Editorial pieces, non-fiction essays, a novel, press releases, text messages, thank you notes. Out of everything you've written, what do you have the hardest getting through?
There's an essay that ends my second collection, How Did You Get This Number, called "Off The Back of a Truck." It's about heartbreak and stolen furniture but really it's about heartbreak. That was tough to write because I didn't want to write about dating or relationships and up until that point, I really hadn't. Then I tried and this beast of a thing came out. It's actually based on two separate romantic disasters. One inspired the facts of the case, but I didn't have any feelings about it anymore, it was just a better story. So all the emotional meat of that essay came from a larger relationship that had recently gone bust. Even if you're not a writer, you know you're not supposed to dwell too long on people who have hurt you. In writing that essay, not only did I do that but just for kicks, I doubled the pain by thinking hard about two people at once. But I'm happy it exists.
