I have done it again. This is where I think having a list of what not to do when writing is important. Write a list of all the “mistakes” you made in your last novel to prevent you from doing them again from the outset. Also, keep that list so you can refer back to…

This feeling that I’m feeling is hard to describe. When I was fourteen, my friends and I described it as angst. We talked about the image of it because we were Honors English nerd-types, deeply into imagery and symbolism, deeply into all things “deep”—roiling around in the complicated feelings of teenage protagonists in books like…