Jami Attenberg
Jami Attenberg
smoking challenges quitting
You can quit smoking, and never have to have a cigarette again to survive. But with food, it is a daily challenge.
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.
detail eats eye favorite food
What a character eats is a detail - like eye color or a favorite song. But food is also our lifeblood.
book thinking trying
It's good to try stuff. I wrote a book that I threw away, and I think I just wrote it so I could try stuff in it and not be scared
character structure channeling
I'm not that much of a researcher. I'm good at channeling characters, and I'm good at structure.
exercise sometimes
Sometimes, things are just exercises.
reading mean writing
Studying writing to me means reading and also rewriting obsessively. That's the best way to learn.
jobs believe thinking
Writers have a job to do. Editors do, too. You have to stand ground and cede ground on a case by case basis. When an editor tells me something isn't working and I still believe in it, I tend to think it just isn't working hard enough.
reading giving kind
I love doing readings. I could really give a crap about reviews. It's kind of about the readers.
firsts stories wanted
I've just always written, and always considered myself a writer. I wrote my first story when I was five. There was nothing else I wanted to do or be.
believe writing thinking
The very best parts of me go into my writing, it is the best version of myself, and I don't think it's hubristic to believe that that's worth something, worth someone else's time. It's the most I have to offer the world.
bases flawed humans
I don't pretend for a second that I'm that great of a person on a day-to-day basis. I'm a deeply flawed human.
dream nice pursue
Wouldn't that be nice if we could all afford to just freely pursue our dreams?
writing sitting-still wish
I wish I could write while I'm on the road but it never works for me. I need to be sitting still.