Tangled in one another's arms and nine times out of ten the things you think about a person make it impossible to touch them.

I made this list of stuff that it's time for me to try to do.

I had a talk with the president of my publisher, and he averred that e-books are dropping off . So I wonder if the potential advantages are really going to happen as quickly as they ought.

The Great Recession is not imaginary, and the effects loom large. There was an article in the NYT about the galloping death rate among white men in middle age. Higher than among any other demographic, etc. Mostly death by drugs, alcohol, or suicide. Many of them rural. My feeling is that it's many people who haven't been able to get back into the work force. Reg Morse is an example of the problem.

I think first-person narrators should be complex, because otherwise the first-person is too shallow and predictable. I like a first-person narrator who can't totally be trusted.

The Ice Storm, because of the movie, has had, or is to have, a vigorous life in other cultures.

I'm trying to make sure that there's comedy as well as sadness. It makes the sadness more memorable.