Another Independence Day come and gone, another summer officially beyond prologue.  Especially with the next few days in our nation’s capital predicted to top 100 degrees. 

That’s roughly 38 degrees for those of you (scientists and non-Americans) who use the International System.  This is the one thing I do prefer about non-SI measurement: Fahrenheit’s nice, round 100 mark indicating when the heat just becomes god-awfully unbearable for human beings. 

[cue corny segue] And speaking of hot, here are today’s featured blog posts from writers around the web!

♥ Jade Smith lets us in on some ♥ Becky Levine explains how panic worry can lead to small chunks of progress in writing.

♥ Do you have a story or merely an idea?  Juliette Wade at Talk To YoUniverse explains the difference.  (And provides a very efficient “elevator pitch” formula, to boot!)

♥ Cassandra Jade tells us what she thinks are the best and worst fantasy creatures.

♥ Do you write long or short first drafts?  Suzannah Windsor Freeman at Write It Sideways outlines the pros and cons of both approaches.

♥ Elizabeth Spann Craig at Mystery Writing is Murder gives us a peek into one writer’s marketing plan.

And, the WRITER POST OF THE WEEK award goes to Les Edgerton for his essay on creating tension.

But a very HONORABLE MENTION goes to Betsy Lerner at The Forest For The Trees, for her excellent rejoinder to the assertion that marketable fiction requires “someone to root for”:

Aren’t the greatest characters of all time deeply flawed, morally compromised, tragically poised, and often irredeemable? … I want you tortured, disturbed, diminished, and drunk. I want you abandoned, lonely, jealous, and alone. I want characters who suck all the air out of a room, who you run from at a party, who always ring twice. I want it messy, hysterical, certifiable. I want too much or not enough … Unsympathetic, undeserving, unapologetic, unrootable. These are my people.

Fans of the Observer, I feel, would agree.