Lit Life

Join the conversation in my classic-short-stories club

The hidden meanings of 25 clichés overused by reviewers that may not help you as a writer

Why Banu Mushtaq deserved her major book award for stories about a long-overlooked group of women

Writers play into the hands of pressure groups when they withhold valid criticisms of challenged books

I’d covered them as a journalist but didn’t realize their real aims until they came for my library

Jump into the conversation at my classic-short-stories club

Another look at my problems with an acclaimed novel

Something has gone badly wrong when you get 3 reads and earn $.08 for a boosted story on the first page of a Google search

A newly discovered manuscript shows that a lot of problems don’t go away after you’re famous