Friday Links

It appears 2015 has got off to a galloping start, as it’s already Friday again. I, like many people, spent my week digging out from a stack of holiday e-mail, and reading/editing client manuscripts. And once again, I find myself wishing I could read (effectively) a little faster, as the backlog feels rather more immense than it was before Christmas.

I hope you’ve all had a good first full week back to reality, and that you’ve managed a bit of writing in with your other obligations. Especially those of you who took the December writing challenge! No slacking off; the idea is to maintain your wonderful new writing habit and accomplish great things in 2015.

But today is Friday, which means Friday Links, so I will cease the rambling and get to it. I hope you find them inspiring. Enjoy!

The Great 2015 Book Preview – If you’ve been hanging around here for a while, you know I love this wrap up of books due to be released in the coming year. The Millions posts one bi-annually, and I always walk away with a long list of things that sound fascinating.

Joan Didion’s Favorite Books of all Time – A great list, but do scroll down and watch the short teaser video for the upcoming documentary of her life, as well. The video was the promo piece for the Kickstarter to back the film (which was successfully funded several times over), and is a wonderful peek into Didion’s world. I can’t wait to see the completed doc.

Cool Maps of Fictional Literary Places – A round up of imaginary regions from Hogwarts to Narnia and beyond.

Writing Excuses, Season 10 – The gang from the Writing Excuses podcast has decided to change things up, and they are offering a master class to be spread out over the course of the year, completely free and accessible to all.

10 Questions to Ask When You Create a Fictional Culture – Useful reference for anyone doing some world building.