I've been working on a couple of short stories. I'm in awe of how difficult, and liberating, it is to write a good one. Every gesture, scene, and piece of landscape and dialogue has to matter and work to move the reader towards a defining moment.

I've learned an interesting lesson with one of these stories, "Letting Go."  I took a chapter from the novel I'm working on and tried to make it a standalone story. The novel is in first-person present.  I may change that, but for now that's the...