[BeautifulBurnout]

The Grauniad did a fab pastiche of the editorial process for her new book.

Anyways, so going back to my childhood, I was a big-time sports fan and reader, and I loved CS Lewis, who is very deep and interesting. So I played basketball and they called me Sarah Barracuda because of my amazing mid-court shot, which got me scholarships to the top colleges in the nation. [Sarah, this passage is great stuff, very affecting. But while we agree that Matanuska-Susitna College and Hawaii Pacific and all the others are superb schools, should we maybe cut out "top colleges" for the sake of modesty? – eds. NO WAY, HOSAY. LIBERAL ELITES LOOK DOWN ON ME BUT THEY ONLY WENT TO ONE COLLEGE AND I WENT TO FOUR. – SP] I put myself through college while working full time and raising a family. [Already? What about the basketball scholarship? – eds. YUP, THAT TOO. TOP COLLEGES IN THE COUNTRY. – SP] From that experience I always knew I wanted to serve the people of Alaska.