Seems like people always want to think they're doomed. It brings them some kind of black comfort, I guess.

Nate

It was 20 below zero, but it was a dry cold. It was not too bad.

As a reader, I'm often put off by authors and story-lines without families or children and all of the angst and joy they bring with them.

I do like the research part of writing, I must admit.

I really think more fledgling novelists - and many current and even established novelists - should get out into the real world and cover local politics, sports, culture, and crime and write it up on deadline.

I love to feature children and young adults as real people - flawed, naive, virtuous, venal - but real. I think it adds nuance and depth to the stories that wouldn't exist without them.