My wish on this post-Valentine morning is that you all have someone to love, and someone to be loved by, whatever shape or form that love comes in, be it romantic, platonic, etc. And that you continue to celebrate it, whether the calender says February 14 or not.

Bob and I spurned the overcrowded restaurants ourselves, and instead went to the bookstore (really, any holiday is just another excuse to buy books around here). I picked up The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff on a whim (because the random paragraph I read had such lovely language and because I’d just seen the movie) and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (because I’ve heard such excellent things about it).

Then we went home to eat takeaway sushi and watch Chak De India! which was delightful. It’s the story of a disgraced male field hockey player who returns to train the underdog woman’s team to go after the World Cup. So excellent to see all the strong ladies, and kind of refreshing that the focus was on fellowship and friendship, not romance. Especially on Valentine’s day! I love a good romance, but it’s not the only type of strong, important relationship we have in our lives.

Okay, enough philosophizing. Here, have some links:

If you are a writer (or pursuing any sort of creative life) and have not already read this, check out the summary of Sara Zarr’s keynote address from the SCWBI winter conference. As the blogger, Candy Gourlay, summarizes: “it’s not just about a book deal, a good review, a big advance. It’s about a life.”

And this awesome workshop makes ME wish I was still a teenager. Check out the amazing faculty! (Tamora Pierce! Ellen Kushner!) If you know any 14-19 year olds who love writing spec fic, please let them know about it. The application deadline is March 1.

And now I am going to go write a very un-romantic but hopefully exciting and tense fight scene…