About the Author
Heya!
Thanks for visiting the site and checking out my book. This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you about me for better or for worse. (And if you’re anything like me, you probably want answers that fit into the “worse” category… They’re always more interesting, right?) Well here are some A’s that will hopefully satisfy the burning Q’s:
• Where did you grow up?
Folks almost always guess me as a native Kansan or Iowan. I have no idea why this is, but it’s possibly because I use words like “folks.” I actually grew up just outside of Philadelphia, PA in a town called Gladwyne.
• Where did you go to school?
I went to Princeton for college. Worked my arse off—and always felt like the dumbest one on campus—but the school and people were amazing, and I loved it. Then I went to graduate school to get my MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in nonfiction writing from Columbia University.
• How old are you?
That depends when you’re asking so we’ll go with “slightly younger than I’ll be tomorrow.” My birthday is November 15.
• Any siblings?
Yes! One great sister named Amy. Adore her. We even wrote a book together. www.SoSueMeJackass.com
• Where do you live?
New York, New York. (On the back of the book it says Brooklyn, NY, which was true enough for two years, but I’ve since moved back into Manhattan.)
• Are you married? Do you have kids?
Nope. And not to my knowledge.
• Is it true you’re a professor?
Weirdly it is. I teach sitcom writing at New York University, which, to be honest, is exactly as cool as it sounds.
• What are your hobbies?
I love running – it’s something I’ve done since middle school – and I find it calms me down a lot. I also like yoga (probably because I’m crazy flexible and can bend into a variety of interesting positions.) I read every day (fiction, nonfiction, magazines and newspapers). And as you might expect from someone who teaches TV, I am not embarrassed to say I watch a lot of it and always have.
• Favorite food?
No question, if I were allowed to bring one food to a desert island (as opposed to a dessert island, which probably wouldn’t be such a bad place to be stuck…), I’d choose pretzels. I love hard pretzels, soft pretzels and pretzels covered in dark chocolate. Basically I love pretzels in all shapes and sizes. The only variety I don’t like are the ones without salt—blech—I have no time for those.
• If you had to pick a different career, what would it be?
I’d have to go back to school to take all the math and science classes I was too lazy/scared to take the first time around, but I really think I’d enjoy being a neurologist. The inner-workings of the brain fascinate me, and being a doctor seems like an incredibly rewarding profession.
• What are some of your favorite TV shows?
At the moment I think there are a lot of great and well written shows on the air. I particularly like: Modern Family, Friday Night Lights, South Park, 30 Rock, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Parks and Recreation, The Good Wife, and though I don’t watch a lot of the newest episodes, The Simpsons is a classic.
• Have you written any other books?
I have! I’ve co-written two, the novel SHAKING HER ASSETS, with my friend Renee Kaplan and the nonfiction legal guide, SO SUE ME, JACKASS!, with my sister Amy Epstein Feldman. I’ve also written a bunch of children’s books for Scholastic, including the GROOVY GIRLS series, and a couple of the Junior Editions for the WORST CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOKS.
• Weird factoid that no one would ever guess by looking at you?
My parents made me play trombone from fourth to seventh grade. I was terrible at it. Hugely, horrifyingly, majorly bad. I was so sucky, in fact, that even though I was the ONLY trombone in orchestra, the music teacher gave me second chair music and said if that was too hard, he’d give me third chair music instead. Not cool.
• So what do you look like?
Contact me: Robin@godisinthepancakes.com