Reader, I started writing in earnest when I was sixteen. Up to that point, I'd always written because I had to. Book reports in second grade. A research paper on Canada Geese when I was ten. Essays assigned as part of my Great Books tutorial when I reached high school—most of which never got written, despite my best intentions. (Sorry, Mom, if you're just finding that out now.) It's not that I disliked writing. I just didn't have a reason to write unless some authority figure commanded it....