Writers like Twain, Whitman, Dickinson, Melville, Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, Russell Banks, Carolyn Chute, Alice Walker, so many others that I read coming up as a writer, that helped form my ideas of what it means to be American - and an American writer. I'm always in conversation with them.

I've always been a teaser, even as a kid.

There are so many people who write really interesting work and try super hard and still don't get published.

You can hurt people's feelings if you laugh.

No one really wants to be laughed at.

It's really difficult to know what is the best way forward when you're not getting a lot of support - and probably most writers aren't getting enough support.

Don't you think almost anything can be funny? Almost anything.