Sunday Funday! (16)

Happy Sunday everyone! Well, maybe happy for you, but I'm doing my taxes today, so it's definitely not happy for me. Maybe if I get a refund big enough to buy a MACBOOK it will be happy...then again, I'm shackled to another human being for life married, and the person I'm married to really needs a car and/or new tires for his motorcycle (currently his only form of transportation) so here's hoping that we get a GIANT REFUND...ok, that's so not happening, because I'm going to be in Freelance Writer Taxing Hell. But that doesn 't matter for you, dear readers. What matters to you is that it's Sunday, which means it's time for another Sunday Funday!!! Here are some hilarious/helpful posts from around the blogging community:  

Hey, I'm holding a contest! Win a copy of The Art of War for Writers, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and some extra goodies! 

Contrary to popular belief of anyone who might be querying, agents are actually human. And the Rejectionist proves it. 

I know we all worry when we read ideas or plots similar to ours in other books. I've read more than one blog posts on this topic. But it turns out editors are worried about this kind of stuff too. Editorial Ass sheds some light on this phenomenon, and explains why it didn't matter any way.

Kiersten White is a LOST fan, just like me! In fact, she had TWO LOST-themed posts this week. In the first, she shares with us the never-aired episode of the show which she wrote. In the second, she explains why we, as authors, should never strive to be like LOST.

As a magazine editor, I take it for granted that everyone else will be able to decipher the unintelligible code of copyediting marks. But for those out there who have no idea what those little marks might mean, author Gary Corby shares his insight on their definitions, and just what the heck authors are supposed to do when they get copyeditors' notes back, anyway. 

As part of their ongoing series on teen archetypes in YA literature, the First Novels Club talked about jobs and teen characters in literature.

Laurel's Leaves discusses sleight-of-hand in fiction, why it's important, and gives a break down of the elements of narrative misdirection.


Finally, I don't think it's any secret how much I loved Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. It comes out March 2nd (though it has been spotted in a few places on the shelves already!), but you can enter to win a free copy on Free Book Friday Teens (and I have it on good authority that Forever Young is holding a giveaway next week!)...and if you don't win, just suck it up and go buy one, because it's awesome.