14 Comments

What's crazy and sad about moving these books up to avoid the election stuff is that the biggest seller on this list will probably be Christine Blasey Ford's book, which means more political entertainment books getting in front of good novels. Maybe I'm wrong and there isn't a lot of overlap between the buyers, but my guess is it has an effect.

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Yeah, I've heard others suggest that her book might dominate--which I can totally see happening. But I guess that is just how things shook out in the end

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Just reading the intro, I immediately thought of Steve Prefontaine (who my husband loved to quote to our kids). Cross-country is a very good training ground.

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Yes! I used to read all about him growing up, when I was really into running. And I agree, running in general I've found is great mental training for a writer. Thank you for reading, Melanie!

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“Like a cross country race, the publishing “race” is long—in fact, one can argue it never really ends.” Can confirm this is true 😂

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There you go! We have confirmation from a vet!

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Congrats and happy birthday!

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Thanks a lot man!

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Run your own race -- love it. It's akin to the old adage about "only controlling the things you can control," but your analogy adds much-needed specificity.

And Percival Everett proves your point. He's been running his own race for decades and keeps getting faster and faster.

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Amen. You're right, Everett is the perfect example. So happy he's getting his due from a larger audience. Thanks for reading man!

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Nice piece. I like the analogy to running. Also occurs to me that the nice thing about writing, as compared to competitive running, is that your brain stays competitive a lot longer than your legs.

I don’t think I’ve made it yet, in the sense that I imagined making it meant in my 20s, but hey, I’m still in the race!

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That's absolutely right man. I appreciate you reading and engaging!

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Also congrats!

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And thanks!

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