Summer just keeps flying right on by. It’s Friday already. I’ve a busy weekend ahead, starting with dinner and a show this evening, to help celebrate a friend’s birthday, and then some more socializing Saturday, and tons of work-related reading all in between. And somewhere in there I need to squeeze a few loads of laundry.
Weekends like this, where real life buts up against the things you want to do, make me truly nostalgic for summer vacations of my childhood, when I was too young for a real job and didn’t do much with my days besides read my way through the public library. When you hear that old cliche about kids not appreciating how good they have it, that’s the exact scenario I picture: me lying on my stomach in my childhood bedroom, the AC blowing at me while I’ve got my nose in a book.
Okay, enough with memory lane. I have Friday Links to share! I hope you enjoy them, and that they help kick off a great weekend. And if you sneak in a little good old fashioned reading time, all the better.
The Art of the Opening Sentence – We discuss how important first sentences are all the time, but this article gives you a wonderful peek into why that’s true.
A Game as Literary Tutorial – The New York Times looks at how many of today’s writers were influenced by playing Dungeons & Dragons when they were kids.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Manuscripts – The folks at Algonquin give an inside look into some of the things they consider when reviewing submissions. (Hint: Most editors and agents will look for these things.)
Why Readers, Scientifically, Are the Best People to Fall in Love With – Preaching to the choir, but still interesting to read.
A Primer on Modern Japanese Literature in 10 Minutes – A quick rundown for anyone looking to diversify their reading list.
Love the Algonquin article. Terrific reminder about the basics of manuscripts – which are definitely easy to forget sometimes! I know I needed that pacing reminder.
Sometimes it’s just helpful to have a checklist when you’re revising. There are so many considerations when writing a longer work of fiction (short, too, but it’s easier to keep everything in your mind at the same time), you can lose things in the shuffle.