One thing I like about this collection are the essays he wrote about the nature of writing short stories, and the craft of writing in general. There's a couple of great anecdotes about how outside influences affect works in progress, like being called by someone asking for a person who wasn't there, and Carver writing in a person with the asked-for name into the story because he realized that person needed to be in the story. I know I'm not the only person who writes something and then realizes of course that had to be there, but seeing someone else describe that moment of discovery rang very true.