"Anything big enough to double as a sporting-goods superstore one day and a children's tour bus the next," says Dan Gets a Minivan author Dan Zevin of his ideal wheels. "Once I stopped thinking of it as a car and started thinking of it as a second home, I realized just how amazing this thing [the minivan] actually is. I use it to haul my children, my children’s friends, my children’s friends’ friends, friends of my children’s friends’ friends, random individuals I’ve never met, Costco merchandise, skis, beach chairs, bikes, scooters, groceries, footballs, baseballs, balls, kickballs, and Goldfish crackers. I don't even call it a minvan. There's nothing mini about it. I call it my Maxivan." 

"Band-Aids — I don't only save them for cuts and scrapes, either," says Dan Gets a Minivan author Dan Zevin. "I recommend them as a mood-enhancer when they have meltdowns. The SpongeBob ones work best in that regard. Two, some kind of child kibble to be used for positive reinforcement training, the way dog trainers use biscuits or dolphin trainers use mackerel. I don't recommend mackerel, though, for human children. They'll cooperate 100% if I provide one M&M every time they do what I ask them to do. Three, a sense of humor." 

"The 60-packs of Kirkland beer are amazing; it's incredibly similar to Sam Adams if you conduct a blind taste test (which I have)," says Dan Gets a Minivan author Dan Zevin. "I hoard the paper products in the back of the warehouse. I feel a little guilty about destroying the environment by buying 250 rolls of paper towels and enough toilet paper to take care of future generations of Zevin tushies — but I can't help myself. I have a whole chapter about Costco in my book, which is called ‘The Day I Turned into My Father,’ because my father goes to Costco three times a week. He turned me on to their shrimp recently, which I've been grilling on our new barbecue." 

"Speaking as a nice Jewish boy from New Jersey, the main qualification is that you couldn't get into medical school or law school,” jokes Dan Gets a Minivan author Dan Zevin. "Start your own blog, write for other blogs, and get your work out there with social media," he continues. "You'll get the attention of editors. Write what you know. If you don't know what you know, write about me. This last technique has been pretty successful for me."  

"Adam Sandler's company is developing Dan Gets a Minivan as a sitcom and is also developing my previous book The Day I Turned Uncool," says author Dan Zevin. "I feel very lucky and honored that they think it's funny enough to pursue. But I don't think there's any magic trick to getting the attention of Hollywood that's any different than getting the attention of readers. Hopefully, people will recommend your book through word of mouth, or a producer will just see it in a bookstore or read something about it that makes them go out and read it themselves. Obviously, it helps to have a good agent who believes enough in your work to make sure it then gets into the right hands. That's their job."