He's my client, and he's counting on me. I'll take him, warts and all.

The coffee arrives, and we backslide into what lawyers do best---talking about other lawyers.

All students enter law school with a certain amount of idealism and desire to serve the public, but after three years of brutal competition we care for nothing but the right job with the right firm where we can make partner in seven years and earn big bucks.

I earned my first steady paycheck watering rose bushes at a nursery for a dollar an hour.

I was tired of secrets, tired of seeing things I was not supposed to see. And so I just cried.

Stephen King reached out to me twenty-five years ago and taught me some valuable lessons. In return, I've tried to be generous with my time over the years with young writers. I've given them my email and said if you need someone to talk to, I've been through it.

I was on the verge of tears, so I turned and ran past the trailer and along the field road until I was safely out of their sight. Then I ducked into the cotton and waited for friendly voices. I sat on the hot ground, surrounded by stalks four feet tall, and I cried, something I really hated to do.