On Fridays, I post a round up of the various posts and articles that have been of interest to me during the week:
I loved this headline: Mansion for sale. Not cheap. The Pillsbury mansion is up for sale – if you have north of $4 million lying around, you could be the next owner. I sent the link to my mom (who is also a kick ass real estate agent) and she was amazed how small the bedrooms were.
This has nothing to do with writing, per se – but I love Cary Elwes. And although I thought that the writer was kind of lame to bring her niece to the interview, it made me swoon a little bit to think of him fawning over a baby.
And wait … this is a writing blog? OK – this has nothing really to do with the writing craft, but does have everything to do with the genre that I like to write in the best … crime. And again – another good headline: Chopping up a body takes a special type of depravity.
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Listening to: Don’t ask me to explain why, but I am kind of obsessed with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk.”
Reading: As I noted earlier this week, I went to the Fair Trade Books bookstore in Red Wing to see William Kent Krueger. What’s neat about Fair Trade Books (other than the fact that it’s an indie), is that it’s a hybrid of used books and new books. I picked up a couple of books while I was there. One of them was Skellig by David Almond. This is a kid’s book and I’m breezing through it, but I gotta be honest – it’s a gripping story. And honestly, I don’t know if I care that I’m reading a “children’s” book. It still has all of the elements of a good story.
Fiction update: Edits! I’ve taken a couple of evenings and I’ve been sketching out story arcs to make sure that all of my characters are getting all of the “love” that they need and that I’m not leaving any loose threads undone or narratives unresolved. I’m still on target to have a draft to beta readers by April 1. EEEEEEEK. I am about to let my baby out into the universe.
michellekubitz 
Quit “loving” your characters and start abusing several of them. Treat them like the jerks they are. Show their character faults and their twisted minds to the world. Lead one to the fittingly gruesome end he/she deserves. Maybe dismember the body.
..and I’m still waiting to read the sfd. Not that I’m annoyed or anything.
Oh Jerry – you forget that I believe in “tough” love. And yes … you’re going to get the SFD by April 1. Although – trust me, you’ll be MUCH happier when you see it since it won’t be so cringingly awful.