Here is Tim Horvath's advice for short shorts. And here is mine: all you need is some old jeans and a pair of scissors! Men can do it too, y'all.Ann Patchett got a shout out on HBO series Gals. Salon's got her thoughts on that.Check out this shirtless pic of Mark Twain. That's from my 'Beefcakes of the 1880s' calendar, also featuring Nikola Tesla on a bear skin rug as Mr. December.Sam Lipsyte interviewed by the Village Voice. Excerpt: Or we think, "I just need to write this section to get to the good part." It all has to be the good part. We all have that voice, the critic in our head telling us, "That's not good enough. You can do better." There's also a voice that says, "You're a piece of shit and you'll never do anything." They may sound like the same voice sometimes, but you need to separate them. You have to find a balance between recklessness and control, and a way to put your heart out there--not in a cathartic manner, but in a way that will make others feel. You're creating a machine to make others feel. Lipsyte! Let's all read The Fun Parts one million times.Tom McCarthy and James Salter won $150,000 Windham-Campbell Prizes. (If you're curious about Tom McCarthy/laudanum, C is a good place to start.)The musical based on Fortress of Solitude that nobody asked for is finally on the way. But who will they cast? I vote Willow Smith as Mingus and Bieber as Dylan. That's a good casting suggestion that would not distract from the story in any way.The Morning News has a March Madness style Tournament of Books. Building Stories for the win.Don't forget to come see us at AWP. If you think we hand cut bookmarks so a little animal peeks out of the top of your book, then congrats on your eerily accurate guess! It took forever. The goats' tails were too hard. See you at Blazercon, I'll be the one in the blazer.