Thank you. Of course I've seen every Girls episode, of course I am obsessed w/ LD, follow her etc. Of course I relate to it and feel I lived it. Of course I find her inspiring and amazing and important. I think what I like most about the show is how it shifts tonally. And I love the stand-alone episodes the best. I'm…

I did read and enjoy Friendship. My second novel, My Old Man, is about a twentysomething bartender living in Cobble Hill - a woman - who hates all the mommies with the strollers. Everyone single thinks she'll never become One of Those. I spend way too much time trying to figure out whether people who choose to be…

I should add that the idea of performance as identity is interesting to me partly because I'm a failed actress and partly because I think we're all always spinning ourselves, particularly early in a relationship. I was never very good at spinning myself but what happens when it works? And what happens when someone…

Yes, but I had to make myself come.

I hemmed and hawed a lot about the character's names so it would feel like a very expensive book. Some readers feel names are important whereas as a reader myself, I tend to put little stock in them. It's the actions of the character and the moments that I remember. I can love love love a novel, throw it in someone's…

Hi Dodai! Thanks for having me. Because I don't watch reality television (please don't stone me) I sometimes read the tabloids and have no idea who anyone is. I think the reason for the shift is twofold - 1) the celebs may be more litigious so it's harder to print dubious stories about certain celebs and 2) the…

In terms of women versus men, oh gosh, James Franco, that is such an enormous piece of subject matter. I think the two examples are somewhat apples and oranges but yes it's ridiculous that two women could make out at a basketball game and people could still be in denial about what it means. That would never happen…

I think that George Clooney has a sense of mortality just like the rest of us. I'm psyched that he's marrying someone who seems brilliant and seems like she will keep him on his toes.

I am not a Cornell grad btw. Brown.

I am not a fan of the involuntary outing but I also understand the motivation of people who want to out closeted celebrities. It's personal and deeply political. I'm still bummed out that Jon Stewart didn't keep his given name, but he's also so Jewy all the time I can't really say he's closeted. I think if he were…

I actually met him when I was about 15 at a theater fundraising party. My friend was a huge Wings fan and she basically lost her mind meeting him face to face. No, he didn't do anything inappropriate around 2 teenage girls. He was very gallant.

My protagonist, Maddy Freed, is from the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont and doesn't have a super-rarified life before the book begins. So there is a Cinderella aspect. But I'm more interested in gothic horror than in Cinderella stories. Her experience of LA is definitely not the shiny kind and I tried to keep…

Nick Denton

That's an interesting response. I did want him to be hard to read because the book is about the mystery of marriage. I was inspired by The Portrait of a Lady and Henry James struggled with the Gilbert Osmond character - how much to get into his mind - ultimately trimming the portions where you really got in his head.…

I always read the gossips and tabloids at the nail salon but I probably don't get my nails done often enough. I am fascinated by the narratives that the tabloid magazines create and the way we buy in to them - Jezebel has reported on this. I think the narratives often feel novelistic so I took the opportunity to write…

Psyched to be doing this Kinja chat about The Actress on Jezebel tomorrow!