Song playing right now on my playlist: “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” by U2

NEWS: This week MUST LOVE BREECHES won 1st place in FF&P’s On the Far Side contest in the time travel/steampunk/historical category and a full request from the judging editor. It also finaled today in the Windy City Four Seasons Contest, paranormal category

Writing and the Writing Life:

• @SaraMegibow tweeted this week:  “I had an editor call to request literary science fiction like China Mieville. *dives in to slush pile*”
• Agent @sarahlapolla tweeted this week: Painfully unoriginal titles I see too often: CHOSEN, AWAKENED, RECKONING. “Vague & boring” not best 1st impression”
• Editor @realjeffseymour tweeted:  “In rom or rom subplot I want 2 know what’s UNIQUE abt the attraction btwn 2 ppl. Good looks alone don’t cut it”
• On Tuesday, October 23, Crimson Romance editor Jennifer Lawler will be taking 1-5 line pitches on Wordwranglers
• Chuck Sambuchino has a great example of what a pitch should NOT look like. See if you can pinpoint what’s wrong with it before you read what he says. I nailed what’s wrong. Can you?
• Chuck Wendig posted 25 Things Writers Should Know About Conferences And Conventions
• Writers Are Strong, Not Neurotic
• Janice Hardy has great advice when planning your next novel: What a Concept! Plotting Your Novel Conceptually

Browncoats:

• What Ciri says Star Wars is about.
• Jar Jar Binks attains sainthood in deranged Star Wars religious art
• Check out these pumpkins!
• And I’ll leave you with this: Did y’all watch the Felix Baumgartner jump? I was brainstorming at Starbucks, so I followed it on Twitter and saw clips on my phone. Very cool. Anyway, here’s the jump recreated with LEGOS! (h/t Stubby the Rocket)
  [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFU774q6eVM]