Friday's Interesting Links

Time Management

I did something similar to this with an older version of my weekly to do list, but it's an interesting way to control over-commitment.
http://procrastinatingwritersblog.com/2009/08/un-schedule/

Writing

I've been teaching a class on my outlining method and I keep emphasizing meaning, purpose, and focus. So when I saw this, I just had to share it. This is WHY your story has to have a reason. We're not talking about conversion, or preaching, we're talking about, to quote the post, "And fiction is antithetical to arbitrariness." Read the rest. It's worth it.
http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/08/f-week-day-6-anihilating-arbitrary.html

Luck has only a little to do with success in writing. And we make our own luck. For example:
http://www.deadlinedames.com/?p=1599

A list of blogs that are worth checking out both for non-fiction and fiction writers:
http://www.urbanmusewriter.com/2009/08/15-must-read-blogs-for-writers_10.html

Working with editors:
http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2009/09/getting-away-with-it.html

A neat concept for idea generation:
http://words.bighugelabs.com/plot.php

Social

I've always been a big advocate of personal responsibility. I've also been concerned by the perceptions about education and learning I see and hear around me, about how the US has been changing from an education leader to something a lot less appealing. Whatever you might think about our president, in this speech he sums up hope and responsibility not just for who you are but for who you can become:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Promoting

An interesting look at piracy:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2009/09/08/piracy-vs-obscurity/

Tips on how to interact with agents at conferences from Lucienne Diver of The Knight Agency.
http://romanceuniversity.org/2009/09/07/agents-are-people-too/

While I normally put author promotion ideas here, where else would a suggestion to re-image reading itself belong?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-rendell/time-to-sell-reading-what_b_279296.html

A glimpse into an agent's perspectives on authors.
http://www.booksandsuch.biz/blog/who-does-your-agent-love/

Science

Why nothing can be set in stone: We're always finding new information, even on our past:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/09/did-early-humans-evolve-in-eur.html

And dinosaurs are up for revision again as facts start to outweigh instinctual reactions to big claws:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327254.100-velociraptors-killing-claws-were-for-climbing.html

Politics

A new angle to the Google Settlement that may shake things up a lot:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6695829.html?desc=topstory