Being a famous writer does not earn you a free pass from your kids when it comes to those teenage years.

Roger Zelazny, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series, had three children but to them he was just dad. One of his sons, Trent, reflects on his departure from writing and his return to it, in no small part due to the support of his father, who didn't care about the quality of what his son wrote, just that he was doing it.

A month or so ago some family and I were corresponding on Facebook about my kids and I cutting off some out-of-control tree limbs and me discussing with them that our house in Pennsylvania had been heated by wood, which meant 30-40 full cord of wood being cut down (by my dad) and split (by me). My kids had no understanding of that, their father has been a write almost their whole lives.

My mother wrote, "Remember when he shot something out the dining room window, after Sunday dinner? Missed whatever he was shooting at, but hit the Apple tree and it caught on fire!"

Ha. Dads.