links for 2009-01-12

Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web.

"Your temptation when doing period is to get everything from that year—desks from that year, actors' clothes are what was in Vogue that year. But regular people couldn't buy clothes that were in Vogue. They had to buy them two years later. It's like now. People walk around dressed out of the '80s and the '90s. All that stuff exists at once."