As everyone else bitches about the cold, I’m really trying to savor winter, despite the fact I don’t live in a place as lovely as this. Staying in and writing, drinking hot toddies, bundling up in scarves, watching snow fall–is anyone else with me?

Here are some things that made my week:

1. This chart of how old best-selling authors were when they “broke out” is helping me feel loads better about my (non-)burgeoning career.

2. A teenager’s view on social media. So, so interesting and helpful, especially for those of us who are writing for teens. (Although this is the reason I set all my stories in the ’90s/early ’00s–social media changed everything.)

3. When I’m seeking inspiration, I always go back to stories that have blown me away. Those stories are not always in the form of books. Last night I rewatched a couple of Buffy episodes, and started sobbing, as always, at one of the most beautiful speeches in TV show history:

“I’ve been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I’ve seen things you couldn’t imagine, and done things I’d prefer you didn’t. I don’t exactly have a reputation for being a thinker; I follow my blood, which doesn’t exactly rush in the direction of my brain. So I make a lot of mistakes. A lot of wrong bloody calls. A hundred plus years, and there’s only one thing I’ve ever been sure of. You.

Hey, look at me. I’m not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you, or because I can’t have you–it has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try… I’ve seen your kindness, and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You’re a hell of a woman.”

Have a wonderful wintry, inspiring weekend!

Photo found here.