"There is this intimacy still in Botswana. It's a country of just under two million people, and there..." — Alexander McCall Smith

Baboons take a bit of getting to know but, apparently, once you break the ice, so to speak, they are complex and interesting creatures with elaborate societies.

A very powerful theme in fiction is that of loss.

I just focus on getting the first scene right, with a few lines about the overall plot, and then the book grows organically.

If you lose sight of the smaller accomplishments, you end up with an imbalance in your life.