Ann Patchett has a piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com), suggesting that writers living large on Conde Nast’s expense accounts may have hastened the end of Gourmet magazine. Using herself as an example, she describes the lavish trips and posh resorts she experienced courtesy of Gourmet.

Did Gourmet’s writers’ extravagance tip Gourmet over the edge? I think not. At least not exclusively.

The costs of of printing, distributing and marketing a magazine make any editorial budget look like a child’s allowance.

And anyone who writes like Ann Patchett deserves thread-count in the thousands.

• from WSJ.com