Interesting Links

Writing

I'll admit that I'm still on the periphery of the romance industry, so maybe everyone else already knows this, but I found the following blog post an eye opener to how Romance Writers of America runs their conference and the potential issues/gains of a larger electronic publishing presence:
http://www.courtneymilan.com/ramblings/2009/06/28/breaking-down-rwa-eligibility/

A description of how not to respond to a review, and a reminder that the Internet is a public space:
http://www.switched.com/2009/06/30/author-snipes-critic-on-twitter-over-negative-review/
http://gawker.com/5304168/alice-hoffmans-non+apology-apology-for-her-bout-of-twitter-rage
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/author-apologizes-for-twitter-outburst-about-a-bad-review/

And for those who might not know about it, I work on a free ezine for writers that has a lot of useful articles. Even more, Zette is doing a series on how writers thing about various things that has garnered responses from an interesting mix of authors:
http://lazette.net/vision/

A little writing fun with an edge:
http://www.willwriteforchocolate.com/2006/09/13/mimi-finishes-her-book/

And another that should resonate...at least with me.
http://www.inkygirl.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_151/rotator/AutumnProcrastination_002.jpg

For those still under the delusion that writing is all about a wooden desk and a sniffer full of brandy...
http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=1261

Another round of publishing definitions. Each one seems to bring another word to the table or slightly different definitions. I find the variations interestings, but this is aimed at beginning writers who may not know the basic terms:
http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com/main/2009/07/basic-basic-basic-questions.html


Social

I'm not a Californian anymore, but I have friends and family down here. That's not why I'm linking to the following video though. I think there's a bigger implication here, and it's a wonderful one. Maybe through tools like YouTube, Twitter, etc., the American public will start to wake up more to what it means to be in a democracy (okay a republic :p), and step up in the political arena so that we/they are less stepped on. Our representatives can only represent what they know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmgk1xQmPQ

Fun coupon offers for those who live in big cities:
http://groupon.thepoint.com/

Science

What happened to familiarity breeds contempt? Or is that only in the human animal? Ants, it seems, think in different ways.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm