Quick link

I'm buried in work right now and should therefore not be here at all, but I just wanted to post this really quickly. Jay Lake talking about what it takes to make it as a writer. Really, readers of mine, read it. He makes a really great point or two. Because, in the end, it is about hard work and discipline and persistence.
And as an aside, a really brief book blurb for you. I just finished reading Pale as the Dead by Fiona Mountain, and quite enjoyed it. The book was a bit of a departure for me; it's a rather gentle thriller, with the main character, Natasha, being a genealogist. But that just let to all kinds of historical tidbits woven around and through the particular problem that Natasha was trying to puzzle through. I thought it was very well done; the history was well researched, the writing was tight, the characters well rounded. I would definitely read more by Fiona Mountain. (This was book #4 in 2009, if anyone is keeping track of my thirty-books-in-one-year goal!)
And now, speaking of mountains, back to the one made of work on my desk!