Here are several true facts about this week’s episode of Book Fight:

1. Elizabeth Gilbert is a wildly successful writer. She’s given a TED Talk! She has her own gift shop!

2. Elizabeth Gilbert’s first published short story, “Pilgrims,” originally appeared in Esquire and was then the title story of her very well-reviewed debut story collection.

3. Liam Callanan, who wrote the review linked above, a review which we discussed on the show, is by all accounts a reasonable human and pretty good writer. His 2001 novel is called The Cloud Atlas, which is sort of unfortunate, but what are you gonna do?

4. Here is a picture of Elizabeth Gilbert (she’s on the left).

5. Neither of us has read Eat, Pray, Love, the very successful book that turned Elizabeth Gilbert from a Very Successful Writer to a Stratospherically Successful Writer And Burgeoning Lifestyle Brand.

6. For this week’s episode we read “Pilgrims,” which doesn’t seem to be available online (we tracked it down via our university library). One of us read “Pilgrims” twice, because he really wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt.

7. You can hear what we thought about the story by listening to this week’s episode at the link below.

8. You’ll also hear us talk about social media and self-promotion, and how writers should navigate those particular waters. Do writers need to build a brand? Or is it all about the work?

9. Alternatively, you can find our podcast in the iTunes store, or wherever you usually get your podcasts.

10. We very much appreciate your listening to our show! If you like it, please help spread the word to your book-loving friends!

Stream Episode 129:

Download Episode 129 (right-click, save-as)

Until next week, book friends!