Sunday Smatterings
/
Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you've had a blessed holiday season, enjoyed time with family and friends. I know I did. Lots of Christmas cookies, movies (Star Wars was awesome!), rounds of golf, beach walking, reading, and dreaming up plans for 2018. This is one of my favorite times of year. I'm so enjoying the quiet. It helps me reflect on the year that's ending, and allows me to look forward with a clear head.
This week, I've sprinkled a few productivity articles among the fun links. I hope you find all of them useful (I especially love those free word trackers). If you have any productivity tips or goals for 2018, let me know in the comments. I'm a sucker for anything that helps me thrive!
Here's to our last Sunday Smatterings of 2017!
Here's what happened on the Internets this week:
In praise of JK Rowling and all other Rebel Girls. Bring on the stories of badass women! In a sea of tough dudes and superheroes, little girls deserve to see tough chicks, too.
Scientists just found the oldest known black hole. It's a monster. This is incredible! I lost half a writing day talking with my father about what's on the other side...
2018 Word Trackers are here! Attention, fellow data geeks: If you'd like to count how many words you write this year, use these handy word trackers from Svenja Gosen. They're free, too, though I like to leave a nice fat tip on my way out the door.
10 Authors Share the Writing Tools They Can’t Live Without. There are many ways up the creative mountain, and I'm fascinated by how other writers get the job done. I can't help it; my curiosity rivals a cat's. (psst: if you're new to my site and curious as to what I use, I outline my favorite writing tools here)
12 Tips from Rare Books Experts to Keep Your Books Looking Great. You know, for the more, ahem, OCD among us.
Why A WRINKLE IN TIME will change Hollywood. Great article. I can't wait to see this in theaters. The trailer looks ah-mazing!
12 Literary Cocktails to Pair with Classic Reads. Just in case you need to jazz up all the winter nights of reading by the fire.
Lastly, we lost an icon this weekend. I was heartbroken to hear of Sue Grafton's passing. She was a class act; a generous, kind, and down to earth woman with a spicy sense of humor, and her legacy is more than a phenomenal series of books and trailblazing the way for women mystery and thriller authors. Every writer who shared their remembrances told a similar story: she was good to them. It's the way to leave this world, I think, with the accolades and praise for your spirit as well as your work. RIP, Sue. The alphabet ends in Y.
And closer to home:
Keep an eye out for my 2017 Annual Review and 2018 Preview, coming out later this week! It's my favorite blog post each year. If you'd like to compare my 2017 predictions with my upcoming results, take a look at my 2016 Annual Review and 2017 Preview.
That's it from me in 2017! I hope you have a wonderful start to 2018, that you're safe tonight and take care of pets who aren't big fans of fireworks or cold weather. Stay warm, be good, and we'll talk again soon. Happy New Year!
xo,
J.T.
