I'm a novelist. I don't think fast on my feet, I don't debate well, and that's not what this blog is for. I'm going to continue to speak my mind on large issues, like my opinion -- shared by pretty much half the country -- that George Bush is an unworthy President and surrounds himself with an equally distasteful crowd. And I'll write about small (though ultimately, bigger) subjects, like the river in the wind. What I won't do is get into acrimonious exchanges. You all are welcome to use the Comments section of this blog as a forum for discussion with each other, as long as you keep it civil. And I'm the one who gets to define "civil." You don't like it, get your own blog.