The careful choice of words, the scrubbing of language, the calculated images we presented to the external audiences - those were all major parts of my daily life over there. So, some of that is going to seep over into what I showed in the novel and - more importantly - how I showed it.

I think I'm still just as conflicted about the war as I always was. On the one hand, I was a soldier carrying out his duty, following his allegiance to his country and to the mission at hand. But yet, there was always this unease plaguing me. "What are we doing here?" "Are we really fixing this country or are we doing more harm than good?" And the most pressing question: "How do we pull ourselves out of this quicksand?" I think I'm still there in that white space you mentioned, trying to get clarity for myself on what this war did to us as a nation.

Seeing any war through the distortion of comedy is healthy. There is just too much absurdity and irony at play in a combat zone not to pay attention to it. At least that's how it struck me; others may have had an entirely different war experience.

The near impossible. If no one believed in the impossible there would be nothing left to dream about

The modern wars are also omnipresent in our electronic media - to be cynical about it, we now have 24 hours of non-stop bloodshed available to us. The internet and real-time media reporting were integrated into daily life in Iraq.

If Fobbit leaves a reader feeling stranded in some bland in-between territory, then I haven't done my job. But having said all that, I didn't consciously write the book with a particular moral intent. I took what I experienced and processed it through the sausage factory of fiction. It's up to readers to interpret what's on the page - as is the case with any novel.

With a profession such as investing, people see the 'doing' as the buying and selling. It is difficult to come home from work, and answer your spouse's question, 'what did you do today?' with 'well, I read a lot, and I talked a little.' If you're not buying or selling, you may feel you aren't doing anything.