It's the strangest thing. I never remember wanting to be a writer. And I never remember not being a writer. It was sort of decided by an uncle of mine, an old-school newspaper man, that I would be a writer. I can't say why he picked me. I certainly was no better at grammar than any of my siblings. But he decided. And he insisted. I am the only person I know who was taught the inverted pyramid at the age of 6. Also, I am the only person I know whose essays were blue-pencil edited by a real editor,…