William Sloane was a brilliant editor, publisher, and teacher for more than forty years. In this book are gathered chapters derived largely from lectures he gave over twenty-five years at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, from correspondence with writers, and from editorial memoranda dealing with the specifics of a writers problems.One of the delights of the year is this wise and witty book. . . .For writers of fiction and nonfiction, beginners and pros, [it] will concentrate the attention most wonderfully on the hard-won techniques that go into good writing. Walter Berkov,