Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer at the New York Times and the author of Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel. “As a profile writer, the skill I have is getting in the room and staying in the room until someone is like, ‘Why is this bitch still in the room? Get her out of there?’ It’s a journalistic skill that is not a fluffy skill. There are people who are always actively trying to prevent your story, prevent you from seeing it, from seeing the things that would be good to see. There’s a lot of convincing, comforting and listening going on. And there’s a lot of dealing with the fact that somebody in the middle of talking to you can suddenly decide that you are the worst. Those things are very tense and it’s a specific skill that I have that can defray all those things. Or it lets me stay.” Thanks to MailChimp, Netflix, and Pitt Writers for sponsoring this week's episode. @taffyakner taffyakner.com Brodesser-Akner on Longform [01:11] Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel (Random House • 2019) [02:31] They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate (James Verini • W. W. Norton & Company • 2019) [03:50] Taffy Brodessor-Akner on the Longform Podcast [05:07] “How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million”(New York Times • 2018) [06:21] Brodesser-Akner's New York Times Archive [06:23] Brodesser-Akner's GQ Archive [07:10] “Taffy Brodesser-Akner Really, Really, Really Wanted to Write This Profile” (Jen Ortiz • Cosmopolitan • 2019) [07:25] “Is Everyone Having Anal Without Me?” (Cosmopolitan • 2015) [12:25] “Bradley Cooper Is Not Really Into This Profile” (New York Times • 2018) [14:55] “Who Controls Childbirth?” (Self • 2010) [15:18] "The Company That Sells Love to America Had a Dark Secret” (New York Times • 2019) [28:50] "Antonio Banderas Doesn’t Think You’ll Remember Him. Not Yet.” (New York Times • 2018) [42:30] "Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It” (New York Times • 2018) [47:39] "Losing It in the Anti-Dieting Age” (New York Times • 2017) [48:00] "Are You Woman Enough For The UFC” (Medium • 2014) [49:20] The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. (Evan Ratliff • Random House • 2019) [54:10] "Billy Bob Thornton on Bad Santa 2, Ungrateful Fans, and Why He Won't Direct Anymore” (GQ • 2016) [58:17] Gone Girl (Gilliam Flynn • Broadway Books • 2014) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices