Roz Morris wrote a guest post for K.M. Weiland on Friday the 13th. Though it’s more than a week ago, I didn’t get around to sharing this gem until Sunday (!). So here you go: Four reasons you might be missing out on your best plot ideas.

Katie’s Sunday post and podcast: The crucial way you can figure out how much time your story should cover.

And her Wednesday vlog: Why a killer hook may not be enough to sustain reader interest.

Anne R. Allen offers nine considerations we should all review before we send our first novel out into the world.

Adventures in YA publishing offers this story concept worksheet to help you nail your story’s concept.

Chuck Wendig delivers another excellent post on writing strong women characters. This caused quite the discussion on the SF Canada listserv.

One of those members, Ada Hoffmann, made i09 with her Twitter mini-rant on agency. A cogent summation of the issue.

The second of Nina Munteanu’s posts on rejection. This time: how rejection can help you as a writer.

Dan Blank wrote this wonderful piece for the National Endowment for the Arts on risk in writing. Everyone needs to read this. It’s awesomesauce.

And on the sad side, here’s Oliver Sacks’s piece for The New York Times about what he’s decided to do now that he knows he doesn’t have much time remaining.

Jamie Raintree shares her experience with Storyist on Thinking through our fingers.

Chuck Sambuchino’s definitive guide to manuscript lengths.

Ten authors who took themselves way too seriously. ListVerse.

The writing habits of famous authors, an infographic shared by BookBaby blogs.

The three roles of the shapeshifter archetype. The Better Novel Project.

Buzzfeed shares 21 reasons why the Harry Potter series was the cleverest ever.

So, this priest decided to adapt Leonard Cohen’s “Allelujah” for a wedding: