Julie Buxbaum is the author of warm, funny, feelsy adult and YA novels, including YA debut Tell Me Three Things, a story of anonymous letters, displacement, and first love, and her new book, Hope and Other Punch Lines, about unwanted fame and the personal fallout of a national tragedy, set over the course of one long, life-changing summer. We talked to Buxbaum about hard questions, the click that happens when you know a story is right, and feeling like you’re just playing at being a grownup.