Jami Attenberg

“No matter how many feminist tracts you read, you never forget what boys like.”

“With apologies to all my past boyfriends, I never loved a man the way I loved my old apartment.”

“Look, you had it easier than me,' she says. 'You think Nana and Papa were busy supporting women's rights? No, they wanted me to meet a nice man and get married and cook and clean for him and give them grandchildren, and that's it. You were born into a world where feminism existed and was readily available to you. I had to acquire that knowledge. I didn't know I could be on my own.”

“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?”

“There are generations of people who don't know how to eat properly.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I can tell you something remarkable about that time, although it has only just occurred to me now. I never thought about death, like I do now. I never worried about dying. I only ever thought about being alive.”

“Many online journals get the most hits of the day during the lunch hour.”

“I don't know if I had ever found my place in the world until I fully committed to being a writer.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.'”

“Anything by Lorrie Moore speaks to a certain kind of person.”

“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'm pretty pro-food.”

“What a character eats is a detail - like eye color or a favorite song. But food is also our lifeblood.”

“In addition to public housing, South Williamsburg is home to shabby artists' lofts like mine, apartments of Hasidic Jews, and one extremely tall, high-priced condo.”

“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.”

“What's the point of having a book club if you don't get to eat brownies and drink wine?”