The basis of this book is that writing should be play-even for professional writers there has to be an element of fun and joy. As long as an author can keep having fun, they can write indefinitely and improve their craft. While I'm no fan of the Iowa Writer's Seminar, (and this book is steeped in that tradition), it has a lot of useful tips and exercises for writing a little every day, and improving your own writing. I could see this useful for teaching a creative writing class, or as a self-guided seminar.

For a fan of literature as opposed to a practitioner, there's also a lot to enjoy here, with a feast of short fiction, essays, poems, and plays used as examples. Sometimes it's a little hard to see the relevance to the theme of chapter, but as someone who mostly stays away from modern fiction this was a lovely sampling.