Friday Links: A Little Writerly Food for Thought

Sneaking this week’s post in under the wire today. It’s still Friday here, so that counts, right? Things have been a bit chaotic this week, everyone getting ready to take some or all of next week off for Thanksgiving. Even now, I’m breaking to post this before I go back to the rest of my to-do list.

Girl-with-laptop-and-stack-of-books

So the food-for-thought thing is a bit of a holiday joke. I might be contemplating the merits of Yukon gold vs. sweet potatoes between reading manuscripts. But that doesn’t mean I don’t come bearing thoughtful links this week. There are the usual book lists and so on, but also some wonderful writing tips that I hope will inspire you. It’s a pretty broad range, so I think there’s something for everyone.

I know those of you doing NaNoWriMo are heading into the last leg of the challenge. Wishing you lots of wonderful words, and not too many ninjas slipping in to pad your pages. Just keep on writing. Don’t delete, don’t worry about it. Plenty of time to edit come December.

Happy weekend, everyone!

This week’s links:

The Gift of Penciling It In. – Author Maggie Stiefvader talks about the process of writing, and deleting, and writing some more.

Edith Wharton Will Teach You Everything You Need to Know about Naming Characters. – A great look at how the names Wharton chose fit the characters and also their journeys.

Inside the Last Occupied Apartments of the Chelsea Hotel. – The NYC institution has housed an assortment of famous and interesting people. If you’re looking some great writing prompts, check out the photo gallery with this article.

NYC Midnight Annual Short Story Challenge. – Check out the site to enter this multi-round contest where every entry gets feedback from the judges. Open internationally.

The 20 Must-Read Books of 2020. – Bustle might be jumping the gun, but it’s still a great list of what to be on the lookout for in coming months.

Kill Your Idols: On the Violence of Experimental Literature. – A look at what it means to step away from the examples set by the writers who came before you.

The 100 Must-Read Books of 2019. – Per Time magazine. Yes, those lists are starting already.