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" What I try very hard to do is have an hour or so in the morning when I leave the house and don't have my phone with me. I'll go sit in a cafe and read and handwrite in my notebook and not be facing a screen. My head will be clear. I will be able to hear myself think. Because honestly for the rest of the day it's just screens, screens, screens. "

Jami Attenberg

Myself

Day

" I was fat because I lived in the Midwest in the 1970s, and everyone was a little fat then and only getting fatter. "

" What a character eats is a detail - like eye color or a favorite song. But food is also our lifeblood. "

" Some journal writers choose to password-protect their site, which is either an incredibly responsible act or a paranoid one. "

" I am not one of those people who string their exes along. Instead, I run and hide: under the covers, behind my computer screen, on opposite coasts of the country. "

" An ellipsis is a giant ocean of possibilities. "

" Many online journals get the most hits of the day during the lunch hour. "

" Young adult novels don't shy away from the discussion of weight issues, and 'Blubber,' the tale of an overweight, not-so-sympathetic fifth-grader bullied by her peers, is a refreshing take. "

" The best thing about the Web is the sound of all the individual voices rising. "

" It should be said upfront that I totally dig people who work in bookstores and libraries. They love books, and I love books, and that is all I really need to know. If they are friendly to me, then we are clearly soul mates. "

Jami Attenberg

Know

People

" There are a lot of great things about food, but it's something that's an eternal struggle in our contemporary society, where and how food is made, where it's coming from, how much to consume. There are so many layers to it. "

" I wrote a novel. It's called 'The Middlesteins.' It's fiction. It's not a memoir. I'm not a spokesperson. "

" I was fat because my parents were a little fat themselves at that point in their lives, and I ate what they ate. "

" I can act like a boy as much as I want, but when I wake up in the morning, I'm still a woman. "

" I think when you first start out, you're writing books that are about your immediate place. "

" My parents are still married. They don't weigh 350 pounds; they go to the gym all the time. "

Jami Attenberg

Gym

Time

" I have watched Occupy Wall Street mostly from the sidelines. "

" In addition to public housing, South Williamsburg is home to shabby artists' lofts like mine, apartments of Hasidic Jews, and one extremely tall, high-priced condo. "

" I remember being banned from other houses as a younger child during the winter holiday season; I was the only one who didn't believe in Santa Claus, and I was ruining everyone's Christmas. "

" When does an object become a symbol? All I know is you cannot force it. "

" In your 40s, you shed those who bring you down and surround yourself with the most positive people you know. "

" No matter how much money I made from writing, I'd keep the bookstore job. "

" Anything by Lorrie Moore speaks to a certain kind of person. "

" Listen: I'm OK cute. I'm no stunner. "

Jami Attenberg

Listen

Cute