Author and editor Leah McNaughton Lederman was inspired to put together her short story collection, A Novel of Shorts: the Woman No One Sees, when a specific character kept showing up in her stories. Esther, who is described by readers as tragic, deranged, and scary yet lovable, is a cleaning woman who obsessively collects dust from the places she cleans. The idea initially stemmed from her own experiences with cleaning. Four of her short stories with this character had previously been published when Lederman decided to pull a larger collection together. When it comes to publishing a collection of short stories, Lederman advises writers to explore self-publishing or small presses, as it can be challenging to get agent representation for this type of work. No matter the avenue, Lederman cautions writers to be ready to take on the business side of being a published author.