I wrote The Pen Commandments to keep track of everything I'd learned about writing from my high school English teacher, from my screenwriter aunt and uncle, and, most of all, from my own students. Nineteen years after its birth, I still hear from readers who say the book gives them the courage and confidence to write. I love all the anecdotes about my former students, and whenever I forget a point about grammar or punctuation, I reach for my own book.