Around the time I turned 30, I wanted to publish a novel

I'm lucky in having found the perfect partner to spend my life with

I realised I'd never climb Everest but thought I could still write a book

Sometimes life seems so painful it hurts even to move my arms.

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming

It's hard for me to believe that just my words on the page are enough. I ought to be out physically keeping abortion safe and legal, restoring the Fourth Amendment, getting clean water back into Kentucky since the Bush Administration has allowed strip miners to fill it all up with slag. The list is endless. Bring it down. Make it small. Make it one thing that you can do. It's very hard for me to remember that.

White-collar crime gets more outrageous by the second in America.