Tell us about In the Land of Men.

I moved to NYC from Ohio at twenty-two. At twenty-five, I was hired as the literary editor of Esquire. I saw some things. 

How are you nesting during this time? 

It’s like Little House on the Prairie around here. I’ve become, like so many other parents now, the head teacher of my eight-year-old son’s experimental new homeschooling situation. Also: I can’t believe that I’m cooking so many beans. I don’t even like beans. I was baking a lot of bread until the yeast ran out. You can’t get yeast anymore.

Do you have a bird story or favorite feathered friend?

Recently, when someone asked my son what his favorite sport was, he said, “I”m not really a sporty guy. I’m more into origami and birding.” (He really did say this.) So I’m proud to declare that we have a birder at home. As the human world around us collapses, I’ve really been thinking a lot about the power of birds—those beautiful and spirited creatures who bring us so much joy.

What is your most memorable reading experience?

Reading A Wrinkle in Time in my bedroom in Ohio when I was eleven. My son and I recently read it together, and the book was just as bizarre and as great as I remember. My son found the “character” IT as upsetting as I had.

What makes you most excited about In the Land of Men?

I hope that I was able to write about complex situations—and complex people—with a degree of grace, and I hope that I gave human nature the space to breathe.

To tweet or not to tweet?

I am nominally on Twitter, but I have no aptitude for it. (You’re either good at Twitter or you’re not. I am not.) For about a month I had the Twitter app on my phone, and I realized that it was making me insane. So I deleted it—one of the best decisions ever.

What books do you have in your bag right now?

Well, I’m not carrying a bag right now because there’s nowhere to go! I’d like to say that I’m rereading The Brothers K, but I don’t have as much time to read books these days as I did pre-virus. But whenever I can, I love dipping into Something Wonderful, Todd Purdum’s masterful portrait of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It took a political reporter to get Broadway right.

Can you tell us your favorite rejection story?

Since I spent so many years on the other side of the desk, I try to maintain (with varying degrees of success) a certain stoicism about my own rejections. At least I can tell you that writers—high, low, everyone in between—are rejected all the time.

What literary journals do you love?

Oh, there are so many great ones. I always get anxious with questions like this, because I know I’m going to omit so much, but The Oxford American, AGNI, VQR, and The Paris Review are consistently excellent.

What shakes your tail feathers?

I’m drawn to writing with wit and style. I know both of these are very unfashionable qualities in literature these days, however. Now it’s voice that matters, and the reader’s opinion about whether such-and-such character (or author) is a nice person. Spare me!

What advice do you have for fledgling writers?

Self-belief and stick-to-itiveness: the most important things. Possibly the only important things.

What other eggs do you have in your basket right now?

Other than trying to keep my family as healthy and as sane as possible? That’s ambitious enough for now, I think.