The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers

  • This week’s Fiction Writers Review book giveaway is Jacob Paul’s debut novel, Sarah/Sara, which I reviewed for FWR last year. Even more up-to-date is this interview with the author, posted on FWR this week.
  • Speaking of giveaways, you can still sign up for the current Goodreads giveaway of my short-story collection, Quiet Americans (three copies!) or, simply by joining our Facebook fan page, become eligible for a simultaneous offering of two more copies of the collection.
  • Cathy Day has written an engaging (and, I’d argue, highly valid) essay on “Academia’s Novel Crisis.” Bonus: She has also posted an equally engaging (and, I fear, equally valid) item on the process of getting that essay written and published.
  • Ever wonder how literary-journal editors make their selections! In the case of Sycamore Review‘s editors, you need wonder no longer. Nonfiction Editor Chidelia Edichie explains: “[W]e figured we’d like to share some of our “picking” process with our readers, and perhaps most importantly, with our submitters. What is it about a certain poem, essay, or story that makes us stop, light up, and then hungrily read for more? We hope that, in articulating ‘why we chose it’ to you, our readers, it’ll help us understand our work as editors even more deeply.”
  • Have you been following our virtual book tour? Itinerary here.