Image from Literary Hub

If you read nothing else in today’s links*, I hope you read Matthew Norman’s account of a reading at Barnes & Noble where no one showed up. Or at least he thought that no one had showed up to his reading until he awkwardly asked the crowd and two people raised their hands. One even stayed until he finished reading! And that is the beginning of this delightful story of how @Fatty_Magoo became a hero to authors in empty rooms everywhere.

* but you should really read the other links as well because they are pretty great.

• Most authors have a recurring nightmare (or recollection) of that time when no one showed up to their reading. If you’re lucky, like author Matthew Norman, you’ll have at least one @Fatty_Magoo in the audience, who is there to see you read and then will become a hero to other authors everywhere.
• Summer doesn’t officially start until June 20, but based on the empty halls in the university libraries I inhabit, it’s already summer. Time to stock up on some beach reads, including the Summer Book Extravaganza from the Wall Street Journal, which features the debut novel from Novel Incubator alum and Dead Darlings contributor, Louise Miller!
• For those seeking a different kind of beach read, author Patricia Engel has assembled a list of 10 great novels of exile and dislocation. “Rather than focus on the individual, these are novels that depict the forming of new communities and relationships as a reaction to displacement.”
• Or, if you have no beach plans but many meaty revisions on your plate, you can begin the process with Justina Ireland’s five quick, down and dirty editing tricks.
• Ditch the beach and the regular writing routine with one of these 5 stunning writing retreats.