I actually didn't grow up in a household that loved Chinese food particularly, and it's not really my go-to food or anything... We were more a pizza family, being from the Chicago area and all.
— Jami Attenberg
You write a book, and after 50 pages you think it's about one thing, and then you write another hundred and you realize it's about something else, and then by the time you're done, you can look back and say, 'Oh, this is what it's about.'
Maybe just as many women writers as male writers could be billed as the next great American writer by their publisher. Maybe book criticism sections could review an equal amount of female and male writers. Maybe Oprah could start putting some books by women authors in her book club, since most of her audience is women.
I did get in a few fights in school. Kids threw around anti-Semitic slurs, not knowing necessarily what they meant. It was probably just something they picked up somewhere, as kids do.
I'm not really interested in writing or reading about people who are nice and easy. I like the problem children.
I always tell people this when they're looking for an agent - they should love your work. You are entitled to work with someone who believes in you. Why do business with someone who is ambivalent about you and your art?
As creative people, we should be really conscious of being of service in our work, being as generous as we can.
The interesting thing about overeating or being obese is there's this physical manifestation of it.
No matter how many feminist tracts you read, you never forget what boys like.
I won't go anywhere near the new Times Square. It's seizure-inducing.
I know I have a problem with semi-colon abuse and have written page-long sentences. Nobody needs to be reading page-long sentences, at least not written by me.
Do you often find yourself uttering the phrase, 'I feel like I should go?' You do not need to go. You are busy that night. You are busy every night, forever.
Does everything in this life begin and end with Judy Blume? Perhaps.
My grandmother died when my mother was just 11 years old, and consequently, my mother never learned how to cook particularly well.
Food and love are all intertwined at our core level. It can be a very nurturing, wonderful, loving thing.
Social media can connect you with other people in so many wonderful ways - but it can also make you really sick of yourself.
I check my phone first thing when I wake up in the morning. I usually take it up with me to bed so it's on the floor next to the bed, although not actually in bed with me, because I really do not want to be the person who sleeps with their phone.
In the past, I was sometimes put in this women's lit category, and I was never really sure that was the appropriate place for me - although I certainly recognize it can be helpful and correct for other people.
I don't know if I had ever found my place in the world until I fully committed to being a writer.
Most of my writer friends are women, and they're all extremely talented, so of course I think the state of contemporary fiction for women is pretty great. Which is to say there is a ton of amazing work out there. These women are writing hard. There's much to be said. We're on it, chief.
I have very distinct memories about growing up as part of what was then a very small Jewish community in Buffalo Grove, IL.
I think it's nearly impossible to write something fictional without having it be about yourself in some way or another.
In 1998, I started a blog, something I could control very easily and update at my own whim.
I'm a really selfish person. But I would do anything for my friends.
I've always been an old soul.
We've all got flesh. I've just got a little more.
I make up stories about people who are either imaginary or some variation of myself.
Your family is unavoidable. You cannot escape them or trade them in for another family. You also can't change them... but you can change your response to them.
When we are young - or even 32 - we often say 'yes' to everything because we're worried that we won't know what we'll like if we don't try it.
I know the bestseller 'Gone Girl' doesn't need an ounce of support from me, but that book was as sharp and witty as they come.
Listen: I'm OK cute. I'm no stunner.
Maybe I wouldn't hit three fast food restaurants in a day, but I could hit one in a day. I try not to do that.
My Twitter feed is probably my biggest resource of news. Other people scour the web so I do not have to, and I thank them for it.
An ellipsis is a giant ocean of possibilities.
There's something to be said for an author who clearly respects a reader.
I don't think there's any topic a writer should feel afraid of tackling just because it has already been discussed. If you feel you have a fresh perspective and an understanding of a certain emotional truth, it's always worth writing.
I remember being banned from other houses as a younger child during the winter holiday season; I was the only one who didn't believe in Santa Claus, and I was ruining everyone's Christmas.
It's good to pass on stories.
People are branded as either 'fat' or 'skinny' from an early age. You sort of never shake it, even if you end up losing weight.
I didn't go to graduate school, where all the important writers seemed to be getting their start. I didn't pursue getting published in literary magazines. I didn't even send out countless pitch letters and manuscripts to agents.
There are generations of people who don't know how to eat properly.
I'm pretty pro-food.
When I was growing up in Chicago, my family and I used to go to a local chain, Hackney's, for burgers and their French fried onion loaf. I probably haven't been to one in 25 years, and yet, I once saw Donald Trump from behind in an office building and the first thing that flashed in my mind was his hair looked like that onion loaf.
My love can be easily bought with a steak from Peter Luger's.
In your 40s, you shed those who bring you down and surround yourself with the most positive people you know.
Young adult novels don't shy away from the discussion of weight issues, and 'Blubber,' the tale of an overweight, not-so-sympathetic fifth-grader bullied by her peers, is a refreshing take.
Cooking skills aside, my mother is an exceptional nurturer.
In the wintertime I like macaroni and cheese.
There are a lot of great things about food, but it's something that's an eternal struggle in our contemporary society, where and how food is made, where it's coming from, how much to consume. There are so many layers to it.
What I try very hard to do is have an hour or so in the morning when I leave the house and don't have my phone with me. I'll go sit in a cafe and read and handwrite in my notebook and not be facing a screen. My head will be clear. I will be able to hear myself think. Because honestly for the rest of the day it's just screens, screens, screens.
