Write what you know. It's a cliché, but you can turn it upside down--trust your own crazy uniqueness and don't write what everybody else is writing.
If you want to know what everybody else is writing, check out the slush pile title list just released by excellent, and I mean excellent, Virginia Quarterly Review.
It's a rare glimpse into the rejection pile, revealing that "the ten most common titles of submissions" were about memories, fires, divine inspiration, and rebirth. (Thanks, Maud!)
This one is for all the science fiction buffs, the kids who never quite grew up, and the fans of childhood movies. The Last Starfighter: The Musical! The SciFi Scanner has links to Starfighter video game and soundtrack for the true believers. (Thanks, SF Signal)
Finally, Paper Cuts just re-reviewed Cormac McCarthy's hardboiled crime classic, No Country for Old Men. His link to a McCarthy essay in The Believer has riled up the comments section, it's worth reading this literary squabble about the merits of this tough-as-nails writer.
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