STEP AWAY I go out once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If I have a writing problem, the minute I step away there’s a solution. I like going to the Natural Market, which is on Austin Street, the main drag in Forest Hills. I get a lot of organic stuff like kale and other greens. Then I go to the farmers market, which is a block away on Queens Boulevard in front of the post office. I do a circuit and get hard-to-find things like white radishes.

DRINKS, EDITS After I shop, I go home and make lunch and do another writing stint. Then around 3, I meet a local friend for a cocktail at Forest Hills Station House. It’s a dark bar, and I love going there on a Sunday afternoon. It’s very cozy, practically under the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road. I read that Joan Didion stopped writing at 4 every day and would have a martini or a whiskey. There’s something delicious about having a cocktail at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Then I go home and go back to the computer again. I read over what I did and write light edits. I turn off the part of the brain that needs to generate and produce, and I turn on a more reflective part. I edit on hard paper. Having paper in your hand is more of a sensate experience.