I subscribe to the theory that there’s no such thing as wasted time for a fiction writer. Writers are scavengers. I try to practice curiosity about everything. My research interests range widely. As an academic, my interests range from perspectival fractures in postmodern American fiction, to feminist and queer critique of fairy tales, to creative writing pedagogy, to the neuroscience of empathy (since empathy is crucial for fiction writers). As an artist, my research interests go where the work takes me. Right now I’m researching the TV show “Say Yes to the Dress,” Milwaukee politics in the 1840s, road kill in Hawaii, childhood cancer, and a million other things.