I founds this book very helpful. McCracken is both a wonderful writer and (seemingly) a wonderful college writing teacher.

Whenever students come to her with an idea for a story, she responds, "Could be good. Could be terrible. Try it." McCracken feels there are no "rules" in writing. She spends a lot of time dismissing the things you are supposed to NEVER do. If you do something and it works, then obviously you can do it. She once wrote a draft with lots of footnotes and then in her editing realized she only had one footnote left in the entire book. At first she told herself that she couldn't publish a book with one footnote, but then she realized, why not? If it works, you can do it. This is so liberating.

Amazingly, as great a writer as she is, she has 4-5 novels that haven’t been published. She finds usefulness even when most would view that as failure—

“I didn't understand that each book would change who I was as a writer, even the ones I didn't publish: no writing is wasted."

I have always hesitated writing autobiographical, because I feel like my life hasn't been interesting enough. But then I read what McCracken has to say: "If you're tempted to think of yourself as ordinary--think of the things youu'd be horrified for other people to know about you, your genuine hidden freakishness, the most inexplicable thing you did as a teenager. Something you've never told anyone, or nearly nodbody. Then give the shameful secret to a character." What great advice.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an e-galley in return for this honest review.

Elizabeth McCracken, true to her usual writing voice, gives personal writing advice here. Not as transcendent as Anne Lamott, Steven King, or some others, and written in short note-like snippets.

It is rare that I enjoy a book on writing in its entirety. Each of them have a piece of wisdom or two for me to pull out and woefully misquote a million time among friends, but to have me nodding along and feverishly copying down quotes in my notebook, to have me researching the MFA program at UT Austin, that is a true feat. Elizabeth McCracken's bite-sized formatting and meandering with purpose style are straight from my dreams.

Please if you have ever written or wanted to write do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

"To consider yourself a writer as you move about the world-I truly believe-is a beautiful way to live, a form of open-mindedness"

Elizabeth McCracken has written a really interesting ,entertaining guide to writing .Told through her voice in the form of notes ,I found it really helpful with ideas that were easy to absorb and put to use.# NetGalley #along game.

I enjoyed this book. It’s not a conventional writing guidebook; instead, as the subtitle indicates, it’s written in the format of assorted notes. If the book had clearer organization, I would have liked it even more; it would have been nice to look back at it someday and find a specific section, but instead, I took notes.

McCracken had some great tips that helped me feel inspired to write: mostly, to just keep working hard and to do what feels right rather than seeking others’ approval. Despite my wish for more structure, this book is still a pleasure to read. The writing is very good, even lyrical at times, and the author’s tone is approachable and sincere. I recommend A Long Game to others who are open to a non-traditional craft book on writing fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is cross-posted to Goodreads and will be posted on Instagram and Amazon within one week of the book’s publication.