I've always been a fan of plain writing. I hate metaphor-laden, heavily larded, lyrical writing.

I bartended for a catering company for two or three years...

Literally, I see my writing as transcription - a transcription of what I see, hear, think, live.

I just really committed to trying to never repeat myself. I'd seen actors do that on films, and I was, like, "I wanna try that once!" Ultimately, I'm much more in the school of getting one or two versions that feel right, as opposed to going all over the map. But it's fun to exercise that once in awhile.

As an actress, you're living something through the duration of the play and its geography. I've always seen writing the same way. It's like somehow I'm moving through the terrain of the book as a performer.

Politics is topical - it's what's happening now, and we can either respond in the present or avoid it.

In my cranky old age, I actually prefer recording alone now, on 'The Simpsons,' for example, because I find that the director can just focus on what I'm doing and I can do a lot of variations. A lot of times, when I record with a group, I'll stay after class for another hour or two.