Happy Friday, everyone! We’re winding down toward summer’s end so I hope you all have terrific plans for your weekend (or something warm and cozy for you southern hemisphere folks). This week’s links are sort of a mishmash of things, but I hope you find them interesting and entertaining and perhaps a bit inspirational. Enjoy!

For Those About to Write, We Salute You – Part of Ploughshares’ ongoing series of writing exercises, this one focused on writing about sex.

Skylight Addicts and Private Wonderlands: On the Garret Novel – As a child I dreamed of eating apples, reading books, and writing stories in an attic room like Jo March. (Our house didn’t have an attic.)

Hilary Mantel’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction – Part of the ongoing series, with some excellent advice.

Bookshelfies – A Tumblr devoted to self-portraits with books.