Mulan, Rejected Writers, and the Bacterial Life Inside Your Body Like to Procrastinate on This! [Friday Edition]

I can’t believe my first week back from maternity leave has already passed! Today I’m finishing up the first copyedit of my second book, THE AWESOME GIRL’S GUIDE TO DATING EXTRAORDINARY MEN: a novel (click through to pre-order), and I’m also gearing up for my first night out unaccompanied by a member of my newly-large family. So yay, maybe I’ll get back to being even halfway interesting soon. Meanwhile, here’s a whole bunch of procrastination, just because I love you.

1. I often tell folks that it’s easier to date if you’re a writer, because you’re already used to rejection and things not working out as planned. I also believe that rejection makes you a much better artist; therefore you should go out there and accrue as much of it as you can. However, Tayari Jones explains why rejection is good for the writer’s soul much better than I do, so definitely click through. [The Best Way to Get Over Rejection? Get Rejected More Often]

2. This post about a now-stalled possible spin-off for ONCE UPON A TIME’S Mad Hatter character reminded me how underused some of OUAT’s most interesting characters are. Here’s hoping they give my favorite character, Mulan, an episode of her own someday soon. [The Mary Sue]

3. Read these “20 amazing facts about the human body” if you want to be fascinated and possibly somewhat disgusted by your mortal coil. My fave facts: “On sheer count of cells, there is more bacterial life inside you than human” and “If sci-fi movies were to be believed, terrible things would happen if your body were pushed from a spaceship without a suit. But it’s mostly fiction. There would be some discomfort as the air inside the body expanded, but nothing like the exploding body parts Hollywood loves. Although liquids do boil in a vacuum, your blood is kept under pressure by your circulatory system and would be just fine. And although space is very cold, you would not lose heat particularly quickly. . .In practice, the thing that will kill you in space is simply the lack of air.” [theguardian]

4. I found this post super-amusing. Apparently one of the best ways to get someone to lose interest in a hobby is to pay her or him to do it. As a former theater reviewer and current writer, I can tell you this is 100% true. I’m never more eager to write than when I’m not getting paid to do so. It’s definitely “work” — awesome soul-fulfilling work, but work nonetheless. Also, I enjoy and respect theater even more now that I’m paying for my seat like a reg. [LifeHacker]

5. Joss Whedon + MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING = Squee!!! No apparent actors of color with speaking lines = Boo!!! Ah well, maybe I’ll catch it on Netflix streaming down the road.