I Can Imagine A Future In Which

Why, I Wonder, Should The Popularity Of A News Story Matter To Me? Does It Mean It's A Good Story Or Just A Seductive One?

'brave' Is One Of Those Words That Has Been Bleached Of Most Of Its Meaning These Days, Thanks To Far Too Many Appearances In The Glaring Light Of Ad Slogans And Corporate Public Relations. I Never Thought About Anything As Brave Anymore; It Just Seemed Like A Flabby, Glib Cliche.

I Wonder What Book Signings Will Be Like When Most Of The Books We Read Are Electronic. Will Authors Sign Something Else? A Flyer, Perhaps? A Special Kind Of Card Devised For The Purpose?

There's A Marvelous Sense Of Mastery That Comes With Writing A Sentence That Sounds Exactly As You Want It To. It's Like Trying To Write A Song, Making Tiny Tweaks, Reading It Out Loud, Shifting Things To Make It Sound A Certain Way... Sometimes It Feels Like Digging Out Of A Hole, But Sometimes It Feels Like Flying. When It's Working And The Rhythm's There, It Does Feel Like Magic To Me.

When I Was A Kid, Halloween Was Strictly A Starchy-vegetable-only Holiday, With Pumpkins And Indian Corn On The Front Stoop; There Was Nothing Electric, Nothing Inflatable, Nothing With Latex Membranes Or Strobes.