Sometimes when I visit a school a kid will ask me if I ever regret becoming a writer or if there is another career I wish I'd tried. One thing about being a writer is that you can have as many careers as you want. In the past year, for instance, I have dived for sunken treasure, gone into the Federal Witness Protection program, and become a lawyer and a professional model. Of course, I didn't really do all those things; instead I researched and wrote about them. But when I wrote, it felt as if I'd actually done them. Tomorrow I might decide to write about hunting in Alaska, or being a computer hacker, or an actor. That, to me, is the greatest part of being a writer. Show less «