September! Everywhere I turn, I’m being told, often forcefully, “It’s back-to-school month!” No way. I refuse. I’m not going back. I endured twelve years of school and four years of college, and I’m not subjecting myself to that again. If they want to come for me with cattle prods and guns, let them come.

I’m sure that the right teacher, in a well-designed course, can be a great help to beginning writers who are trying to find their way, but I have no personal experience of that. I found my own way by doing two things. First, I read 150 books a year, sometimes more, (very little TV, later…