In high school, Yelena received an essay prompt, "The Role of Society in Anna Karenina's Suicide." Feeling that Anna was killed by the author of the book rather than society, Yelena decided to rewrite the novel's ending. The train broke in the Siberian snows, and Anna caught pneumonia while waiting to throw herself under it. Nursed back to health by nuns, Anna learned no lover was worth dying for.

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This rewrite would make feminists rejoice, but Yelena's teacher was no feminist. "This has nothing to do with the prompt and deserves a failing grade," her teacher said. "But there is a writer somewhere inside you. Keep writing."

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Fast forward several decades. Lena still searches for her inner writer and still has trouble staying on topic, which today was her bio. Perhaps her readers will be as benevolent as her literature teacher.