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Monday Miscellany

1. The Rejecter is doing an interesting series of posts on how publishing contracts go bad. As an attorney, I can tell you that one of the things you should always be thinking about when you enter into a contract--ANY contract--is what you're going to do when things go wrong. I know it's tempting to ignore those thoughts, especially when you're a writer and some publisher has smiled on you and said "WE WANT YOU," but resist the temptation and think about it.*

2. I'm training for a marathon** at the moment, and this morning I had to walk 10 miles. TEN MILES. That's a long ways. It was made better by the fact that we started out from a place that had a restaurant so when we finished we had brunch. It made the last couple of miles a little easier knowing that there would be mimosas at the end. Mimosas: The Marathon Trainer's Friend.

3. I read a blog that I'm not going to recommend here because a lot of the time I think to myself "why do I even read this blog? I hate this guy."*** But the thing is, he recommends a lot (A LOT) of music that I really like. It's like we're soulmates at the musical taste level. And he's a lot more in tune with the indie/subcult/alternative up-and-comers than I am (he doesn't have a day job), so I can't quit him. Like, recently, when he posted this, from my new favorite band The Start:



4. And speaking of things that are damn cool, check out this remix of the Slap Chop commercial done by Steve Porter. No, really, check it out. Because this is the only time I've wanted to sing along to an infomercial for a vegetable chopper. I totally need this song for my iPod.



~~~

* True story: recently, I was getting pressure from a business person to get a deal done (this is not new; it happens pretty much every day at my job). And he said to me, "I don't understand what the hold-up is! We agree on everything except the remedies! Let's just sign this!" and I said to him "so we agree on everything except what happens when they f*** up and our system goes down--do you want to talk to Boss Man when that happens?" And so it took a few more days. I guess what I'm saying in this footnote is DON'T BE THE GUY WHO HAS TO TALK TO THE BOSS MAN.

** I'm just walking the half-marathon, but still. 13 miles is a long ass ways to walk.

*** I don't know him personally. It's just from his blog.
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