I wrote two wonderful short stories during the Christmas holiday: The Ramshackle Clocktower Mystery and The Phoenix. I continue to work on my first novel, Duke. I sometimes find it difficult to write a convincing first line. I think of some memorable opening lines… Are they convincing?

"All children, except one, grow up."

"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York."

"When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere."

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since."

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."