Jami Attenberg
Jami Attenberg
I was fat because I lived in the Midwest in the 1970s, and everyone was a little fat then and only getting fatter.
nearly
I think it's nearly impossible to write something fictional without having it be about yourself in some way or another.
either incredibly journal writers
Some journal writers choose to password-protect their site, which is either an incredibly responsible act or a paranoid one.
time weigh
My parents are still married. They don't weigh 350 pounds; they go to the gym all the time.
anywhere near
I won't go anywhere near the new Times Square. It's seizure-inducing.
age branded early either people shake sort
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.
wrote
I wrote a novel. It's called 'The Middlesteins.' It's fiction. It's not a memoir. I'm not a spokesperson.
I think when you first start out, you're writing books that are about your immediate place.
fights kids picked threw
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.
color hide
For years I'd thought my color was black: deep, dark, thoughtful, mysterious. Black, you can hide behind. But now I know it is red.
dozen drove forth
For years I drove cross-country, back and forth a dozen times, sometimes on book tour, sometimes just to get lost and found.
area chicago chinese family food grow household loved
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.
agent ambivalent art believes business entitled looking love people work
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?
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.