I remember when I sold my first book. I had been writing since half-past forever but had stuck to the short form and not essayed writing a book for a variety of reasons. Lack of patience for such a long project was one of those reasons. Another was lack of faith in myself, or maybe it was knowledge of the whims and vagaries of the publishing world. Whatever the cause, I knew that writing a book was no guarantee of getting it published. And so I stuck to articles and such, till one day I had an idea for a book so compelling that I had to write it. (It was nonfiction—that’s what I mostly write—and it was a book I felt was really needed.)