“As most of you know,” I told the crowd at my book pre-launch party in Oregon a few weeks ago, “it took me ten years to publish Waiting at Hayden’s.” “Too long!” My comedian-sister, Casey, heckled me from the audience. While she was obviously kidding (she’s seen how much goes into writing and publishing a book) as I thought about her joke afterward I realized that on some level she was right. Of course it does take a long time to write a novel—or accomplish any big goal—especially since . . .