ONE
Do you ever get writer’s block? If yes, please elaborate.

I don’t call it that, but sure.

I feel like I’m in a constant state of tricking myself into writing. I have to block out like 6-7 hours where there is no agenda except writing. Blocking that time is hard for me to do b/c there are so many distractions, like the Internet and also the Internet.

TWO
Do you have any mantras? Eg: “The Journey’s The Reward.”

I have a lot of those up on my walls and that kind of thing. While writing the book I had up on the wall this list of tips from Ginsberg: http://www.poetspath.com/transmissions/messages/ginsberg.html - Of course those are on the Internet, which might distract you from your writing. Then again this is on the Internet, too. So why aren’t you writing? Why are you reading this? (Mike is inexplicably angry.)

THREE
When do you write? Morning? Night? In spurts? Etc.

I write in the morning. For years I wrote at night and then I jumped through a 2nd story window and decided I should change my habits. I’ll do a session in the AM from 7 or 8 and if I’m really under deadline, I’ll go lunch, nap, then wake up, coffee, write again for 4 hours. So it’s kind of simulating 2 days of writing.  This tends to take everything out of me, not physically but emotionally – because I find when I’m tapping into something real it’s exhausting. 

FOUR
Do you have any weird rituals?

I write at Starbucks so I can’t fall asleep without feeling some level of shame. That’s not too weird… What else… I often will write drafts of things with the title “experiment” so as to trick myself into doing something more interesting and thinking I’m not going to use the draft. 

FIVE
Do you have to wear the pouch when you take naps too?

I don’t. The doctor said that I don’t because the meds are in my system all day anyway. Who knows if that’s true. Having all of the medical issues over the years I’ve learned that no one knows anything. Well, not nothing. They just know slightly more than I know, which is nothing. 

SIX
What’s your favorite book and why?

I have no favorite book. Here are some books I like: Great Gatsby (read it in high school and thought, “books can be pretty cool!”), Me Talk Pretty One Day (read this in college and thought, “books can be funny!”), A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (I read this when writing my book and thought, “why the fuck am I writing a book?”)…  The truth is, I’m a very slow reader. I ingest a lot more films. I’m very inspired by James Brooks, Cameron Crowe, Miguel Arteta, Mike White, and others. 

SEVEN
What’s your favorite movie cliché? (Eg: The montage where the guy/girl practices introducing himself to the love interest in the mirror.)

Tough one. I could make a joke but I kind of hate movie clichés because they remind me that there’s a studio executive somewhere doing a rewrite with the artistic intention of “How can this make more MONEY?”