Before I get to the links: in prepping my UCTE talk I went back and read through a bunch of reader mail (the conference topic is ‘connections’ – I’m interested in the reader/writer interaction on the page and off of it) and I have to say I am the luckiest girl in the world because I have the best fans! I love you all. You have no idea. Okay:

Mette Ivie Harrison has been blogging this week about writery stuff. I especially like the ten best things and ten mistakes she’s done/made as a writer. 

In an interview at Cynsations, Justine Larbalestier reveals the best solution ever to the problem of being overwhelmed by household duties when your whole household is under deadline. I would like to move us into a hotel during the two weeks leading up to G.’s opening night (which comes at least twice a year).

If you’ve been thinking about YA for Obama but have not joined in the discussion, now is a good time. There are prizes to be had and a difference to be made.

I’m very much enjoying the song that iTunes party shuffle is playing right this second: Frog Holler’s One Last Time. Party shuffle! (Note: I have never actually used this feature at a party. Probably because I don’t have parties. And also if I did the party would have to be in the 2×3 space in our house that holds the computer. Where would we put the chips and dip?)

Almost done with the Kathleen Norris. I think it is the best nonfiction book I have read in years. Here’s an extended interview with her at Sojourners online.

Public Service Announcement: I’m no expert when it comes to grammar, and I’m fairly certain this very blog post has style errors. But I do feel pretty confident about my its and my it’s. More and more I am seeing misuse of its and it’s, from church bulletins to web sites and blog posts and Twitter updates to print advertising to T-shirts. I know the rule doesn’t seem to make logical sense, but once you take a few minutes to learn it you will never forget. If you like knowing how to use their/they’re and then/than, and you mock those afflicted with Random capitalization Disorder, and you take pride in knowing your former from your latter, you should take the time to learn its/it’s, thereby completing your general correctness about most things. Lately this all feels a little “save the spotted owl”ish, because it seems that many people who care about other language issues don’t care about the difference between its and it’s, and if this goes on we might one day see them both as accepted usage. And, I have to admit, that bothers me. (In the interest of staying humble, here are some words I can never spell correctly unless I look them up: privilege, occur, occasion, desperately. There are lots more. I am also shaky on split infinitives. And I love to start sentences with “and” or “but,” as you may have noticed.)

Don’t forget about the Utah Humanities Book Festival!