For Me, The Past Is Dead. Can't

I Don't Really Recognise Success. I Don't See Myself As On An Upwardly Mobile Trajectory. I See Myself As On The Edge Of A Cliff About To Fall Off.

Mostly I Have To Try To Censor Myself So As Not To Write Things That Will Hurt Other People, Or That Will Go Too Far.

I Started Puberty Very Late. I Was Nearly Sixteen. And For Complicated Reasons This Late Arrival Of My Puberty Caused Me To Stop Playing Competitive Tennis. But Before My Puberty Problem, I Had Trouble With My Lower Back And With My Left Testicle.

My Sophomore English Teacher Encouraged Me To Write For The School Paper, And That's What Got Me Started. Suddenly It Struck Me That Being A Writer Could Be A Romantic And Adventurous Position. Previously, I Had Thought I Would Be A Tennis Pro, Giving Lessons At A Local Club. I Thought That Would Be A Good Life, And It Might Have Been.

I'm Actually Much More Shy And Self-conscious Than People's Perception Of Me.