If there is no way out, the best course of action is to find a way further in.

I'd like to write a history, maybe of the Reformation.

My husband used to take care of the business part of this, and after he died I found I wasn't really any good at it. I hate remembering who owes me what and bugging them if they haven't paid me.

Listen to advice. You don't know how many writer's conferences I've taught at where at least half the audience fights all the conventions of the field.

I really hate those books where the murderer turns out to be somebody you never heard of who pops up in the last chapter.

People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half.

I've been a teacher at the college level, in composition mostly, and I've been an editor on magazines.