Let's close some tabs, shall we?
- Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret: "Don't break the chain." (This seems psychologically akin to keeping a word count diary to me–something I actually do find useful, particularly when I'm struggling with a project. Much less easy to goof off and not work for no good reason–other than that it's not going well, or is at a harder stage than usual, which are not good reasons–when I have to write down on that day "goofed off and didn't work for no good reason.")
- At NPR, the fascination with white horses: "But as rare as white horses are — fewer than 8 percent — it is amazing how they have fascinated virtually every culture. White horses are chosen to stand for good and for bad. One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rides a pale horse, but the unicorn — which is invariably depicted as white — stands for purity. Only virgins can capture unicorns. But contrariwise, in some cultures white horses represent fertility."
- At the Horn Book an interesting (and typically contrarian) look at trends in YA, looking at numbers of books published in various categories and etc. pre- and post-Harry Potter.
- One of my favorite contrarians, Laurel Snyder, on her love of picture books and their (at least sometime) rejection of classic story structure.
- How about that Vampire Diaries finale? A spoiler-riddled interview with Exec Producer Julie Plec at EW.
- Publishers Weekly: The Deals You Don't See at The Intern.
- "Happiness without a good work ethic is pretty impossible." Hugh MacLeod interviewed at the Happiness Project.
- Stephanie Perkins pulls some fabulous advice out of John Waters' Rookie interview.
- I absolutely love this gallery of supermoon photos. Inspirational planetscapes. Here's one at the Temple of Poseidon in Athens (taken by AP photographer Dimitri Messinis):
Happy weekend, everybody.