I've finally reached a stage in my career where I can do what I want.

You have to have honesty to the product. You have to meet consumer expectations. You give them value for their money and give them a product that they need. I don't see anything wrong with all these things. And I don't think it's a bad thing to meet consumers' expectations.

I had done 12 little romance books, and I decided I wanted to move into crime fiction.

What I realized halfway through writing romance is that you start out intuitive, and you make all these choices mostly based on yourself and what you like and what talent you have, and... if you want to have any quality control over your product, you have to stop being intuitive and start being more of an analyst.

Silicon Valley,' I mean, the comedy is amazing, and it's one of the best-written shows with some of the best talent. I'm really happy to be a part of it.

What's disheartening for me and to all of us in GLAAD is when it comes to major studio films, LGBT people are basically invisible. And when we do show up, it's largely a part of comedies as carictatures to service a joke that's at the expense of the character.

My influences are a wide variety: from Dave Chappelle stand-up comedy specials on YouTube, to watching chick-flick comedy movies, to scrolling through stuff people say on the Internet.

I don't think of myself as funny - I don't fill up a room with my humor... I would fail miserably as a stand-up comedian.