Can you explain the plot of Jesse Eisenberg's short story, "A Short Story Written with Thought-to-Text Technology"?

This story posted by Jesse Eisenberg in The New Yorker is entitled "A Short Story Written with Thought-to-Text Technology." In terms of plot, nothing much happens physically, though the narrator (John, the man who is narrating this story) undergoes plenty of internalization as he works himself into his writing.

John is sitting at a Starbucks and, for a time, his life as he describes it seems pretty good. He likes his job and enjoys his work week better than his weekends; this is a pattern in his life, as he used to do the same thing when he was in school. He is divorced from his wife, Rebecca, but their relationship is amicable. In fact, she graciously let him keep their house, the one her parents paid for. He keeps claiming he is a painter who likes to practice his craft, but he is constantly making Freudian slips and saying he is a writer who enjoys writing.

The story is very short, so John just has time to make his readers believe him when things start to change. As John's internal monologue continues, we learn that he works at a temp agency, hates his job, rather stalks Rebecca  and the new man in her life, feels as if he is being stifled by the house he is living in, got fired from his last job, gets in trouble for pursuing his craft, and is generally just an ineffectual and unproductive guy. He says of himself:

He was a dumb dumb stupid dumb writer—painter!—who couldn’t even afford an office, so he wrote—painted!—in a Starbucks because he got fired from Fleurstein and Kaplowitz for making copies of his stories—paintings!—when he was supposed to be copying legal briefs for those corrupt corporate shylocks.

Throughout the entire monologue, his view of the barista also changes. At first she is a lovely girl, but by the end she is the kind of girl no one would want--and even she would not be interested in him.

Even a stringy-haired barista with a slutty back tattoo would never like me.

The story ends as it begins, with an upbeat John feeling quite satisfied with what he has just written.

Everything seems to be flowing well. It was a little tough getting into it but now it’s really flowing. It’s weird how I do that—how I think I can’t write something and suddenly I’m carried away and then I can’t stop writing. I think I’m too hard on myself. I think I punish myself for no reason. But I think I’m really hitting my stride now. 

This internal monologue, then, is a kind of warm-up exercise for his real writing. He decides to get some tea and then begin to write again.

What literary techniques are used in Jesse Eisenberg's short story "A Short Story Written with Thought-to-Text Technology"?

This story, "A Short Story Written with Thought-to-Text Technology" posted by Jesse Eisenberg, was published in The New Yorker. 

There are not many typical literary devices used in this story. Calling his writing "painting" is a metaphor, and there are several similes. Eisenberg also includes some specifics and details, and the setting (a Starbucks coffee shop) provides some implied sensory details (sights, sounds, smells).

The dominant literary element used in this short story, however, is interior monologue, also known as stream of consciousness. John, the narrator, writes his thoughts as he thinks them as he sits in a Starbucks. His thoughts change from pleasant to rather angry and back again, though he never speaks to anyone but himself; and we are allowed to listen to his thoughts. This is intriguing here, because we are able to listen to John rather fooling himself into thinking he is happy before he is forced to face his true reality, which makes him happy again. 

The title reflects the plot--what he thinks gets written, whether it the is through literal technology or not--as well as the primary literary technique of the story. Note the randomness (typical of the way our minds often work) of these lines which end the story:

I’ll eat and drink and then get back to work. Everything seems to be flowing well. It was a little tough getting into it but now it’s really flowing. It’s weird how I do that—how I think I can’t write something and suddenly I’m carried away and then I can’t stop writing. I think I’m too hard on myself. I think I punish myself for no reason. But I think I’m really hitting my stride now. I’ll just get that tea. That nice hibiscus tea.

And then get back to work.

The primary literary technique in this story, then, is the use of an interior monologue, also known as stream of consciousness.