When I’m writing, I like to end chapters on a note that will keep you turning the page. It might be a clever line, a cliffhanger, or a big reveal. It might mix all of those up. If the big reveal was done correctly, you’ll look back and realize events in the book foreshadowed that reveal. I find myself at just such a moment in my real life. Recently, my doctor told me I have prostate cancer.

This announcem...