My friend Christina F. York occasionally gets a bee up her bonnet, and when she does, she writes great letters and blogs.  Here’s one that she calls “No Hope Publishing.”  http://cfyork.blogspot.com/.

And Dean is continuing his wonderful series on setting goals and writing.  Check out the newest ones at http://deanwesleysmith.com/

I just got my author’s copies of Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow. This is a beautiful anthology with a lot of wonderful writers. I’m happy to be in their company. The book will be published in January to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birth, but you’ll probably be able to get copies soon.

I know, I know.  I should be writing this afternoon.  Instead, I’m surfing.  I have a short story to finish, but the thing is making me cranky.  My critical voice is on high, shouting at me as I try.  It does that quite often when I write science fiction and so I must do things to shut it off.  Mostly that entails applying butt to chair, but I have a lunch in 45 minutes, so I’m using that as an excuse to surf the web.   

I read my husband Dean Wesley Smith’s blogs on how to get motivated.  He’s gearing those to newer writers, but honestly, they apply to us old timers too.  You can find them at www.deanwesleysmith.com.  He’ll be doing this for the rest of the year.  Check it out.    

Then Ed Gorman, one of my favorite mystery writers, with a lovely blog, pointed me to Tom Piccirilli’s blog on staying in the business–the good, the bad, the frustrations.  It’s geared to those of us who have been in the biz for a while, and honestly, it came at the right time for me.  (I initially typed “write time.”  How’s that for the subconscious sending a message?) When I get home from lunch, butt will be applied to chair.  <sigh>    

You can find Ed’s wonderful blog at http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/.  He’s worth reading whenever he posts.   

Tom’s is http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/ .

A few years ago, as the vampire craze was just beginning, Jeanne Cavelos asked me and several other writers to write stories about the great vampire hunter Van Helsing. The resulting book was nominated for several awards, including the World Fantasy Award. I believe it won the Stoker Award.

As the craze continues, someone realized that vampire readers might want this and issued it in a lovely mass market edition in September. The book is worth reading, whether you’re a big vampire fan or not. Some excellent work in here.

Two columns this week!  That won’t happen often.  

My second Baen’s Universe  column on “The Future of Reading” has just appeared.  You can look it up here.