I have been writing now — officially, professionally, occasionally happily — for 35 years, and I don’t believe I have ever, until now, committed to paper exactly why. So, let’s have at it.

I write to clarify what I think and why I think it. And because I find other people’s stories so fascinating, I write nonfiction. I have never been particularly adept at making up my own stories, which saddens me no end. Over the years, though, I found that I have a modest talent for telling real-life stories in a clear and I hope compelling way. Like all writers I gain enormous pleasure from those brief moments when a clever turn of phrase or a particularly memorable sentence bubbles to the surface from who knows where. Those are the moments that keep me going and that I wish I had more of.

And, there you go.