Have you been watching the Olympics? Or is that a stupid question? I'm not a sporty person (not many bookish people are) but I get huge pleasure from 16 days of watching so many human stories - heartwarming and despairing.
Anyway - today feels a bit like a hangover after a great party - so let's ease back into writing if you've had a bit of a break with a few interesting links.
'Don't give up the day job' - I have mentioned that writing doesn't earn most authors a lot of money - so what do they do on the side? A list of 11 authors and their somewhat interesting professions.
Twitter is a great way to get in touch with authors you admire, I've struck up a friendship with an author recently whose work I've enjoyed over many years. Back in the wilds of the past, fans used to write to authors, and sometimes authors wrote back. F. Scott Fitzgerald has some comprehensive advice for the young writer who has got in touch with him.
And finally - Better Book Titles - a hilarious site with some reworked jacket art that explains exactly what you're going to read.
What day job would you like to have while you write? Or do you do something interesting already? And which author would you love to get advice from?

Violet Fenn on August 14, 2012
I can't actually fit anything else in around kids and my paltry attempts to earn money as a blogger (writing gets shoe horned in wherever there's a gap), so I'd just be happy to earn enough from fiction to keep me going as I am.
2 1I would like advice from Neil Gaiman. No, scratch that - I'd like Neil Gaiman to lick my face whilst reading me bedtime stories. He did actually tweet me once - a very cool comment about running from radioactive mice - and I nearly wet myself with excitement. So if you could arrange for him to pop over, that would be great ;)