Happy Friday! I hope everyone’s had a good week and is raring to go for the weekend. I’m actually in the process of unpacking my schedule a bit, as I feel a potential cold creeping up on me and I absolutely do not have time to get sick. So rather than my current triple-booked weekend, I’m going to tone it down and do something logical, like sleep.

That doesn’t mean the rest of you can’t whoop it up on my behalf, however. One thing I was excited about for the weekend was Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, which takes place tomorrow, October 17th, starting at 7am Central Time. Those of you who have been reading here for a while know I’ve fallen hard for the readathon concept. As someone who does tons of reading, but frequently can’t carve out time to read purely for pleasure, I adore the idea of setting aside a chunk of time just for that purpose, and a readathon gives me a ready excuse. I learned about this one just yesterday and was all set to put in my full 24-hours, but now I’m planning to be more sensible and just read part of the day. Anyone interested should definitely check it out, though, because it’s a fun way to plow through a bit of your TBR stack.

With that in mind, I’ve got some great bookish links for you this week, along with everything else, and given the time of year, some might just have a slightly spooky slant. There’s something for everyone, so check them out, and have a fabulous weekend!

Why Autumn Belongs to Ray Bradbury – A look at the prolific author and his love of all things October.

10 Female-Written Short Stories Everyone Should Read – A companion to the list of more general short fiction (though mostly by men) that made the rounds a while back. Great selections, including some with a definite Halloween flavor.

What Every Successful Novel Opening Must Do: Myth vs. Reality – A look at some commonly held beliefs about those first precious pages, and some ideas regarding exceptions to the rules.

Man Booker Winner’s Debut Novel Rejected Nearly 80 Times – Marlon James, who just won the Man Booker Prize for his book A Brief History of Seven Killings, talks about his long road to publication with an earlier work.

Why the Printed Book Will Last Another 500 Years – Don’t know if it’s true, but I’m crossing my fingers. Much as I love the convenience of reading on my iPad, I still prefer reading on paper. I’m a fan of books as objects just as much as for what’s between their covers.

Ursula K. LeGuin: Steering the Craft – On writing. The author discusses the new revised version of her classic writing guide, geared especially for the needs of the 21st century.

Should You Be Using a Pen Name? – Great discussion of the whys and the hows, with helpful supplementary links to additional resources.

2015 National Book Award Shortlists Announced – Pretty much what it says on the label. Some of these have been on my TBR for a while. Need to get reading…