7 Questions with Jason Diamond

"I'm confident I could wrestle most of my friends to the ground."

Image courtesy of the author’s website.

I first became aware of Jason and his writing when he was the literary editor at Flavorwire and I was trying to cajole people into posting about our books on t-shirts at Litographs. Ever since, he’s been a a good follow for his full-length books as well as his daily Instagram inspiration.

These days he writes his own newsletter called

The Melt

, regularly contributes to GQ and New York Mag’s Grub Street, and pinch hits at other venerated publications like Vanity Fair for this profile of Richard Kind.

Most importantly, Jason graciously agreed to be the first to test drive The Neary Questionnaire.

What’s in your recycling bin right now?

Several empty cans of the stuff I feed my dog and two cats that I rinse out after finishing, but the bin still stinks like old dog and cat food. An empty bottle of Eda Rhyne amaro.

What's your summer uniform?

Depends. I usually wake up around 5:30 or 6 in the morning and I put on a pair of Patagonia baggies and a t-shirt for the first part of the day when I'm waking up, reading, writing. Then I'll change if I'm going out. Lots of white jeans and short sleeve shirts. I overheat easily.

In a random group of your peers, what competition would you win?

I'm confident I could wrestle most of my friends to the ground. 

What’s an extravagance that you view as essential?

I've thought about this a lot lately and the truth is it's a watch. We really don't need them in most cases since we can pull out our phone and see the time, but if I leave the house without one on my wrist I feel naked. 

What’s the scariest app on your phone?

I think my voice memo app is haunted. Sometimes it'll just start playing by itself. I'll be sitting there and my voice will suddenly be asking a question and I'll think I'm going nuts. 

What’s your most treasured possession?

All of them. I love my stuff. 

What's a lesson you learned that split your life into a before and an after?

Not everybody needs to like you.