What I'm Listening To: Now or Never-Josh Groban
I was watching I Hate Valentine's Day (just because I was bored and am on a slight break from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and the big concept in the movie was one of the 5 date rule. Apparently five dates is the maximum number that a couple can have before what they have constitutes as a relationship and people start to get hurt. I think that the concept was very interesting, but the execution faulty. The main character's motto was "when the romance is gone, let's just move on." I think most of this thinking and her unwillingness to take risks was because she was hurt in her relationship with her father. Here are the guidelines for the dates according to her:
Date 1: breath less flirting
Date 2: broaden your horizons
Date 3: the adventurous date
Date 4: fun and fabulous
Date 5: make it the best date ever
What do you think about the system and would you ever try it?
Also, Nathan Bransford had an interesting post on his blog about the one book that every writer should read A lot of people picked Stephen King's On Writing, some The Art of Fiction by John Gardner, or Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. For some reason there were a lot of votes for The Great Gatsby as well. All aspiring authors should at least have one of these books in their arsenal of books to become better writers, if they so choose.
There was also a good post about audience development from Writers Unboxed that people should read as well.
In addition, Rachelle Gardner has a great analysis of a query letter. If you haven't been looking at agent's responses to query letters, you should do so because they are the authority on what is a good one. Even though they all have different answers and preferences about what should stay or go, most of the time they will be in sync as far as the requirements and have good advice that can be applicable to all.
