What's your excuse...

...for not writing a prize-winning book? Christopher Nolan died Friday at age 43 in Dublin. He was mute and a quadriplegic since birth who initially communicated with his family only through eye movements. At 11, supplied with a new drug to relax his neck muscles, he began writing with a "unicorn stick" strapped to his forehead, pecking a letter at a time on a typewriter as his mother held his chin with her hands. By 15 he had produced a highly praised volume of verse and short stories and went on to publish his autobiography and a novel. He was working on his second novel when he died last week.