WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT OF WRITING: I think the best book on writing I’ve read may be William E. Blundell’s Art and Craft of Feature Writing. It’s basically the Wall Street Journal Guide to Practically Everything. It’s designed for journalists, but the skills and way of looking at the world it teaches are equally applicable to fiction writers: It explores how to assess causes and consequences, how to find the important angles and plotlines in a real-world story, and where you’d be likely to find people who know what you need to know. It’s also a fun, fast read. Highly recommended.