Your Turn: Only Friend

This week's question: What's your desert island book? And why?

I chanced upon an old episode of the podcast where we talk about what book we'd want with us if stranded on a desert island. A classic question, sure. One you've no doubt answered. But have you told me?

It's instinct to read that question as synoymous with "What's your favorite book?" But should it be? My favorite books are, naturally, the ones I know the best. Do I really want The Coast of Chicago or Jazz to be my only island companions when I already know them nearly by heart?

Then again, do you really want to choose something you've never read? What if you pick War and Peace based on its length and reputation and then, stranded forever(?) on your island, you despise it?

My original conception was some sort of giant Norton-style book of short stories. The variety, the volume.

But somewhere mid-episode, I changed my mind and went with something in the middle, something familiar but not likely to be memorizable; something offering the variety and the volume.

Don Quixote. I've read it only once. I loved it. Stories within the story; styles within the style. Familiarity may breed contempt, but good luck becoming that familiar with the entirety of such a book.

What's your desert island book? And more importantly, why?! I'll run some favorites in the next email.

April Promotion: Spring Cleaning

What better time to clean up your pages? Throughout April, enjoy 10 percent off an edit and/or proofread of your manuscript, short or long.

With a line edit, our crack team will address usage, grammar, flow, and clarity, and offer suggestions for improving the overall effectiveness.

Then our eagle-eyed proofreaders will comb through your pages for typos, spelling/punctuation mistakes, and formatting glitches.

Whether it's 10 sample pages or your entire 10-book series, WriteByNight will ensure you're putting out your cleanest work.

WriteByNighter of the Week: Dixie Frantz

We at WBN are very pleased to report that Dixie Frantz's debut, A Joyful Embrace, is now available!

It's an open and heartfelt memoir about Dixie's daughter, Mimi, afflicted with cerebral palsy, and Dixie's "struggle to help Mimi achieve her fullest potential."

Mimi passed away far too soon, but Dixie learns lasting lessons on "the importance of empathy and the value of life."

Dixie worked with five WBN coaches and consultants, from a critique of the book to an edit/proof to other pre-publication assistance.

Congratulations, Dixie! We look eagerly forward to Book 2. (No pressure.)

WBN Coaches' Corner: Tariq Shah

Early in the pandemic I struggled to get my footing in anything book-length. I even tried old favorites: Morrison; Vonnegut; Dybek.

Then I heard about, and ordered, a novella titled Whiteout Conditions by a writer named Tariq Shah. Its reviews seemed to fit the times, and my mood: "grim and [...] viscerally upsetting"; "brutal, cold and haunting."

I ordered it, opened the package, sat right down, and read it cover to cover. It was exactly what I needed at the time.

A few months later I advertised for new WBN coaches. When I saw Tariq's name in my inbox, I pounced to open that email.

Since then, Tariq has been one of our most stalwart coaches. Not only has he worked with -- to great acclaim -- prose writers and poets, but he was kind enough to set aside the potential awkwardness of doing a consult on some of my own work.

So I'm in a rare position to offer input on one of our coaches as both WBN co-founder and anxious writer. I found Tariq's feedback invaluable and our session comfortable and... fun. It was just lots of fun.

Are you ready to work with Tariq on your fiction, nonfic, or poetry?

Writerly Quote of the Week

"Throw down, make a mess, and see what happens."

-- WBN writing coach Tom Andes (because why not throw it out there one last time?) (And also because I've run out of gas.)