As a writer, one of the questions I sometimes ask myself is, “Should my 99-year-old mother die, how many days later could I go back to writing without seeming callous and unloving?”

Corollary: I hope my mom lives long enough for my first novel to be published. I won’t mind taking a week off, then.**

*Probably

**She’s doing just fine, thank you. We plan to put her in our will.