Orchid Hunting Is A Mortal Occupation.

I Am Dismayed To Realize That Much Of The Advice I Used To Parcel Out To Aspiring Writers Has Passed Its Sell-by Date.

My Ace In The Hole As A Human Being Used To Be My Capacity For Remembering Birthdays. I Worked At It. Whenever I Made A New Friend, I Made A Point Of Finding Out His Or Her Birthday Early On, And I Would Record It In My Filofax Calendar.

Writing About Someone Well Known Removes That Obligation Of Defending It As A Subject, But It Also Means That Some Of The Surprise And Freshness Is Already Gone. It's So Different - In Some Ways Much Harder For Me.

The One Thing I've Discovered About Social Media Is That People Love Answering Questions. In Fact, It Sometimes Feels Like At Any Given Moment, Millions Of People Are Online Who Have Been Waiting For Exactly The Question You Fire Off.

The First Thing I Think About When I Wake Up Most Mornings Is The Fact That I'm Tired. I Have Been Tired For Decades. I Am Tired In The Morning And I Am Tired While Becalmed In The Slough Of The Afternoon, And I Am Tired In The Evening, Except Right When I Try To Go To Sleep.