TGIF! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week, and that at least some of you have embraced my December Writing Challenge and are getting words down every day, even if things are busy. Now’s a great time to look ahead to your weekend and determine when you’ll be able to fit in your writing time. Will you carve out an extra half hour before breakfast? Sneak in a mid-afternoon coffee/writing break? Be sure to allocate time ahead. Make it a priority. Your goals are just as important as everyone else’s holiday events.

Of course, today being Friday, I come bearing links. It’s a very bookish assortment this week, likely prompted by the start of the end-of-year best-book list season. These frustrate me sometimes due to their lack of diversity, by which I mean they typically focus on many of the same titles we’ve been hearing about all year. And while i don’t discount the quality of those works, I do wonder sometimes if it’s just a squeaky wheel situation. I suspect a lot of fabulous books just haven’t been mentioned enough for people to discover them. Still, I do sometimes stumble across new titles on the lists, or get reminded of things that I was curious about but somehow forgot in the jumble of new releases.

Whatever your weekend plans, I hope you have some quality reading and writing time on the calendar. Enjoy!

NPR’s Book Concierge: Our Guide to the Best Books of 2014 – A fun, interactive list that has something for everyone, including comics.

How Writers Read (vol. 2) – A continuation of the article I linked to last week.

Ursula K. LeGuin on Where Ideas Come From – Thoughtful look at the early phase of a writing project.

Plotting the Non-Plot-Driven Novel – Donald Maass on quieter reads.

A Reading List for the Month of Storytelling by the Fire – Reading suggestions compiled with a winter read in mind.