Okay my new book is upright on the launch pad and centered so that the scorch marks from my previous launches are barely visible. I’d like to think of it as a gigantic NASA rocket surrounded by a gantry hundreds of feet high with clouds of liquid oxygen swirling around it. Anticipation is high as the countdown begins. In the control room the “ignition” button is flashing green. All systems go. Soon there will be a deafening roar and the very earth will tremble and off into the stratosphere and mesosphere and outta-here it goes. Next stop: infinity and beyond.

How’s that for dramatic flair?

In reality my book is more like a model rocket being launched from a couple of overturned cinder blocks in my backyard (look out birds!) and I’m kneeling beside it with a flaming match in my shaky hand trying to ignite the fuse, hoping that…