Some links to know and share this weekend:
My favorite publishing story of the week: I challenge anyone to come up with a better rap culture-inspired title than Justify My Thug.
For those of you doing NaNoWriMo this month, I applaud your dedication. But, listen to this piece by Laura Miller too – especially the bit about keeping NaNo out of your query. NaNo can be a great exercise in keeping your brain active and for sparking ideas, but your best work is not going to come through in such a rushing-to-meet-the-deadline approach to writing.
If you try to explain the Internet to a Dickens character, chances are you will both become frustrated, you will likely die from plague, and he will steal your wallet.
McSweeney’s brings us “Great Literature Retited to Boost Website Traffic” – my favorite: “7 Awesome Way Barnyard Animals Are Like Communism.”
While it’s not exactly literary or publishing related, but this blog post from Nerdy Apple Bottom is funny, moving, and important. As writers, we should be aware of the impact words have on others, and no matter what your politics are, I hope we can all agree that it’s wrong to make children feel worthless and ashamed of themselves.
Finally, courtesy of YA Highway, “Voldemort and Death Eaters Take Over Grand Central,” which is exactly what it sounds like.
Have a good weekend, and a treasonous Guy Fawkes Day!
Sarah LaPolla 
So true about NaNo. I can see that some people were pretty offended by the article, and I suppose I can see why. However, I think Miller has some good points. Not that I don't love NaNo–heck, I'm participating this year, so obviously I'm into the whole thing. But I think it's important to remember what NaNo is all about: not creating the most polished first draft in the world, but writing like the wind and shaking things up a little.
I think NaNaWriMo is a great excuse to churn out a really quick, preliminary draft. A zero draft, you could say. After that, it's an extended stay in Revisionland (if one is writing for publication, at least).
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