In a country where an elected official actually believes a woman’s body secretes a conception-preventing something during “legitimate” rape (thus, I’m assuming, making all other rapes resulting in pregnancy, um…fake? or, heaven forbid, consensual? the oxymoronic possibilities here are astounding—moronic being the key word), we need a few good things this week. Here are mine:

Tom Weston-Jones, star of “Copper.” (If you like Russian accents, go check him out in Season 10 of “Spooks” on Netflix.)

For those of you who enjoy things set in the US in the 1860s (e.g., HBO’s defunct “Deadwood,” AMC’s current hit “Hell on Wheels”), BBC America just started airing their new show “Copper” this past Sunday. Set in New York City in 1864, young British actor Tom Weston-Jones plays Irish-American police detective Kevin Corcoran. There is angst, and gunslinging (sort of), and there are definitely whores and naked male backsides. Oh, and hats. I love the hats.

I am reading Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. Maxwell. This contemporary romance, out from Entangled, features my favorite trope (older brother’s best friend)…plus Reid, the hero, is an MMA fighter. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

So. I am buying a bicycle this weekend, for the express purpose jaunts to the farmer’s market and into downtown Iowa City. It will have a bell and a basket, and no handbrakes. Whee!

I am rebuilding the website (a month-long (or so) endeavor) (I know, I’m doing it again, I’m sorry), beginning with switching to a new hosting server (like wpengine) and ending with aesthetic awesomeness. I’m excited to get started on the project, but don’t expect it to be complete until a week or two into September.

I probably shouldn’t give out writing advice, mostly because I believe advice for writers is kind of a crap deal; what works for you probably won’t work for someone else. It’s about finding your own groove and method, so to speak. However, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts on writing with a friend struggling to find some middle ground. “Advice” is as follows:

…Sometimes writing helps. Not writing the highs and lows, but finding some story that balances everything. A man learning to rock climb with a prosthetic leg. A couple torn between finally getting married or going separate ways. A furry green monster piloting charter flights to the Caribbean for human criminals trying to stay off the grid. Find the fiction, the story, and lose yourself in it. A scene. A setting. Something. And know that the WORST advice you will ever receive is to “write what you know.” Why on earth would you write what you know? Then you’ll never have to research, and you’ll never learn a thing. Writing is only truly cathartic if there’s discovery for you.