I listen to music almost any time I'm not sleeping, 'hanging out' with specific people, or showering. Tao Lin More Quotes by Tao Lin More Quotes From Tao Lin I know Bret Easton Ellis has said he has some amount of empathy for every character he has written about, though, so maybe I am similar to him in terms of that. I'm not sure what he thinks exactly. Tao Lin empathy character thinking I don't know what Douglas Coupland thinks about his writing. I've read maybe one page of one of his books and didn't think I was similar to him. But it seems like people just compare you to anyone, pretty much. Tao Lin writing book thinking My publisher had mailed [Bret Easton Ellis] Richard Yates. And when I talked to him he said he had read all my prose books. And he said something like, "You got a lot of mileage out of Dakota Fanning." Tao Lin like-you said book I don't know what to say about Asians. I think everyone is "racist," to differing degrees, in that everyone's brain will automatically associate information with other information, based on the information they are looking at (for example skin color, bone structure), but I think focusing on race in any manner that isn't neutral or self-aware probably increases racism. Tao Lin skin-color race thinking I usually have Kafka biography in my bathroom. It's a book I can open at random and feel interested in immediately. It's really funny. With this book, since I'm opening it at random and immediately interested, I don't feel the need to read more than I want to read, in that there's not, like, a plot that leads me along. So I can stop whenever. Tao Lin plot book needs If I focused hard on getting a literary agent, and doing things like that, instead of designing my blog's header, I would have more money, I think. I think I don't view myself as an author. I view myself as a person. I view [anything] as part of being a person, so I feel okay with "marketing" or other things like that. Tao Lin design views thinking I'm a shy, nervous person, and I don't like teaching with "terms." I didn't teach them, like, "This is first person, this is second person, this is foreshadowing," or whatever, so no one probably felt like they were learning anything. But I feel like teaching in that way reduces the concept to a term. Tao Lin shy teaching way I don't think I understand the concept of regret. Because if I regret anything, that would mean, like, I hate myself. Tao Lin myself think regret hate I don't have a definition for depression. I'm productive, and that's not a sign of depression, right? And I don't have weeks where I don't leave my bed. It seems like depressed people have those. Tao Lin leave bed depression people I can discern that certain things have an effect on certain other things, but I don't view those effects as good or bad. If a context and a goal is defined, I could say if it's good or bad. But overall, I don't view things as good or bad. Tao Lin view bad good i-can I don't think music affects what words I choose to type in what order, within what punctuation, at this point, because I'm rereading and editing each sentence, at this point, in my published books, probably 100-150 times each, on average, and listening to probably 20-60 different songs in that time. Tao Lin words think music time I like part-time jobs in restaurants. Tao Lin part-time like restaurants jobs I haven't written about an immigrant experience because I haven't experienced that before and am focused on existential themes. Tao Lin immigrant because focused experience I think I've written about family and things in 'Taipei' which could be considered Asian culture. Tao Lin things think family culture My first book was poetry, but I didn't write it first. I wrote it third. So my first two books were prose. Tao Lin first poetry two book A lot of people think I'm a vegan. I'm not. Tao Lin lot think vegan people My face always looks bored or depressed. It's not an accurate impression. Tao Lin face always bored looks I don't have specific music for when I'm writing. I'm usually listening to the same playlist or 'artist' before I arrive at the computer as when I'm walking somewhere after leaving the computer. Tao Lin music artist walking writing I don't view my memory as accurate or static - and, in autobiographical fiction, my focus is still on creating an effect, not on documenting reality - so 'autobiographical,' to me, is closer in meaning to 'fiction' than 'autobiography.' Tao Lin memory me focus reality I feel 'proud' whenever I feel that I've worked on something for a certain amount of time with a certain amount of attention. I'm not sure if I think in terms of 'pride' though. Tao Lin feel think proud time
