Friday Fridge Clean-Out: This, that, and the other things.

Busy morning, so without introduction, here are my horded, enjoyed, interesting, puzzling, annoying, helpful, laughable and leftover links from the past week.
•Though I never get to read them all, I always like to read The Library Journal’s seasonal list of memoirs of note, like this one listing 58 titles being published this fall.
• Speaking of memoir, read Dani Shapiro’s Los Angeles Times piece on creating memoir art.
•Funny, I don’t have an agent myself, and yet I am constantly being asked by others how to get one. As I’ve seen firsthand that Mediabistro usually does a good job with their one-night seminars, I might steer those in the NY metro area to the one on August 12, about this very topic.
•Sometimes you just want to churn up a really lustful dislike for a too-talented, too-young new literary light, like this guy with the right pedigree, degrees and seemingly lucky breaks. Only, it seems he deserves his success.
•Two good ones from the week of winning guest posts over at Nathan Bransford’s blog (picked from hundreds of entries): Required reading for the (life, not work) partners of working writers, and the art and science of book blurbs.
•And here are a few more ideas to pass along to those whose role it is to be supportive of the writers in their life.
•Used to be the only place to find Shark Week was on a cable TV channel devoted to such animal fear programming, but now many more mainstream entertainment programs are getting in on the act. So why not poems for Shark Week?
•How Not to Write a Story? Who better to advise than a writer who is currently judging a short story contest?
•Once you’ve got that advice memorized, see if you can do it all in 25 words, which is the limit for fiction in this planned anthology.
•Everyone gets advice when applying to MFA programs, right? Writing friends, instructors, workshop participants, former editors and professors, mentors are typically all asked for their suggestions, input, letters of recommendation, etc. But what about paying for “professional” help with one’s application, mission statement, and creative portfolio? There’s a controversy brewing over this, fueled by a new entrant into the newish field. What say you?
•The always wise Tayari Jones has this to say about how to react with grace to feedback on one’s work-in-progress.
•This longish piece on long-form magazine article editing was full of insight and helpful links.
•And finally, I laughed out loud at Rachel Toor’s opening paragraphs to her rant/advice/essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “I Just Wrote This Last Night.”
Have a great weekend. Next week on the blog: an interview with Allison Winn Scotch, a guest post from Christina Baker Kline, and more.