(no subject)

In 1889, a literary agent named J.M. Stoddart, representing the American publication Lippincott's Magazine, sat down to dinner with two young writers in London and asked each of them to submit a novel for publication in Lippincott's.

The results were:

The Sign of the Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

If I could choose any meal in history to be a part of, I suspect this would be it.

Besides, the food was probably amazing.

(no subject)

Okay, writing small talk is hard. What do people talk about on fourth dates? I don't know. I was never any good at it back when I had fourth dates. So I had them make some Silence Of The Lambs jokes. It seemed to work.

NOT UNRELATEDLY, I have fallen back in love with Charitable Getting and no longer hate it. Welcome to the cycle of writing.

There are a lot of rough spots that I've been holding onto for the sake of a joke or a subplot, and I've pretty much run those out now; the trick is not to be sad that you're losing the joke but to find a NEW, BETTER JOKE that can be applied to the changes.

Things that also make it fun: adding sexual tension.

"In that case, what do you think?" He smoothed the front of his suit and adjusted the aubergine necktie he wore. "I read fashion blogs, you know."

"Who doesn't?" she asked, but she smiled and patted the bottom of his tie against his stomach. "You look very stylish."

"My staff tell me that it's all about color this year," he said, affecting a grave, somber tone. He rested his hand over hers for a second, then let it go.

YAY SEXUAL TENSION. AND AUBERGINE NECKTIES.