A link and a review (not in that order)

First up, new review today. I finished reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published, Fourth Edition by Sheree Bykofsky and Jennifer Basye Sander. It’s definitely one of the most thorough and handy CIGs I’ve read, and I think it makes a fantastic complement to Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Self-Publisher.

If someone today were to say to me, “I want to get published; where can I find out how?” I’d point them to those two books. Each one walks you through the process step-by-step from beginning to end and helps you to understand the realities of the business, but they approach the publishing world from different directions, each one very useful.

The useful link I spoke of is Inkygirl’s Freelance writing rates: how much should I charge? [Link removed due to no longer working.] If you’re looking for a guide to figuring out rates, this is a good one. Rather than giving you a chart that will be out of date in a month or two, she shows you where to look for current data and other suggestions.

We’re finally getting a little snow, which is pretty; I do miss the occasional blizzard, even though they could be a pain. There’s just something vastly beautiful about a six-foot drift of sparkling snow, or a white wall of falling flakes–particularly from behind closed windows!

In randomness, I’ve actually been keeping up with CSI of late, because it’s really fascinated me this season. A few random thoughts:

• I loved Liev Schreiber’s performance. It was subtle and nuanced and tragic. I was sorry to see him go. The direction, acting, music, and writing in his final episode blew me away.
• I think I know who the miniature killer is, although don’t worry, I won’t say a thing. I just found myself having a thought last week, and then that connected to another thought, which caused a mini-revelation, which led to a realization of a clue that I believe they dropped in a few episodes back before Grissom left. Wow. Usually when I have these thoughts I hope I’m wrong because the possibility seems too obvious, but this time I hope I’m right.
• There have been some things that have made me wonder whether Nick Stokes is leaving the show–he seems to be becoming disillusioned and bitter. I really hope that doesn’t happen and that instead he finds a way to find his faith again, because in many ways he’s been the heart of that show.