I apologize in advance for busting out a cliche, but a journey of a thousand miles, blah blah blah just sit your ass down and start writing. Yes, it's daunting. It's terrifying. And who are you to think you've got something to say to the world, something people are actually going to pay to read?

Your publisher is probably going to suggest-slash-insist that you have some kind of social media presence. Nobody knows for sure whether it actually helps, but the conventional wisdom is that it doesn't hurt...and it's something publishers can get authors to do (for free) to boost their books' profile. So I'd at least…

This is the eternal question-slash-bummer, where men are the norm and women are an aberration. There is no "commercial men's fiction," there is no "dick lit." Those books are called....books. Novels. You only get a special label if you're a ladybook. And it sucks. Because, yes, those books generally are seen as less…

YAY. I am so glad GOOD IN BED got you to rethink your romantic possibilities! I hope you have had many boyfriends, and ex-boyfriends, by now. Or at least as many as you're happy about having!

The entire megillah is online on my website (jenniferweiner.com). Short answer — I think it's possible to make contacts in journalism that could lead to a publishing deal, but I did not. I didn't want agents reading my book because I was a friend or colleague of so-and-so. I wanted it to be PURE. Because I was young…

Yes! Ask! I am here for you!

My dream is to someday become so tremendously successful that I can have a building at my alma mater (Princeton) named after me. And then people at Princeton will have to say, "I live in Weiner." Or, "I've got class in 10 minutes at Weiner."

OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH. I've been worried that my BFF Susan and I are the only two people OBSESSING over Tori!

Computer! And a rough draft of a novel takes about nine months. Books, babies...after nine months, something's coming out.

Of course I worried about authenticity, and, when in doubt, I'd have people read my manuscript and give me their opinion...but, at the end of the day, you have to trust your imagination, and believe that you're capable of producing at least a credible version of an experience, if not the definitive, end-all, "this is…

It's 100 percent writing what you know. I spent summers as a kid in Cape Cod. To me, that's "summer." That's what it feels like, that's what it looks like, and smells like, and sounds like. (I know, as a Philadelphia transplant, I should at least try to give the Jersey shore a try, but I just can't. Can't!)

I get very frustrated when I see stories like the Slate piece, because I just don't think it's a critic's job to embarrass people for loving what they love. It makes me worry, not about the future of fiction (which is going to be fine), but about the future of literary criticism. Because when you've got people like…

The short answer is "none influence." I let my publisher make that decision, and I've generally been thrilled. Judith Ivey did the audiobook for FLY AWAY HOME, and she was brilliant! (But I, too, have had the same problem with mispronunciations and the like).

Speaking for myself as a reader, if a character is well written and feels authentic, I don't get bumped by race. Terry McMillan's MAMA and DISAPPEARING ACTS were two of the first books that I read that made me think I could be a writer. I loved her voice, and the specificity of her heroines — the way you felt like you…

Smart, articulate women do not always make for the best TV. I think Andi's intellect might actually be working against her, insofar as she's more skeptical — and rightly so! — about the process than a less intellectually gifted woman might be. For example, she didn't say fairy tale EVEN ONCE during the premiere. I…

I actually don't listen to music. But I don't not listen to music. If there's music, I'm fine — like, if I'm in a coffee shop, and they're playing music, it doesn't distract me, but I don't require it. In terms of motivation, I guess I'm lucky. Or all those years of journalism trained me. A blank page is pretty much…

I was WAITING for my editor or agent to notice that. They didn't! So there it is. A hand job on my hardcover.

Hee. Okay, I don't *hate* Jonathan Franzen. What I hate is the way the New York Times transforms itself into his personal PR machine when he has a book out, to the exclusion of the books people are actually reading, so he's sort of a symbol for a whole binary hierarchical....oh, fuck it, I hate that smug motherfucker,…

Thanks! As I said above, I sort of split the difference between "rigid outline" and "Jesus take the wheel."

Oh my goodness! You could throw a slice of Lorenzo's and probably hit my house!