A few years ago, I worked with a really great writer named Dave Noonan, who introduced me to David Mamet andGlengarry Glen Ross through a pep talk, where he exhorted us to “Always Be Writing!” When I scratched my pate and pointed out that writing didn’t start with a C (I wasn’t the sharpest flake of obsidian), he ran with it and said, “We don’t have time to make our acronyms match!”

Dave taught me a lot about writing, and so I’ve made an effort over the years toalways be writing. If I get bloc...