I thought, I'm rich.

Like, how long could it take to write a novel?