I'm a morning person: if I don't get up, put the coffee on and get to my desk by 8, the day has already lost a lot of its promise.

I have to have coffee in the morning.

I'm not a morning person: I can't function until I've had a coffee - or several.

Do me a favor - right now, today, start a list of all your crazy obsessions, the things that get your heart pumping, that wake you up in the middle of the night. Put it above your desk and use it to guide you, to jumpstart your writing each and every day.

My father is an economist who specialized in foreign food policy, and my mother worked for AID, a branch of the State Department, so food in regards to world affairs was talked about a lot.

Just little things they do—like getting up and making the coffee every morning—helps. But they are working, too. They come in and lighten the load just by sharing the load.