To be honest, my best writing happens when I need some place to put my short-term insanity. And it’s a vast comfort when other people tell me secrets that put my suicide-watch moods into perspective. The sudden release of tension: the revelation that I’m not suffering alone, that everyone endures this, it occurs like the punch line of a joke. So much is resolved so quickly that I have to laugh or gasp. When people give me that gift I can’t wait to pay it forward and have that same wonderful effect on someone else.