One thing — of many— about last night’s panel about mentoring with Will Schwalbe, Alexander Chee, Heidi Julavits and Doree Shafrir that will stick with me (Emily): Alex told us that one of his writing mentors, Deborah Eisenberg, recommends that when people ask what you’re working on, you should straight-up lie.  Like, you should have a fake stock answer ready so that your real ideas can just stay in your head, protected.

I really wish someone had told me this before.  But I guess it’s not too late to take this advice.  So yeah, I am working on this amazing novel of small-town politics and 9/11. I mean vampires and college baseball.  I mean a secret society of magicians in late-1930s Eastern Europe …