I decided in late 2010 to explore the idea of writing a book, a risky endeavor since I hadn’t even had a byline since college. I’ve often thought of it as resolving to run a marathon even though the longest race you’ve ever run was a 5K more than a decade ago. Why do it? I love being an editor, but I found that I missed writing for an audience. Editing is kind of like writing from the inside out, so I slowly discovered that I had to radically reorient my brain when working on the book. I had to shush the editor in me trying to make everything perfect on the first go-around. Writing is so hard because writing is thinking. But the pleasure derived from an idea exquisitely expressed is matchless.