I just got an email about the latest batch of B&N Discover Great New Writers, and I started thinking back to how lucky i was to be chosen for this, back in 2000 for my novel ,"The Perfect Elizabeth"    But when I look at the list, it's hard not to compare myself to some of the other writers or feel envious of some of them, whose careers have gone a bit differently than mine. I'll show you what I mean:


Spring 2000  B&N Discover Great New WritersWhite Teeth by Zadie Smith Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert Bee Season by Myla Goldberg The Sooterkin by Tom Gilling Julie and Romeo by Jeanne Ray Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss The Sunday Tertulia by Lori Marie Carlson From Our House by Lee Martin Under the Skin by Michel Faber Iron Shoes by Molly Giles Money, Love by Brad Barkley The Perfect Elizabeth by Libby Schmais Quickening by Laura Catherine Brown Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti After Life by Rhian Ellis Damned If You Do by Gordon Houghton The Dark House by John Sedgwick Jim the Boy by Tony Earley Beyond the Sky and the Earth by Jamie Zeppa Trumpet by Jackie Kay In the Drink by Kate Christensen Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri The Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison The Blossom Festival by Lawrence Coates