I was underwhelmed, even though I'm quite interested in the topic. My favorite three stories were: "Letter to a Young Article Writer" (Donald M. Murray), "Lessons of a Lifetime" (James Michener), and "Why Stories Fail" (Ben Nyberg). These were among the most practical and direct. Michener extolls a bias toward action... "first, learn to master the English sentence in all its richness of expression and variation in structure... Second, acquire an individualized vocabulary on at least three social levels, including modern street lingo... Third, familiarize yourself with the fine books that have already been published... I was classically trained... Fourth, use every device in the repertory to get to know people in the publishing business." He continues to talk about how easy it was to get published in his day relative to now. ( )