Many, many moons ago I attended Clarion East when it was still held at Michigan State University. It was six weeks of writing, bitching, kibbitzing, critiquing, and otherwise marveling at our collective brilliance while lamenting our misunderstood genius by the public at large and short story editors in particular. Some of the instructors attempted to give us a reality check, and the wit and wisdom of Sean Stewart stuck with me. I recently found a nugget of his on another instructor’s website whom I enjoyed as well, Maureen McHugh. If you’re writing a novel, and if you’re reading this blog you probably are, then take a moment and have a look at this.