Around the time I graduated from high school, I decided better to underachieve and have friendship than to overachieve and be alone.

In your 20s you can be pretty, but you don't accomplish real beauty until you find wisdom and depth.

I'm from Canada, and New Zealand feels like you took all the best bits of Canada and squished them onto a tiny island like Hawaii. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the South Island.

I just like short hair on women; I think it's cool.

I'm a very stubborn woman and I'm from a very stubborn family of headstrong women. I have sisters, so the women rule the coop in my house.

I had my baby outside in a thunderstorm. It was really romantic.

When I got old enough to date, I realized that Valentine's Day is just a commercial marketing scam to make men feel bad. So I let my boyfriends off the hook.

I'm very proud of being a woman, and as a woman, I don't even like the word 'feminism' because when I hear that word, I associate it with women trying to pretend to be men, and I'm not interested in trying to pretend to be a man. I don't want to embrace manhood; I want to embrace my womanhood.

If you can't sit in a cafe quietly and be ignored, how can you observe human nature and write a story?

My favorite parts about 'The Battle of Five Armies' were the moments where you could clearly see that we were looking at New Zealand. That it wasn't done in post, it wasn't CGI, it was the beautiful, incredible creation of Mother Nature in all of her splendor.

I definitely come down on the spiritual side. I think very few things in life happen by chance.

I would love to pretend I don't diet, but I work very hard. I stay active and eat very healthy. Anybody who says otherwise is either unhealthy or lying! I will admit that I'm addicted to sugar - licorice, Jujubees and jelly candies. And I actually love bran muffins!

Even if you're unhappy, just pretend that you're happy. Eventually, your smile will be contagious to yourself. I had to learn that. I used to think, 'I'm being fake,' but you know what? Better to be fake and happy than real and miserable.