I hope you find something useful, or amusing, in this next batch from my bottomless bag of (lost and) found online articles and tidbits.
■ For Writers:
Create an Author Business Plan
As part of the Indie Author Series on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University website, Marcy Kennedy has written “Create an Author Business Plan” that breaks down this task into manageable pieces. After an introductory post that gives three questions to ask yourself before writing a business plan, she continues with an article about setting your author goals that “might be the most important of your whole business plan because the rest of the plan is basically about taking these goals and creating actionable steps to reach them.” Other articles in the series: choosing our stories, identifying our audience, running our business, crafting our product plan, analyzing our competition, developing our overall marketing plan, and book by book marketing.
Copyright Inheritance
Read Susan Spann’s article “Who Inherits Your Copyrights?” to find out the importance of having an estate plan that includes specific references to administration of your copyrighted works.
The Problem with Clichés
If you’ve ever wondered why authors are advised to avoid clichés in their writing, watch the video “Is that what I think it is?” for a demonstration of how quickly an overused phrase becomes annoying.
■ Science:
Predictions Come True
Check out io9’s article “The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True in 2014” featuring 15 “incredible technological, scientific, and social achievements, from mind-to-mind communication to self-guiding sniper bullets.”
■ Fantasy:
Mythology and Magical Creatures
Mythic Scribes runs a series on their website called “Magical Creatures for Magical Worlds” written by Alice Leiper. So far the series has covered the Hydra, the Phoenix, the Minotaur, and Fairies.
■ For Fun:
Sad Cat Diary
When I first watched this video several years ago, I laugh-cried uncontrollably. It’s not a cute-and-cuddly animal video so even if you don’t love cats, it just might make your day.
■ Yep, Yummy:
Fool’s Toffee
I sampled this dessert at a recent album-making event and couldn’t stop myself from returning to the snack table over and over and over. It’s a simple recipe—no candy thermometer involved—made with brown sugar, butter, chocolate chips, nuts, and saltines. Yes, saltine crackers. Don’t balk, just give it a try. You will not regret it.
Image “Notebook With Pen” by Piotr Wojtkowski from PublicDomainPictures.net
Speculative Fiction Writer
KL Wagoner 
My husband and I listened to the cat diary. Hysterical. It was our cat’s voice!
The first time I watched it, my face hurt from laughing so hard.