I take the outline from a real person as inspiration, but the in-line is totally made up. Which is why I usually invent imaginary names. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I find poignancy in the moments when a person realizes that she has made mistakes. I am not as interested in the mistakes themselves as I am with the consequences and how the person responds to her realization. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
My husband is a musician. He cooks and he's a chef but he also, he makes basement recordings. So many people in my life… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
People think it's suspect and self-indulgent to make art, and I don't think that's true. Some people think you should be busy making something… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Memory is not particularly linear - it is associative, repetitive, subjective and porous. But the writer needs to convey disorder and dysfunction without making… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I locate a great deal of the power of Occupy Wall Street in the name itself, 'Occupy Wall Street,' or '#OccupyWallStreet.' It works because… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
Although a great restaurant experience must include great food, a bad restaurant experience can be achieved through bad service alone. Ideally, service is invisible.… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
The writer has to take risks and go somewhere full of mystery and possibility for the novel to deepen over the years it takes… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I am a great procrastinator. When the writing is going really well, the laundry piles up. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I like to buy books for the kids in my family. I guess that's why they call me the 'mean' aunt. — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
If you directly try to write about an idea, it will never be what you imagined. But if you're imagining through the building of… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I like to mix the real and the imaginary. Sometimes it is characters inspired by real people I know or know of. Sometimes it… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
The idea that you can live off the grid and just do your own thing is a very American idea - that you should… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
I think there's a false division people sometimes make in describing literary novels, where there are people who write systems novels, or novels of… — Dana Spiotta Copy Share Image
