Was it weird writing short stories, after having written a novel?
No, because everything I write is tiny. The joke about Tales is that it’s five trips to the bathroom long. That’s what Jamie used to say when he’d sell it on the street. The longest continued piece of writing in that book is like four pages, and it’s a letter. So it actually seems like stretching out to me to write a twenty-page short story. [Laughs.] Tales is pretty famous. Everyone seems to know this book. It’s had its own little life. It made sense that it kept selling while we were on tour, but it’s really gratifying that it’s selling now that we’re not promoting it. Was that a surprise? You alternate when you’re doing any creative project, you’re like, “I’m a genius, I’m an idiot, I’m a genius, I’m an idiot.” And during the height of your manic “I’m a genius” phase, you’re like, “This book’s going to sell fifty million copies! I need to put it in a safety deposit box so it’s not stolen!” And it’s those moments that keep you going through the moments where you’re like, “This is abs
