This week, I was listening to an interview with bestselling author David Baldacci, and something he said made me stop and smile. He talked about how, when he finishes writing a book, he can't simply turn his imagination off. In fact, he said what keeps him going—his "belly fire"—is wondering what story he'll write next. He joked that without another story waiting, he'd feel as though he were floating in the vacuum of space. I found myself smiling because I understood exactly

I was driving to my son and daughter-in-law’s house when I saw it. A road sign. Not an especially beautiful one. Not historic. Not magical. Just a green road sign standing beside the highway like thousands of others you pass without thinking twice about them. But this one stopped me cold. Puckerbrush: A Name That Resonates Puckerbrush. I remember thinking immediately: That is the greatest book title I have ever heard. What fascinated me wasn’t just how wonderfully odd the wor