Will soon wake up, put on clothes, go to work.

Yesterday was a big day for writers. It was the day the Debut Fiction issue of the New Yorker comes out.

Each summer (with a few skipped) the NYer releases a summer issue with a few new writers (Debs), giving them the most coveted medium to show their stuff in American literary quarters. This year's blessed scribes were Karen Russell, Uwem Akpan, and Justin Tussing. Since they are debut fiction writers, their names do not appear all over Google just yet. Therefore, people looking for them might wind up right here. Therefore, I should tell those people to read Carrie Pilby.

That said, Karen Russell, Uwem Akpan and Justin Tussing might become subject to...

Schadenfreudenberger.

Schadenfreudenberger was a term coined by Curtis Sittenfeld (she's in my blog two days in a row! Wow) in Salon after Nell Freudenberger, a twentysomething New Yorker intern, got one of her short stories into the New Yorker's debut fiction issue (it may have even been her first published fiction) and was supposedly offered a $500,000 contract for a book of short stories by a major publisher.

That's what happens when you're a "Deb."

When Freduenberger's collection came out, it got good reviews, much to the chagrin of the knife-sharpeners. It apparently was a well-written book. But there's long been suspicion about people who are published either young or suddenly, seemingly without struggle (whether that's how it happened or not). Of course, it's jealousy. But heck, if you snark about someone who got a $500,000 book deal, how much are you really hurting them?

It looks like this year's Debs have worked their way up the ranks, though. Tussing got an MFA in writing in the University of Iowa's vaunted program, and his first novel is coming out in February, so he didn't all of a sudden get a contract. He's also 34, not 17. So, congrats to Justin Tussing, Karen Russel, and Uwen Akpan. May the Schadenfreudenberger be gentle on you this year.

(I'm not quite sure Mr. Wenclas's blog will hold back.)

Oh, disclaimer: Yes, I know that I shouldn't be namechecking all these writers, but most of my readers aren't writers and thus might find some of this stuff interesting. And I know these people are better writers than I am. But no matter what, I can still hold my head high and know that I am a much more eloquent person than the guy who CUSSED OUT A PUG!