Reassurance & catch-up

First of all, I was nowhere near campus earlier this week when the shooter opened fire — I was still in Oregon, on the last day of a nice long visit with my mother, who turned 60 this week. I was, however, emailing back and forth with my dissertation director, who was stuck in his office while the SWAT teams searched our building and who, earlier, saw the shooter fire into the pavement near the Dobie Mall building across the street. Another former colleague from the Ransom Center was also quoted in the local news because she was out in that courtyard when the gunshots started. It's terrible that the shooter died and mystifying that he chose this way to die, but I'm so glad he didn't actually shoot anyone else in the process.

Anyway: I'm still in catch-up mode right now — I did work a fair amount while I was in Oregon, but this semester continues to be more hectic than I expected. So here, have a big list of links:

Ann Patchett on plot in the WSJ (outliners represent!).
Laura Miller on Elaine Showalter's A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers From Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx in Salon.
Elizabeth Chadwick on writing historical fiction about real people.
A recap of the Margaret Atwood/Ursula K. Le Guin conversation about SF recently held in Portland. I am so sad to have missed this! I was even in Oregon when it happened, but about six hours away and being stomped by a migraine, so.
Sarah Prineas guest-blogging against authorial self-promotion online.
An earth-like planet that may sustain life has been found, about 20 light-years away.

And finally, two links relevant to my plans for the evening:

An interview with Paul Harding, the author of Tinkers.
Cocorosieland. (They're playing at Emo's tonight! I'm so excited.)