Friday Links: Writing Aspirations and Inspirations

TGIF! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful, productive week, and that you have some excellent weekend plans. I’m off to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books both tomorrow and Sunday. We’re anticipating some rain on both days, so I hope that doesn’t discourage people from attending. It’s a fabulous event every year and I’m always quite disappointed when something comes up to keep me from going.

I do intend to get a post up over the weekend detailing my AWP adventures from last week, so if you’re hanging around the internet, be sure to stop by. Otherwise, I wish you lots of good reading and/or writing time, and I’ll leave you with this week’s collection of Friday Links of things to aspire to or that might just inspire you. Enjoy!

James Triptree, Jr. Literary Award 2015 Winners – Great roundup that includes the long list folks, etc.

Lin-Manuel Miranda: By the Book – The brilliant force behind Hamilton the musical provides his reading inspirations to The New York Times.

Pacemaker: A Word Count Planner for Writers and Students – Pretty much as described. Great for setting goals and tracking your progress.

10 Contemporary Baseball Books for the New Season – A fun list in honor of the return of baseball.

10 Mistakes (Almost) Every Rookie Writer Makes – Some good tips and things to keep in mind.

Conquering Six Enemies of Deep Point of View – Wonderful checklist of questions to apply to your work.

Kelly Link Interview – AWP16

Friday Links

TGIF! We’re winding down the month of May, and per usual, I’m not sure quite where time is flying. Did you set any goals for your month? If so, I hope you nailed them. If not, maybe take a moment this weekend to decide what you want to accomplish with your writing in June. Sometimes a mini goal can be a great way to spur yourself on and enhance your productivity, or even come up with a wonderful new idea. A month-long goal needn’t be anything as ambitious as drafting a 50,000-word novel, though of course if that’s what gets you in front of your keyboard, I say go for it!

But first, of course, I bring you this week’s links. They involve quite a few different writerly points of view, and I hope you find them interesting and inspirational. Whatever you’re up to this weekend, good luck with your writing and/or reading. Enjoy!

Shadowing Jason Matthews, the Ex-Spy Whose Cover Identity Is Author – What writing is like for a former CIA agent who has turned novelist.

Books About Women Don’t Win Big Awards: Some Data – A blog post from author Nicola Griffith where she assembles a few depressing statistics.

Horror Stories Are Love Stories – An interview with author Kelly Link.

Writers Read – A wonderful blog where each post features an author talking about what they’ve been reading lately.

Christine Schutt’s First Time – Another in The Paris Review series, and wonderful in the way it illustrates how much time and persistence it can take to achieve your writing goals.

Friday Links

How was everyone’s week? Mine has flown by and there’s still quite a bit on today’s to-do list. But first I wanted to swing through and leave you links to kick off your weekend. I’ve got some fun things lined up, so I hope you take a few minutes to go check them out. Regardless, wishing you a weekend filled with books and writing. Enjoy!

18 Perfect Short Stories that Pack More of a Punch than Most Novels – Great collection of both old and new.

Kelly Link: Get in Trouble – A podcast interview with the author on the occasion of the release of her latest story collection.

The Weird and Wonderful Cover Art of Mexican Paperbacks – As described. A fun assortment of artwork from various pulp titles.

The Weight of Knowledge: On Moving Books – The cost of moving an extensive personal library. I might possibly have nightmares on this topic.

25 Maps that Explain the English Language – Includes origins and influences, and gives you a hint as to why English is so complex and inconsistent.