To Write Long, First Write Short

By Laurie Hertzel

Ever since I was old enough to grip a pencil I thought of myself as a writer. In my 20s, I began making my living that way—first as a reporter and columnist at my hometown newspaper, then as a magazine writer. Eventually, a big-city paper came calling. They hired me to edit, but I was sure it would only be a matter of time before I resumed my writing ways.

Nine years later, I looked up and realized that I had not written a sentence, not a word, in almost a decade. I st...