There's a point in your life when you quit expecting wonderful and delightful things to happen to you, and I passed that point a long time ago. Then this year, some kind of cog slipped in the machinery of events, and suddenly, I've been surrounded by surprises and extraordinary things just raining down on me, and I really don't have anything to say! I'm speechless! I can't believe it, I am speechless!

But, I have enough sense left to say thank you to my editor, my publisher, my PR person, my terrific agent, my family, my friends, everybody who's here tonight, all of the booksellers in the world, all of them, and to the readers. Thank you.