But write what?

Abstract

One is sitting in one’s office, contemplating the snowy fields outside, when an email drops into your inbox inquiring if you would be willing to write a squib for a festschrift for Kyle. ‘Of course!’ one thinks. Such invitations are easily, nay joyously, accepted, and the task added to one’s to-do list with a comfortingly far-away date. But as the editors’ deadline begins to loom, the realization sets in. I have to write, one thinks. But write what?