The January freeze is on here in New England. Perfect excuse to stay inside and get those fingers dancing across the keyboard with new stories or with revisions of the old ones.

This week: writing prompts from song lyrics, how to read more, writing in New Orleans, Autofiction, and shelter dogs dressed up as famous authors.

• If you’re struggling with the blank page, try using these song lyrics as writing prompts. I’m reading The Sixth Extinction right now, so the Paula Cole prompt led me to write a story about aliens who excavate our planet in the future, discover the remains of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and inquire, “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?”
• Last week, we mentioned Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. As a supplement to that effort, consider these tips from Austin Kleon on how to read more.
• Novelist Jami Attenberg packs up for the winter and heads to New Orleans. “When I’m in New Orleans … I read and write and that is all. I am as pure a writer as I can be.”
• Of all the rules of writing, Neil Gaiman‘s seem the most doable to me. Number one: Write. Number 3: Finish.
• Publishing update: The postmodern novel is dead. Autofiction is risen. We have no idea what that means.
• You might be tired after all of those writing prompts and that writing advice, so take a break and scroll through these delightful pictures of dogs dressed as famous writers. [Squeezes the universe.]