The image of an open door graces the cover of Paula Munier’s latest writing book. It’s an invitation to learn and keep an open mind. It also reminds me of the proverbial door being slammed in a novelist’s face. “Competition is fierce—and that’s why your words must be fierce as well,” says Munier.

After you’ve revised your manuscript for the nth time, the final stretch of polishing can be daunting. You’ve maxed out your writing group’s goodwill and your own editing fatigue has set in. When you reach this point, Paula Munier’s tips on “principled polishing” will help a lot.

Writing is many things to many people—a job, a career, a calling, or perhaps a hobby or a fantasy. Paula Munier says writing is so much more. “Writing is nothing less than a path to enlightenment,” she says in this ruminative and inspiring book. And the best writers are those who write with quiet hands, she adds.

Looking for a literary agent is like applying for a job, but a thousand times harder. The process of querying agents or pitching to them in conferences is full of pitfalls. So it’s great when an experienced literary agent like Paula Munier rounds up the common mistakes writers make and shares them on her blog.

In keeping with the book’s title, Paula Munier doesn’t flinch when she states, “If you want to write commercial fiction, you need to be about plot.”