(This list is amended at whim: maybe hourly, possibly annually.)
1. NYC bodega coffee.
2. On Sunday nights, you can find me either watching Mad Men or complaining about its hiatus.
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3. Here’s my Sharpie-inscribed copy of David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green:
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5. If you’ve taken a fiction workshop with me recently, I’ve made you read this: Sven Birkerts on Reading in a Digital Age.
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6. Why so much resentment toward the serial comma? 100 years of serial comma, and now you want to ban it? Come on.
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7. Contemporary writers I’m high on these days: Dana Spiotta, Jesmyn Ward, Adam Johnson, Hisham Matar, Yannick Murphy. And more, more, more. How much time do you have?
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8. See the pic on this site’s “Contact” page? That’s my bamboo keyboard.
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9. Before trying out a new word in public, I double-check my pronunciation here.
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10. If you’re interested in what it’s like to write long-form fiction, don’t miss Alexander Chee’s 100 Things About a Novel.
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11. When it comes to on-screen pairings, my vote will always go to Jack and Sissy (Missing, 1982):
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13. As for my Trader Joe’s addiction, I’m working on it.
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14. Britpop.
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15. Finally, I think often about gender in publishing. IE, perceptions of women’s works in the contemporary literary landscape. My thoughts don’t directly align with those of Jennifer Weiner (I’ve never met her, though she seems perfectly nice) or of Mr. Franzen (who may not actually have thoughts on this issue, though I’ve come to his defense in the past). And yet, you won’t find my take on this subject here. It’s long and weighty and in my head.
