Inspired Links – Oct 4, 2011

In my "Inspired Links" feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles.  I hope you enjoy these little treasures

Mark Coker of Smashwords conducted a poll to discover how readers find e-books.  It's much more extensive than the poll I conducted on my blog a few weeks ago, so you'll want to check it out if you're interested in marketing for e-books.
Katie Tallo, a guest over at Write to Done, wrote an inspiring post "Become the Hero of Your Writing Life" in which she discusses how to combat the villains in your writing life.
Salman Rushdie was recently interviewed on the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC and he discussed his novel "Midnight's Children."  If you're a fan of Rushdie, as I am, you'll want to have a listen.
Joel Friedlander shares "The Parable of the Little Book of Stories" which I found greatly inspiring.  It's all about the stories in the end.
Lawrence Block riffs on short stories and the market for them – or lack thereof – in "Whither the Short Story."
And, turning to genre, Colin Barnes discusses speculative fiction in "Finding Markets for your Speculative Fiction" over on First Draft Cafe.
If you're looking to make time to write in your busy schedule, check out Tony Noland's "7 Easy Ways to Give You Time to Write."  They might surprise you
Debra Marrs riffs on de-cluttering in "Before You Write, Declutter!" With two small kids, decluttering is practically a full time job in my house.
And when i finish with this phase of de-cluttering, I plan to spend fifteen minutes with this post from Duolit "No Excuses: 15-Minute Goal Setting for Authors."
Cathy Webster talks about her encounter with a literary icon in "Meeting Margaret Atwood."

If you're wondering about my methodology for choosing links for inclusion in this post, rest assured there isn't one.  It's just a collection of things that I found interesting and I thought you might too.  Please let me know what you think!