I'm enamored of Poets & Writers magazine these days. I rediscovered it last year, and was happy to see that its prior, overriding emphasis on poetry has subsided. By far, it's the most intelligent publication about creative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that's available today, and it's the only magazine that I enjoy from cover to cover. I'm stunned that so few libraries subscribe. Instead they have the insipid Writer's Digest, or the slightly more practical The Writer. The Writer occasionally has a worthwhile piece focusing on the business of writing, but a lot of the magazine, like Writer's Digest, is strictly geared toward wannabe novelists who will never make it because they're spending time reading quasi-technical articles instead of studying the work of great novelists and overcoming the obstacles of writing a novel themselves.

Harsh words? Well, as is often the case, I'm speaking from my own experience. What bona fide assistance is there for budding novelists? More on that soon...