Two bits

I read Sara Gran's seven pieces of advice to a young writer with considerable interest; I love her books (check out Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead if you haven't already), but I am also very impressed with her professional acumen. This advice is much more directed to those who will have a realistic chance of making a living as fiction writers than to those who will combine writing with some other means of support (I would note that I myself am in flagrant disregard of points #2 and #6, but I also would have to dissent respectfully from point #7 - it would make me absolutely crazy and bored out of my mind to be a full-time fiction-writer, I am truly a professor at heart, I need the stimulation that comes from having a full-time academic appointment!).

Also (a very good recommendation from Cristina Linclau): Elisabeth Weed interviews agent and publicist Lucinda Blumenfeld.