A long, long time ago, I had the chance to have a few stories critiqued by a writer with two books out at the time. I sent my stories to him in the mail, and a little while later I received a thick manila envelope back. Inside were my marked-up stories and also almost a dozen pages of single-spaced notes. I was awed, having expected only maybe a brief email in response. Nobody, not even the people in my writing group, had so thoroughly dissected these stories. We exchanged a few more letters after then, and I took what I learned and wrote and wrote. Now, as I work on edits for my forthcoming novel, I still think on the thoughts that George Saunders had so generously given. Am so very glad that he won the Booker. Thank you, and congratulations.
Should you come across this issue of StoryQuarterly at your local bookstore or library, you’ll also find a chapter from my forthcoming novel in there, among fine company.
