It's appropriate that "envy" is the first dilemma listed in this book's title, because every author I know struggles with it on occasion. I ordered this book almost specifically for that reason, and that was a mistake. The chapter on envy is the shortest chapter in the book, and it's also the least helpful. It rambles on for pages assuring us that all authors feel envy, but the author's solution is summed up in less than a page and boils down to "if you write because you love writing, you'll never crave recognition and therefore never feel envy." Wow. That sounds awesome, but it's remarkably simplistic. It's also of zero use to the many, many authors who write for a living and must continue to write even when they don't particularly love it. It ignores the fact that recognition is, to some extent, synonymous with a paycheck. And it also assumes that one can't love their work and also crave at least some of form of reassurance that it isn't all in vain. If you can achieve this beautiful zen mindset with regard to your writing, more power to you, but for most of us, this chapter is akin to a patronizing pat on the head and an admonition that we better share our toys, darn it, and we better be happy doing it, too.

The rest of the book may have a few useful insights if you're patient enough to weed them out of the author's self-absorbed prattling. Mostly, I think she just really wanted to impress us all with her ability to weave stories into pseudo-parables. It's all very overblown and tries very hard to be philosophical without ever committing to any kind of substantial suggestions.

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