There’s a lot of drama in writing books, and I don’t mean in the content of the stories. The long labor of writing, how much you have to get wrong or just get down before you figure out what you are doing, the many obstacles our minds and real life put in our way: this is the stuff of plot, really, and also the truth of the writing life.

There’s a nice write-up on why authors abandon novels, from the New York Times.

Meg Waite Clayton, who will be the featured author in the Book Writing World in April and whose latest book, The Four Ms. Bradwell’s, is coming out in just a few weeks, has a great blog on writing called “First Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started.” She has written in honest detail about the process of writing and publishing, and she posts guest blogs of authors about their first books, though many of the writers are coming out with second, third and fourth books when they write.

Author Ellen Sussman, who will be another featured author in the Book Writing World, just sent out a link for a 2-minute Seth Godin video that claims the [publishing] industry is dead and tells how he beat it and made millions. Ellen’s a bit of a sweetheart of the publishing world just now and points out that Godin’s is not a typical tale. But it’s worth a look.

I also just read a though-provoking if ultimately inconclusive discussion of Women and Criticism.

As all of this juicy stuff was crossing my e-path, I was thinking that I could post a bunch of great links every day, much as The Rumpus does. If I didn’t want to write my own novel.

So . . .with all this inspiration under my own belt and shared with you, I turn back to the writing, and I hope you will, too. And if you need some structure and guidance, come to our utterly inexpensive, thrillingly productive online writing retreat on April 2. (See Home Page.)