- Time for a visit to link land, and the closing of tabs. In the offline world, it's all middle grade revision (fun!) around these environs at the moment, with a little time off to enjoy the out of doors, try to get back into yoga, and think about what's next and promoting the gods book.
- Speaking of which… I know a lot of people were vacationing or off the grid at the end of last week for the holiday, so for you fancy types who get advance copies of things–reviewers/bloggers, booksellers, librarians–there are ARCs floating around of The Woken Gods as of the end of last week. You can request on Netgalley or contact Strange Chemistry about print ARCs. This is, again, not a sequel to Blackwood, but entirely different. And I am entirely nervous! (For everyone else, it's out Sept. 3, and my plottings and plannings for release and some fun things are kicking into gear accordingly. If you have an interview or event request or want to ask for a guest post or the like, let me or Angry Robot's PR doyenne know.)
- And a hearty thanks to Mieneke at A Fantastical Librarian for including The Woken Gods on her list of books she's most looking forward to the rest of the year (such company!), and to everyone who's Waiting on Wednesdayed or said kind things about being excited elsewhere. That you're excited makes me excited. <3
- Two great posts for writers, at any stage of their career, really: Julianna Baggott at Writer Unboxed on you not being your sales and Chuck Wendig on the fact nobody knows what sells so write what excites you. Obviously, we all want great sales, because we all want our work to reach as many readers as possible. But the work has to come first or, whether it's sooner or later, you're doomed. I really believe that. It's the only thing you can control, and it makes enduring the things you can't control worth it. Every time.
- I'm definitely hoping to get to New York while Leonard Marcus's "The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter" exhibit is running at the NYPL, but I'm grateful for all the people writing about it anyway.
- Megan Frampton's list of 10 Must-Read Romance Novels. Some are not my thing, but a solid starting point nevertheless (and it includes several books I love).
- Ava Gardner dishes the dirt.
- Walter Potter's taxidermic art of "Victorian whimsy."
- John Scalzi's new convention harassment policy. Very glad to see the enthusiastic and positive reaction to this. There's no excuse for a convention not to have one after all the discussions that have taken place of late (though there really wasn't before, either). Also: What Mary Robinette Kowal said.
- "I was a manic pixie dream girl."
- The Gift of Doubt by Malcom Gladwell in the New Yorker. Interesting stuff.
- You guys have been checking out the new YA Writers sub-Reddit that the amazing Beth Revis helps moderate, haven't you? I'm a newb to Reddit and have only been able to dip in a toe a couple of times thus far, but it looks like it's going to be full of helpful discussions. Some interesting recent threads as a starting point: Saundra Mitchell gives excellent low time-investment marketing advice, Discussion: High Concept, and A Six-Figure YA Book Deal Broken Down. This could become the place to procrastinate. (Okay, probably not while twitter exists, but it is definitely starting to look like one of them.)