1. What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?

"...and for a moment they stood on the porch without speaking, not holding hands, but with their hands just meeting, as though not quite sure they weren't dreaming this, each of them separately on their far bereaved cots, their hands but blown fragments of their memories, half afraid to commingle, yet touching over the howling sea at night."--From Under the Volcano.

I love this sentence because, well, read it, man! It's beautiful! Also, I love the idea of hands being "blown fragments of their memories." Also, Firmin wants to be reconciled with, healed, helped by Yvonne, but won't be. He'll never have the bravery to be better and will die in a ditch, making this moment so painful because you can't help but think--if he would have just taken her hand here! If he would have just given in to her, taken her love and help, maybe things would have been different...Killer book. Heartbreakcity.

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?

I ask, "What are my cats doing right now?" Then I find them and force love onto them until they leave me or scratch me. Then I go back to writing.

3. What author do you own the most books by?

Probably Nabokov. Or Ann Beattie. My books are woefully disorganized so it's hard to get an accurate count of what I have.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?

The morning. With coffee. Extra bonus: a handsome man reading silently next to me.

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?

Oh, a long time. Entire waking days.

6. What about writing?

Oh, not long. Like, twelve minutes at a time. Then I pace around my apartment, hug cats, call absent friends, distract myself, then begin another twelve minute cycle.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?

I wish I could get certain people's condescending or doubtful voices out of my head when I write. "Mind gangsters" as Brian Wilson would say. I must learn to do away with all the mind gangsters!

1. What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?

from the poem "The Actual Pill Bottle of the Sea, Actual Pill Bottle" by Abraham Smith:

". . . the muscle of the sea; the good leg; the medicine--the water takes the dolphin / for a bootlegging good time; / pretty obviously; pretty natural, whereas I struggle / onto my legs, in the morning, boil / the water so it will dream / a slow moving Oklahoma tornado viewed on tv / into my cup, rain wind dust mud, they found hay / like a rash, under his skin; they found, in the malls, a stale lunch, a gallon / bucket of mediocrity; I paint my teeth with suds; I purchase penny candy, / I pedal, they are really not chasing me; it is me and the birdsong; / there is something, nothing to it; we are owed what we give; we are not / made for a tree anymore; we are / not made to see god in fire; we are not made with smoke in our hair; but we / are not made to use our eyes upon the vast crunch of the city; we seem / a little made for holding; we just need to be left alone to feel alone / and / remember our arms"

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?

i look in the mirror and yell through clenched teeth, "Come on, Baumann! You fucking horrible person! You are such a bad person! What happened to you!?" this, surprisingly helps, because i then must decide if i will commit suicide, and so far i have always decided against it, so that is a positive thing. i start from this base: negation of the option of suicide.

3. What author do you own the most books by?

i think i have everything J.D. Salinger ever published. it might be Lisa Jarnot if you count chapbooks.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?

early evening, from like 5-8pm. perhaps not coincidentally, my favorite time to have sex is from 3-5pm.

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?

what constitutes a 'stop'? probably like 30 seconds if you want to be picky. otherwise i imagine something like 6 hours. it is sad that i have played poker for 14 hours straight, but i did stop for meals.

6. What about writing?

i guess a full day--maybe like 14 hours--in the sense that writing was the only thing productive that i did in that span of time. when you live alone, you can wander around in your underwear, eat things, drink things, read bits of things and then come back to writing. i like Chloe's answer to this question. i think it's similar to my approach. i like large chunks of time to meander in, come back to a piece (or several pieces), but i have also just 'settled in' and not moved for maybe 4-5 hours at a time before.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?

i would figure out how to sleep in 20-minute intervals, write in 20-minute intervals, read in 20-minute intervals--everything can be done in 20-minute intervals: sex, eating, exercise, conversations, short films. let's cut to the quick.

What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?
" One could be quite unhappy and never have the chance to know it." from "Ms. Hempel Chronicles" by Sarah Shun-lie Bynum

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?
I usually don't bother telling myself anything, I either check my Facebook or my email and am always, surprisingly, surprised to find that there are no amazing, wonderful messages awaiting me.

3. What author do you own the most books by?
I don't really know why I asked this....I think I have everything Lydia Davis has written, not counting her translations, though.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?
6 a.m. or after 8 p.m.

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?
Not long, a couple of hours. But I take short breaks, like to get some hot chocolate or check the mail (which is either never there or just contains bill, of course). So I can spend a day in this pattern.

6. What about writing?
Ha! I like everyone's answers for this:) I don't know, but I've been told that I look like I'm concentrating very hard while writing. That isn't really a compliment, I don't think. Maybe it's because I put my face pretty close to the screen and kind of look angry.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?
Ahhh...that I had a sort of personal trainer, or an assistant, to keep me on track with things, and stop me when I begin to write something stupid so I don't waste obscene amounts of time.

1. What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?

"Someone got us while we were sleeping, so this Thanksgiving is the year of the American flag."

--from the short story, "North Of," by Marie Helene-Bertino, found in the latest Pushcart Anthology. I think this sentence is subtle and spectacular, somehow manages to mention 9/11 without pulling a Giuliani.

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?

I read something great by my peers. That motivates me.

3. What author do you own the most books by?

JK Rowling. If you want me to feel ashamed, I won't.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?

I like reading after I write, so I can say, "Ah, so this is how it's done."

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?

Hm, probably just a few hours. I did once see eight movies at the movie theater in one day. How come there's no question about that?

6. What about writing?

Also, probably a few hours. I have a short attention span. I am of the MTV generation, though that phrase is sort of meaningless now. They don't even play music anymore. I would say that somebody should kick that channel down a flight of stairs, except I do sort of like that True Life series, and Made can be inspiring.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?

Well, obviously, I wish I could muster the will to write more. I try to write an hour a day, but that doesn't seem to be enough. And what about those days I don't write for an hour, when I have to go to the vet with my girlfriend and watch her help save some dog's life, or watch a dog's breath fade away, one gasp at a time. What then?

I guess I should just write two hours the next day, but that's hard for me to do.

1. What is a cool sentence from something you are reading right now? Or maybe a bad one?

"The moon tonight is like the ass of a young bride squatting down to pee."

Charles Simic said that. I believe in The Monster Loves His Labyrinth. I jotted it down cause I like the sound of it, and cause it's a fine concrete image. You can't read it and not see it in your head (with mixed results).

2. What do you tell yourself when you are feeling discouraged?

I ask myself, "what would Cote do?" Then I do a little dance, like a cowboy bursting with joy and firing his pistols into the air, which is what I assume Cote is doing at any given time.

3. What author do you own the most books by?

I have so many books. I'm not counting. If I had to guess, I'd probably say Kurt Vonnegut. I've got all his books, and he wrote a lot of them. Love me some Vonnegut.

4. When is your favorite time of day to read?

I love sitting out on the back porch of the Pig in the afternoons, drinking coffee and chain-smoking while I read. Or do most things.

5. What is the longest span of time that you have ever read for without stopping?

Hours. I'm not sure how many. I doubt I've gone more than six hours at a given time, so I'm gonna say six. I'm not on tiral here.

6. What about writing?

Probably about the same, when I'm really cooking on something. I know there's been some times when I had a story coming due where I went down to the Pig after dinner and closed the place down working.

7. What is one thing that you wish you could change about your habits as a writer?

I wish I could be better about keeping to a solid schedule. I also wish I could tap into that adrenaline-rush of writing on a deadline when there's no dead-line present. And I'd like to finish a play. I haven't finished a play in five years. A friend of mine was in town recently working on a new play and I realized how much I'd like to get past act one of something. Then again, I wrote more than a few subpar plays back in the day, so maybe I'm doing myself a favor with the stop and start. Who can say?