THE REALITIES OF WRITING: Not too long ago, Julia Heaberlin of Grapevine did what a lot of us would never have the courage to do – she quit her job to start a second career as an author. Her first novel, Playing Dead, is being published today by Ballantine. But it was a long, tough road to making that dream a reality, filled with rejection letters and self-doubt. She writes about the process in an engrossing essay on dfw.com.

THE MAN BEHIND ‘SNOW WHITE’: Friday’s Big Movie is Snow White and the Huntsman, the second Snow White movie to hit screens this year (Mirror, Mirror). It’s written by Evan Daugherty, who got the writing bug growing up around Dallas Children’s Theater, where his mom, Linda, is the resident playwright. “She showed me there’s flexibility in how you can interpret fairy tales or revise them for a new audience,” he tells dallasnews.com. “I remember my mom talking about her Cinderella and how there was a scene where she rolls up her sleeves and switches out of her high heels for boots to go on a quest. Certainly, that was somewhere in the back of my mind when I was having Snow White strap on a shield and armor.”

PAULA ON PETER: If you’re a regular weekend listener of KERA, then you’re plenty familiary with Paula Poundstone. She’s essentially the center square of Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! This Saturday she’s doing a one-off show at the Lakewood Theater, and ahead of her trip to town she tells theaterjones.com that her favorite part of doing Wait, Wait is messing with its host, Peter Sagal. “I make it a personal goal when working with him to throw him off his game. Nothing gives me more joy that to see that look of ‘Why are you saying that?’ on his face. And trust me, I get that look a lot. That’s what the listening audience is missing are the looks that Peter throws my way,” she says.