I’ve never read any of Tom Clancy’s books. My step father loved them and since I spent most of my high school years locked in battle with my step father (he: Republican, me: not) I just piled Clancy on top of my hate pile. Clancy died yesterday. I liked this part of  his obituary in the Times:

Mr. Clancy said none of his success came easily, and he would remind aspiring writers of that when he spoke to them.

“I tell them you learn to write the same way you learn to play golf,” he once said. “You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired — it’s hard work.”