I like this post called Stop Telling People to Love Their Bodies, and some of the comments, too. H/t, R.

Also, I’m totally enjoying the Buffy Fashion Roulette over at The Bitter Buffalo.

On August 5, there’ll be an all-day reading of To Kill a Mockingbird at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library, from 9am to 9pm, to celebrate the book’s 50th birthday. I’ll be one of the many readers. I’ll post more info about this once I know more — but isn’t this cool?!

Feel like going to Vail in October to talk about women in fantasy novels? This year’s Sirens conference is from October 7 – 10 and registration is open. The guests of honor are Holly Black, Marie Brennan, and Terri Windling, and the presenters include Sarah Rees Brennan, Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Delia Sherman, Sherwood Smith, and Janni Lee Simner. I was at Sirens last year — it’s a good conference. Have fun, everyone!

So. Remember last week, when I said I hoped to post some writing advice this week about the forest? I still want to do that. The problem is, I’m tired. The reason I’m tired is that after a very long time of Bitterblue moving slowly, it’s now moving almost too fast for me to keep up. I’ve been looking up from my writing a lot to discover that the sun is rising. And I have so many untranscribed notebook pages that yesterday I mailed copies of everything to my parents, even though I keep it all in my fireproof, waterproof safe (OBVIOUSLY), and even though I also always keep copies in the closet of a friend. After all, it’s remotely possible that somebody could shoot high-powered glue into my friend’s closet on the same day that a burglar broke in and stole my fireproof, waterproof safe, but what are the chances of a meteorite hitting my parents’ mailbox on that same day? NEARLY ZERO.

Here’s a quote that requires four thanks: first, Texas Bix Bender for writing it in Don’t Squat with Yer Spurs On!: A Cowboy’s Guide to Life; second, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson for quoting it in her Coretta Scott King Book Award speech; third, Horn Book Magazine (July/Aug 2010) for printing the speech; and fourth, my friend Rebecca for sharing it with me:

Don’t worry about bitin’ off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger’n you think.

Go bite things, people!