Thanks to everyone who read and continued to comment over the holiday. Apparently, some people didn’t think I could stay away, especially our darling A. who wrote, “Yeah, who knew Betsy had such self control?” Not how I envisioned her.” It’s true, self control isn’t my strong suit. My parents always accused me of “not knowing when to stop.” And god knows, I’ve found myself waking up in bushes enough times to know that I had a wee problem putting on the brakes.

I’ve always wondered how temperament relates to writing. I used to edit a young woman, totally out of control, who basically plugged her pen into a socket. I worked with another woman, so quiet and cautious that she seemed to disappear. And she wrote a book about that: Disappearance. I know another writer who claims to have a huge cock, and this, he would say, accounted for his big sprawling novels and his staying power.

If you are a safe and cautious person, is that reflected in your writing? If you are bold and swaggering, then what? Does personal temperament inform your writing? Do writers resemble their work? Why do we love to look at author photos if not to glean something about the personality and how that relates to the writing. Is that you, baby, or just a brilliant disguise?

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