THE BOOK: My thanks go to the many who have written to say they enjoy what they read here and hope I'll write more. I plan to get back serious blogging after I finish up work on my book Leaving the Left, a memoir in which I'm developing expanding upon the ideas I explored in my essay last year. I'm on deadline for an early March delivery to Sentinel books, with an October publication date. So: if this message continues to appear at the top of my blog in the coming weeks, no need to worry that I've fallen into the Bermuda Triangle (although meeting a book deadline can sometimes feel quite like a vortex). But no complaints from this writer — I'm working with a terrific team at at a first rate publishing house. Now, back to the manuscript...