If you want to be a writer, all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil, and I had a manual typewriter. It doesn't cost money to write. It costs money to make art. So I would just write. I would hand out stories in the classes in high school. And the teacher would say, "Whatever you do, don't become a writer."

Brownstein's is a fresh and jaunty voice, with a jazz snap all his own.

I felt my whole life was a facsimile of a life.

Why would I want to read something about somebody that's just a really nice, decent person who overcomes terrible trials? That's not how life is to me.

As a writer, I don't think it's my responsibility to make a point. I just write and hope there's someone who'll like it.

Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published - nevertheless, it's what I do, every day.

I think in a lot of ways, writing, when you're really in there, is like being an actress because you're in somebody else's head.