There's Hope Around The Corner.

A Thousand Times Today I've Started To Open My Mouth, Started To Squeak Out, "can You Tell Me...? But Then I'd Look Into The Front Seat, At My Mother's Silent Shaking, My Father's Grim Profile, The Mournful Bags Under His Eyes, And All The Questions I Might Ask Seemed Abusive. Assault And Battery, A Question Mark Used Like A Club. My Parents Are Old And Fragile. I'd Have To Heartless To Want To Hurt Them.

He Looked At The Piles Of Food Again, And It Was Like He Was Seeing It With New Eyes. This Is Wrong, He Thought. Letting Food Rot While People Die Of Hunger. It's Evil.

Sometimes I Can Spend As Long Revising A Manuscript As I Spent Writing It In The First Place.

The Deadlines Are Much, Much Longer With Books. When I Was A Reporter, A Lot Of Times I'd Come In At 8:30 A.m., Get An Assignment Right Away, Interview Somebody, Turn The Story In By 9:30, And Have The Finished Story In The Paper That Landed On My Desk By Noon.

I Like To Know What I'm Celebrating Before I Put On A Party Hat.