tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44293647049272685132024-03-05T07:12:42.824-08:00Coffee + music = writingA writer's blog
by Bridget Alleyne ShepherdBridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-43429313504545036612014-05-02T19:21:00.001-07:002014-05-02T19:22:17.298-07:00Blackfin Sky Book TrailerIf you know me on twitter at all you know I'm a big fan of Kat Ellis and privileged to be her friend and CP. I'm excited to show you the book trailer for the UK edition of Blackfin Sky! My copy shipped from Book Depository today, can't wait for it to get here!! The cover is GORGEOUS. Check it all out:<br />
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<br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mFf9wLbEkgo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-24618973882646099972014-01-01T15:26:00.002-08:002014-01-01T15:31:31.603-08:00Happy New Year 2014In 2012 I learned how to quit over-planning and write. In 2013 I learned how to write more skillfully than I ever have before. In 2014 I am sending my CPs a full MS. I don't know what will happen from there, but this is the year for that. No question in my mind.<br />
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Time management is going to bow before my willpower. I've bought a 2014 daily planner/diary to hold myself accountable for how I spend my time.<br />
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Sh*t's getting done in 2014, people. :)Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-49616170210203007242013-12-16T19:11:00.001-08:002013-12-16T19:11:14.653-08:00My "Santa Clash" steampunk short storyI was invited by the lovely <a href="http://twitter.com/chynnablueink" target="_blank">Chynna Blue</a> to participate in <a href="http://themidnighttype.wordpress.com/santaclash/" target="_blank">Santa Clash</a>, a fun short story series where authors write a Christmas-themed short story in a genre they've never written before. I was assigned the genre steampunk. After picking my steampunk-liking husband's brain and recalling a steampunk written by my CP <a href="https://twitter.com/JaniGrey" target="_blank">Jani Grey</a> I came up with this short, <a href="http://themidnighttype.wordpress.com/2013/12/16/9-days-til-christmas-steampunk-my-brothers-christmas-wedding-by-bridget-shepherd/" target="_blank">My Brother's Christmas Wedding</a>. Hope you enjoy.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-8225084137158836492013-08-09T13:28:00.000-07:002013-08-09T22:31:18.718-07:00Nature tracks for writingFor a while now I've been listening to a few nature tracks while I write. Sometimes I can't listen to music while I write but I don't like silence either (usually because it ends up not so silent in this apartment) so a track of the ocean or a thunderstorm is a great alternative. It also helps get me in a writing mood. I love writing while it's raining. Yesterday I discovered this awesome website where you can actually mix your own nature tracks using the site's library of sounds. So far I've made nine. Here they are:<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/CricketRiverCampfire" target="_blank">Cricket River Campfire</a> - It's a clear summer evening and you're writing or reading beside the campfire to the tune of the cricket's chirping.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/EvergreenFalls" target="_blank">Evergreen Falls</a> - Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest you sit among the evergreens writing to the sounds of a river and its falls.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/ASpringStorm" target="_blank">A Spring Storm</a> - It's stormy spring evening and you write with the window open to the chorus of spring peepers.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/StormyCabinHearth" target="_blank">Stormy Cabin Hearth</a> - You're fireside in a cozy little cabin, reading or writing through the rain and thunder.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/SnowyCabinHearth" target="_blank">Snowy Cabin Hearth</a> - You're in a cozy little cabin, writing or reading by the fire while the snow flurries outside the window.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/RainstormChimes" target="_blank">Rainstorm Chimes</a> - The rain is pouring outside. The wind makes the windchimes sing while you write.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/SeasideCabin" target="_blank">Seaside Cabin</a> - Writing on the porch of your seaside cabin listening to the wind in the chimes and the seagulls call.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/SeasideBonfire" target="_blank">Seaside Bonfire</a> - Quiet evening on the beach writing by the bonfire.<br />
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<a href="http://naturesoundsfor.me/SimpleRainyDay" target="_blank">Simple Rainy Day</a> - No-frills rainy day to help your writing concentration.<br />
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What do you think? Do you like writing to nature tracks? Did you try out making your own? :)Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-40768518650866118492013-07-28T11:48:00.002-07:002014-03-20T22:57:03.127-07:00The Zombie ProjectToday my short story went live for The Zombie Project, a chain of short stories put together by <a href="https://twitter.com/chynnablueink" target="_blank">Chynna-Blue Scott</a>. The rule of the project is that each story must take an element from the story directly preceding it. Many stories take elements from others as well.<br />
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#1. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/06/30/and-so-it-begins-with-bobby-salomons/" target="_blank">No Place For Strangers</a> by Bobby Salomons</div>
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#2. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/07/07/2-someone-knows-something-by-jessie-devine/" target="_blank">Someone Knows Something</a> by Jessie Devine</div>
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#3. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/07/14/3-into-the-maelstrom-by-benjamin-gumbrell/" target="_blank">Into The Maelstrom</a> by Benjamin Gumbrell</div>
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#4. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/07/21/4-rezerection-by-j-c-michael/" target="_blank">Rezerection</a> by J.C. Michael (Explicit Violent Sexual Content/Trigger Warning)</div>
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#5. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/07/28/5-two-red-flags-and-three-black-bags-by-bridget-shepherd/" target="_blank">Two Red Flags and Three Black Bags</a> by Bridget Shepherd (me)</div>
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#6. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/08/04/6-the-manhattan-marauders-by-carey-torgensen/" target="_blank">The Manhattan Marauders</a> by Carey Torgensen<br />
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#7. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/08/11/7-red-and-dead-by-ruth-shedwick/" target="_blank">Red and Dead</a> by Ruth Shedwick</div>
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#8. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/08/18/8-thinking-big-by-julie-hutchings/" target="_blank">Thinking Big</a> by Julie Hutchings</div>
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#9. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/08/25/9-the-light-by-jolene-haley/" target="_blank">The Light</a> by Jolene Haley</div>
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#10. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/09/01/10-craving-by-louise-gornall/" target="_blank">Craving</a> by Louise Gornall</div>
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#11. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/09/08/11-firebreak-by-cassandrapage01/" target="_blank">Firebreak</a> by Cassandra Page</div>
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#12. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/09/15/12-one-girl-one-shot-by-kristen-jett/" target="_blank">One Girl One Shot</a> by Kristen Jett</div>
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#13. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/09/22/13-jerusalems-peak-by-chynna-blue-scott/" target="_blank">Jerusalem's Peak</a> by Chynna-Blue Scott</div>
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#14. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/09/29/14-manic-missions-by-jani-grey/" target="_blank">Manic Missions</a> by Jani Grey</div>
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#15. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/10/06/15-hickory-dickory-dead-by-kat-ellis/" target="_blank">Hickory Dickory Dead</a> by Kat Ellis</div>
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#16. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/10/14/16-code-words-by-leah-rhyne/" target="_blank">Code Words</a> by Leah Rhyne</div>
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#17. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/10/20/17-the-library-at-the-end-of-the-world-by-lauren-spieller/" target="_blank">The Library At The End Of The World</a> by Lauren Spieller</div>
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#18. <a href="http://chynnablueink.com/2013/11/04/18-the-halloween-virus-by-j-c-gregorio/" target="_blank">The Halloween Virus</a> by J. C. Gregorio<br />
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[I have updated this post will all known Zombie Project installments for your perusal.]</div>
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Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-68328238082466207322013-06-23T20:31:00.001-07:002013-06-23T20:40:37.704-07:00Funds for FeakyI'm sure you all reading this have heard of the flooding going on in the Calgary area right now. One of the writers in our wonderful twitter writer community, <a href="https://twitter.com/TamaraMataya" target="_blank">Tamara Mataya</a>, has <a href="http://feakysnucker.blogspot.ca/2013/06/emergency-update.html" target="_blank">been effected</a> by this flooding and her CP <a href="http://www.jessarusso.com/" target="_blank">Jessa Russo</a> has put together an <a href="http://www.jessarusso.com/2013/06/please-read-and-share-fundsforfeaky.html" target="_blank">array of auctions</a> to help Tamara and her family cope with this difficult situation. Check out Jessa's website to see all of the listings.<br />
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You can <a href="http://www.jessarusso.com/2013/06/auction-item-40-digital-artistauthor.html" target="_blank">bid here</a> to win an anime-style character portrait by yours truly.<br />
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You can also <a href="http://www.jessarusso.com/2013/06/auction-item-7-author-marieke-nijkamp.html" target="_blank">bid here</a> to win a FULL MS crit from the infamous beta Marieke Nijkamp.<br />
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And you can <a href="http://www.jessarusso.com/2013/06/auction-item-16-author-kat-ellis.html" target="_blank">bid here</a> to win a three chapter crit from my idol and BFF the brilliant Kat Ellis.<br />
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This writing community is welcoming, friendly, supportive, fun, sexy, smart, and I am so proud of everyone who is willing to reach out a helping hand to one of us in a time of need.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-15636735555062784212013-06-06T23:36:00.002-07:002013-06-06T23:36:54.287-07:00Interview on DiversifYAToday my interview went up on DiversifYA. You can go check it out <a href="http://www.diversifya.com/diversifya-interview/lgtbq/diversifya-bridget-shepherd/" target="_blank">here</a>. Be sure to check out the other interviews too. There are ones about sexual identity, racial/ethnic identity, living with mental illness and living with disabilities. Their hope is that by showing many different perspectives, YA authors will muster the courage to include more diverse characters in their YA novels. A worthy effort indeed. :)Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-58249645638003027242013-05-19T16:36:00.000-07:002013-05-19T16:38:33.062-07:00DESTINY GIFT by Juliana Haygert<br />
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<b>My author friend Juliana Haygert's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16217699-destiny-gift" style="border: 0px; color: #0f457c; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">DESTINY GIFT</a> is only $0.99 for a limited time! Go get it!!</b></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Thirty years in the future, a sinister New York City exists in permanent darkness. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">A student at the secured NYU, nineteen-year-old Nadine has visions of Victor Gianni, an imaginary guy she has real feelings for. Afraid of being truly insane, she explains the visions away as simple daydreams, but she can no longer deny them when she bumps into Victor in real life. But this Victor doesn’t know her, and turns her away. After the encounter, Nadine’s visions change to those of eerie fates, gods she’s never heard of, demons with sharp claws they are not too timid to use … and instructions.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">To discover if she’s losing her mind, Nadine follows the vague directions—with the real, rude and reluctant Victor—leading to a man who knows it all: Nadine can restore an ancient creed by unveiling the clues on her visions, and bring sunlight and peace to the world again. But that’s only if the demons and the other evil forces behind the darkness don’t stop her first.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">**New Adult PNR/UF novel (73k words)**</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Gift-Everlast-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00C4E1KE0/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364765550&sr=1-4&keywords=juliana+haygert" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/destiny-gift-juliana-haygert/1046367739?ean=2940016426648" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Barnes&Noble</a> | <a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Destiny-Gift/book-EXQ73eyhI0uJBAK9lDTlUg/page1.html?s=oRYGfd3WxkyN4xXWbm1taQ&r=3" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Kobo </a>| <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/destiny-gift-everlast-trilogy/id632715935?mt=11" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Apple</a> | <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/301564" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> | <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4125854" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225e9b; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Createspace</a><img alt="DG promo" class="aligncenter wp-image-5444" height="472" src="http://www.julianahaygert.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DG-promo.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="562" /></div>
Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-81433522866759159402013-04-30T21:11:00.001-07:002013-04-30T21:11:31.229-07:00Eyre House Cover RevealI'm so excited to show off my CP and twitter bestie Cait Greer's cover for her amazing New Adult novel, Eyre House. I feel privileged to have read Eyre House and anyone reading this should prepare to buy it in June of this year and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17694883-eyre-house" target="_blank">add it on Goodreads.</a> You can also read the original reveal post over on <a href="http://writerswanderings.blogspot.com/2013/04/cover-reveal-eyre-house.html" target="_blank">Cait's blog</a>. And of course follow <a href="https://twitter.com/cait_greer" target="_blank">Cait on twitter</a>.<br />
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Check it out!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUst5Gp6o_0rxFAO4qSDAv3NwWyN_6Vz-XNj4dvY9dWiIGuHVcCgG_FLs9mDA2YpSGNkcg8-vXgW42QAki1orYhz-BExIEkBTLML6UnEzE1SJ8a1pNl8dRoIv5dL9S5ckARMm_0En_cS8/s1600/EyreHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUst5Gp6o_0rxFAO4qSDAv3NwWyN_6Vz-XNj4dvY9dWiIGuHVcCgG_FLs9mDA2YpSGNkcg8-vXgW42QAki1orYhz-BExIEkBTLML6UnEzE1SJ8a1pNl8dRoIv5dL9S5ckARMm_0En_cS8/s640/EyreHouse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-68116937137941183742013-02-23T00:59:00.000-08:002013-02-23T00:59:06.686-08:00Drawing and Writing Inspiration - on Kat Ellis's blogI am on Kat Ellis's blog today talking about how my art helps my writing <a href="http://katelliswrites.blogspot.com/2013/02/drawing-and-writing-inspiration-guest.html" target="_blank">go check it out</a>!Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-91382666726503423812013-02-14T17:31:00.000-08:002013-02-14T17:35:32.814-08:00Awesome Characters: Elena and Raphael - Guest post by Kat Ellis<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Today I have the happy privilege of presenting you with Awesome Characters: Guest Post Edition! My CP Kat Ellis is here to tell you about two awesome characters who I am definitely going to check out and you probably should too!</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Check out <a href="http://katelliswrites.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kat's blog</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/el_kat" target="_blank">Kat on twitter</a>. She's brilliant.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First of all, thanks so much to Bridget
for inviting me to write a guest post for the Awesome Characters series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve chosen two characters from my all-time
favourite series: Elena and Raphael from Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. I
also have to say at this point that Nalini Singh is my favourite author, and if
you enjoy PNR/UF and haven’t read any of her books, DO. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">This is the blurb for ANGEL’S
BLOOD, the first in the series, on Amazon: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">“Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she's
the best - but she doesn't know if she's good enough for this job. Hired by the
dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants
his attention, only one thing is clear - failure is not an option . . . even if
the task she's been set is impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Because this time, it's not a wayward vamp she
has to track. It's an archangel gone bad.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing
spree like no other . . . and pull her to the razor's edge of passion. Even if
the hunt doesn't destroy her, succumbing to Raphael's seductive touch just may.
Because when archangels play, mortals break . . .”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The story begins with Raphael – the
Archangel of New York – hiring Elena to track a rogue angel on a killing spree
in his territory. Elena is a Guild Hunter, a tracker with scars in her past and
a natural ability to hunt vampires – not angels – and she is at first put to
the test by the Archangel to see whether she is up to the job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first scenes where Elena and Raphael
meet are just electric. She has a healthy fear of the powerful Archangel, and
isn’t stupid enough to think she can beat him if she tackles him head-on, so
uses her cunning and lots of verbal sparring to get her own way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Raphael is ruthless, cold, and the
sexiest character I have ever read about. Every word he says is deliberate,
calculated and meaningful, and it makes it all the more exciting seeing the two
main characters clash mentally as well as physically before the sparks flying between
them become an absolute inferno.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I won’t spoil the ending to Angel’s
Blood, but I will say that throughout the series Elena becomes even stronger as
she develops and continues to do battle against various enemies alongside the
Archangel. And that’s a key point – they fight together, and Elena holds her
own even when in the company of much more powerful beings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is the only book I own which has
become dog-eared, because I keep recommending it and lending it to friends. I
hope you read it and fall in love with Raphael and Elena as much as I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-68216986195970959312013-02-02T15:49:00.002-08:002013-02-04T14:56:44.032-08:00Awesome Characters: Heero and RelenaToday's Awesome Characters spotlight shines on Heero Yui and Relena Darlian from the anime series Gundam Wing.<br />
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Gundam Wing is, in literary terms, a YA science fiction. It premiered in Japan in 1995. The main characters are all teens who end up with incredibly important roles in a near-Earth space war (roles which are rather implausible for real life teens to have but do we care? No :D This is YA gold.) As usual, there are spoilers ahead.<br />
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The setting is Earth in the future. People have built space colonies at the Lagrangian points. There is political friction happening between the colonies and the Alliance--the centralized government on Earth. A group of scientists have constructed gundams, a special kind of "mobile suit" aka giant robot weaponized space suit, which are superior to any possessed by the Alliance, due to the fact that gundanium must be tempered in space. They send five teenagers to Earth each in a gundam, each having no knowledge of the others, and all with the intent to sabotage OZ (the Order of the Zodiac) a group hidden within the Alliance military who plan to stage a coup.<br />
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The series opens with Heero's descent to Earth. On the way, he sees a civilian shuttle and unwittingly contemplates killing Relena who is on board with her father, Vice Foreign Minister Darlian. There is a theme toward the beginning of the show that no one who sees a gundam may live to tell about it. Before he has the chance to decide, an Alliance patrol intercepts him. Zechs is aboard the Alliance ship and he and Heero have their first of many battles, which Heero loses even though Zechs is in one of the mook regular mobile suits. Heero falls to Earth and lands in the ocean. He flees his gundam and washes up on shore only to be discovered by none other than Relena, who goes to school nearby and has called him an ambulance. He knocks out the ambulance crew and steals the ambulance, leaving Relena surprised but intrigued about him. They meet again when Heero enrolls at her school as his cover. Relena tries to invite him to her birthday party but he rips up the invitation in front of her. She is distraught and demands to know why with tears in her eyes. He wipes away one of her tears and leans in to tell her that he's going to kill her, then abruptly walks off. Relena finds out more about Heero from Doctor J, the scientist who built Heero's gundam, who rescued her after OZ had her father assassinated. Doctor J says that deep down Heero is actually a kind hearted person, and Relena says that she already knows he is. However, Doctor J also warns her that Heero is single minded about his mission and will do whatever it takes, so she would be better off staying away from him. Relena is not deterred by his words, nor by Heero's death threats, and on multiple occasions she insists to him that she wants to be in on his secret mission. Even when he has a gun pointed at her and one of the other gundam pilots shoots him in the arm, she takes Heero's side and tends to his wound. She may be a little crazy, but I think she's cute. :3 She ends up dancing with him at her birthday party after all, which is attacked by OZ who considers her a loose end after she had witnessed the assassination of her father. Heero, despite his protests that he also considers her a loose end and plans to kill her, saves her from OZ with his gundam. He himself is shocked by this and he runs away.<br />
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Relena has some major character development, she goes from being a whiny (though brave) schoolgirl to a major political figure. Part of this comes about after it is revealed that Relena Darlian, daughter to a vice foreign minister, is really Relena Peacecraft, the long lost princess of the Sanc Kingdom, a pacifist fictional European nation which was sacked when she was a child. It is also revealed that Zechs, right hand man to Treize, the leader of OZ, is really Milliardo Peacecraft, her older brother, creating an interesting dynamic between Relena, Zechs, and Heero. <br />
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At one point in the series, Relena speaks in front of the Romafeller Foundation, the group that had been backing Treize, the leader of OZ, and she speaks out against OZ. Heero shows up in the wings and is going to assassinate Relena because her death would be more politically useful than her ineffectual speech making. Relena even agrees with him, she spots him with the gun and closes her eyes, accepting, but they are both shocked when the Romafeller people give her a standing ovation. This marks a serious turning point in her political career and Heero sees her differently than he had up until then. Relena also goes from being vengeful (she tries to shoot the woman who assassinated her father) to being a total pacifist (when she takes her role as being leader of the Sanc Kingdom before she has to surrender again) and finally toward the end of the series she renounces total pacifism and takes a more balanced view of working for peace.<br />
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Heero is a complex character. He has been trained to act emotionlessly in battle, to care nothing about his enemies. Yet his philosophy in regular life is to live by his emotions. He also seems to have little regard for his own life and takes failure hard. He considers his initial defeat by Zechs a failure and after another gundam pilot helps him escape an Alliance facility they jump but Heero doesn't pull his parachute, he wants to die. However, he suddenly hears Relena call his name and without thinking pulls his parachute, saving his life. Later, when it's a choice between self detonation and handing over his gundam to OZ, he chooses self detonation and is in a coma for a while. He carries the guilt of accidentally killing a little girl and her dog who had befriended him while he was waiting around during the day, casing an OZ facility. He was fighting OZ even before he acquired his gundam and in this case he had planted explosives at the OZ facility. Something went wrong with the explosion and some of the OZ equipment smashed into the adjacent area where the little girl was. During the last arc of the series he is fighting another gundam pilot who had temporarily switched sides, despairing that an end to war is even possible, and Heero demands of him "When does it ever end? How many more times do I have to kill that little girl and her dog? Tell me, Wu fei!" He also shows extreme remorse when OZ tricked him into destroying a shuttle full of Alliance peacemakers who opposed OZ. He went around to all the members of the peacemaker leader's family, handed them a gun, and told them what he had done. Being a family of peacemakers, they all spared him. To cover all of Heero's interesting moments would require explaining a lot more about the other characters and plot than there is room for here, but he has a big impact on the lives of many of the other characters in addition to Relena.<br />
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An image toward the end of the series that best sums up the progress in the relationship between Heero and Relena is when Relena is boarding a shuttle on her birthday, Heero sneaks on board and leaves her a birthday card and a teddy bear. Relena spots him out the window, he looks back at her, and she rips up the birthday card, mirroring the time he ripped up her birthday invitation. Another image is when Relena is giving a speech and Heero is again in the wings, this time just watching her speak. At the very end of the show (mini series which happens a year after the end of the original show) Heero breaks into the compound where Marimeia, the supposed daughter of Treize, is holding Relena captive. He pretends to shoot Marimeia and says "I have killed Marimeia Kushrenada, I don't have to kill anymore" and collapses into Relena's arms. Killing Marimeia's power was enough, he spared her life. <br />
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Gundam Wing is a very well thought out anime. Heero and Relena are great characters, and not only that, but there is a whole cast of other great characters which I've barely touched on here. I highly recommend this show to any fans of YA science fiction who are interested in anime.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-1983450003077655352013-01-09T02:09:00.002-08:002013-02-04T19:39:25.433-08:00Liebster Award<div class="post-header">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qfDeMs4lFXA/UORSNmkfSVI/AAAAAAAABTU/V10RsNxFmg8/s1600/Leibster+Blog+Award+seal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qfDeMs4lFXA/UORSNmkfSVI/AAAAAAAABTU/V10RsNxFmg8/s1600/Leibster+Blog+Award+seal.png" /></a></div>
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Thank you Cait, for nominating me! <3<br />
Check out Cait's <a href="https://twitter.com/caitpeterson" target="_blank">twitter</a> and <a href="http://writerswanderings.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a><br />
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<b>Here's how Liebster works:</b><br />
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1. I list 11 random facts about myself.<br />
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2. I'll answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated me.<br />
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3. I will then nominate my 11 picks for the award, along with my 11 questions for them to answer when they post a response.<br />
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4. If you’re nominated, your name/link will appear at the bottom of this post along with the questions I come up with.<br />
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5. Follow the same format; paste the award badge to your blog, give us
11 random facts about yourself, answer my 11 questions, and choose your
nominees…but you cannot nominate the blog who nominated you. </div>
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A lot of my more obvious random facts were <a href="http://coffeeplusmusicequalswriting.blogspot.com/2012/08/beautiful-blogger-and-reader.html" target="_blank">listed here</a>.</div>
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<b>My 11 random facts:</b></div>
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<ol>
<li>I was raised by people who are not my biological parents and I have long lost siblings. </li>
<li>I have a little-known spiritual side. I've studied a lot of comparative religion.</li>
<li>I was a "goth" in high school. I do have some photographic evidence.</li>
<li>I can bend my thumb back behind my hand so it's over my knuckle.</li>
<li>I am in love with Leon Kennedy from the Resident Evil games. My husband has cosplayed as him.</li>
<li>I am also in love with Shane from the L Word.</li>
<li>The only time I ever won NaNoWriMo it was by writing 20k of steamy romance scenes in the last couple days.</li>
<li>I have not recovered from David Tennant leaving Doctor Who. I'm really trying to like Matt Smith. I am. o_o</li>
<li>The only thing I've ever had published (no pay) was in my university's LGBT literary/arts magazine. It was a contemp short story about two girls falling in love in orchestra.</li>
<li>I love every single song on Powerman 5000's "Tonight the stars revolt" album.</li>
<li>I have a lot of regrets. I identify with Florence + the Machine's "Shake it out" more than anyone knows.</li>
</ol>
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<b>Now for Cait's questions:</b></div>
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<b>What category/genre do you write, and why?</b>
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I've written a variety of genres in the past but right now I'm focusing on YA. Specifically fantasy. More specifically "science fantasy." If you've ever played the Final Fantasy games I could compare it to those. Airships, cities, magitech, but not steampunk.
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<b><br />
What category/genre do you <i>wish</i> you wrote, but just doesn't speak to you?</b>
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I wish I wrote historical romance or historical fantasy, if I ever get an idea that really seems like it would fit there, I'd do it, but so far my ideas tend to come with their own crazy worlds.
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<br />
<b>Tattoos/piercings/hair dye?</b>
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I have no tattoos. I have three piercings in my ears, two on the left, one on the right. I dye my hair all the time, right now it's near-black brown.
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<b><br />
Big 5, Indie, or Self? And why?</b>
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I'll think about this more when I actually have something ready to query. Right now I'm sort of assuming I'll try for the Big 5 unless I find a reason not to.
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<b><br />
What's your weirdest/most interesting talent?</b>
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I think karaoke is my most interesting talent. It certainly seems to entertain the most people at parties.
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<b>Dog or Cat?</b>
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Both. I grew up with two cats and one of them still lives at my parents' but Jeff and I are thinking when we get our house we're going to get two puppies. He grew up with a dog and I have never had a dog and do like them too.
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<b>What inspires you to write?</b>
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Music. When I listen to music I see characters doing things, I seriously can't stop it. It's probably due to watching a great deal of anime music videos from a young age.
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<b>What is your favorite character you've written?</b>
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Lucifira. She was an anti-hero, one POV character in a book with multiple POV's. She wasn't meant to be the main character but she stole the show and stole my heart. She is one source of inspiration for a character in my current WIP.
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<b>What is your favorite character you didn't write?</b>
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I started listing some but I realized I was just going through my Awesome Characters list, so if you want to know, go read some of those. I will give a shout out to Mason, Kat's character, because I'm not allowed to do an Awesome Characters post on him until he's published, but he is waaaay up the list and would already have one if he wasn't under wraps.
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<b>If you could live anywhere, where would it be?</b>
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I honestly have no desire to leave the Pacific Northwest. I wouldn't mind living in a mansion somewhere here though. :)
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<b>What is your favorite book of all time?</b>
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I can't choose. I tried to decide and I just can't!<br />
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<b>My questions for my nominees (shamelessly ripped off from Cait and Kat mostly)</b></div>
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<ol>
<li>What category/genre do you write, and why?</li>
<li>What music are you listening to the most right now?</li>
<li>Plotter or pantster or what?</li>
<li>Big 5, Indie, or Self? And why?</li>
<li>What's your weirdest/most interesting talent?</li>
<li>Dog or Cat?</li>
<li>What inspires you to write?</li>
<li>What is your favorite character you've written?</li>
<li>What is your favorite character you didn't write?</li>
<li>Which book do you wish you'd written?</li>
<li>Name three things you will do this year.</li>
</ol>
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<b>And the nominees are (drumroll please)...</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://meganpaasch.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Megan</a> </b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.mariekenijkamp.com/musings/?page_id=1571" target="_blank">Marieke</a> </b></div>
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<b><a href="http://writingpossibilities.com/" target="_blank">Jason </a></b></div>
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<b>I don't know who else to tag, lots of people have already done it so you get 3 not 11.</b></div>
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Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-68677556718738051382012-12-31T17:34:00.000-08:002012-12-31T17:34:00.161-08:002012 Thank you's and highlights2012 was a year of changes for me. My personal life was a roller-coaster, something I'd rather not go into details about in public, but in the end I am in a better place, so it has had a happy ending. :) My writing life saw a great deal of change too and that's what I'm going to write about here. Here's what happened:<br />
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By the beginning of 2012 my in-person writing group fizzled out and I found myself able to be more disciplined about writing at home, whereas I had been frequenting our meeting place coffee shop to write even when no one else was there because I couldn't resist the distractions of home. I spent a lot more time planning out novel ideas and discarding them for new shinier ideas than I spent on any actual writing. My sole remaining partner in crime was <a href="http://thescribblednoveler.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Taliesin</a> and we were both struggling to get any projects off the ground.<br />
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In March I think I must have gotten a spam comment or a "inactive deletion pending" notice on my defunct livejournal, because I got the idea that I was going to restart my livejournal as a writing journal. I honestly can't remember how I got from there to blogger, but I know it had something to do with Karen Mahoney's KazNo (a NaNoWriMo look alike happening in April) I decided I was going to participate, but when push came to shove I felt unprepared and fell back into my usual rut of planning and not writing. The important thing about that event was that it lead me to befriend my darling <a href="http://lifedebatable.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jani Grey</a>.<br />
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Jani had put a call out for a beta reader and even though I was still a dysfunctional writer, I was already a decent beta, so I volunteered. She appreciated my work and introduced me to the insane and wonderful world of Twitter. I was a bit shy of Twitter at first, it wasn't until my second go around that it really took off for me, in large part thanks to <a href="http://writerswanderings.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cait</a> and <a href="http://katelliswrites.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kat</a> who were lovely enough to include me in their conversations and before I knew it they were my friends too.<br />
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I can hardly say how influential Jani, Cait and Kat have been in my writerly life. They've dragged me kicking and screaming from my little safe bubble of always planning and never writing, and thanks to them I got a fair amount of writing done in 2012. I've become a better writer in large part thanks to them. And I've greatly enjoyed reading and critiquing their MS's. I can't wait until the day that I get to present them with something of mine and I'm convinced that it is going to happen in 2013! I adore you all!<br />
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Kat especially is my idol and I want to be her when I grow up. <3 <br />
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Also from twitter came <a href="http://www.mariekenijkamp.com/" target="_blank">Marieke</a> who has a passion for Doctor Who and David Tennant that even surpasses my own! I love her and she's another friend who let me crit her MS and I can't wait for her to read mine.<br />
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I can't make this post without mentioning <a href="http://www.leighannkopans.com/" target="_blank">Leigh Ann Kopans</a> who is an inspiration to me and is constantly supplying me with new fuel for my writing journey. Just the other day her blog about fast drafting inspired me to try it and it's going better than any other writing method I have tried before. So, THANK YOU LEIGH ANN!!!<br />
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I also want to shout out to <a href="http://www.julianahaygert.com/" target="_blank">Juliana </a>and <a href="http://meganpaasch.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Megan</a> who are both sweethearts and brighten my day all the time. <3<br />
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Looking forward to a bright 2013 in Writer Twitterland.<br />
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<br />Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-48456497674663209782012-12-25T20:40:00.001-08:002012-12-25T20:40:19.680-08:00Back From The Dead!No, this isn't a post about zombies. ;)<br />
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I thought I'd say a little something about the break I took from my "public" life. At the beginning of November, I went through some things in my personal life that left me reeling. It was sort of a perfect storm of different problems and I needed to give them my full attention. I'm happy to say that the matters have been dealt with sufficiently enough that I am able to return to my blog and twitter and--most importantly--I'm able to return to my novel writing. I'm even feeling refreshed--like my creative well filled up while I was busy elsewhere. <br />
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Time to get working! It's good to be back.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-57552431200331934642012-09-26T22:41:00.001-07:002012-12-25T21:15:36.277-08:00A fearsome thing to beholdIn the past, I've been affectionately accused of being a "Renaissance woman." Today I had a sudden craving to read in Japanese and to play the cello, and I was reminded of this, and of a part of Pride and Prejudice from chapter 8:<br />
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"Oh! certainly," cried his faithful assistant [Miss Bingley], "no one
can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what
is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music,
singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the
word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her
air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and
expressions, or the word will be but half deserved."<br />
<br />
"All this she must possess," added Darcy, "and to all this she must
yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by
extensive reading."<br />
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There was a line added in the film version to the original "I never saw such a woman" reply by Lizzie, they had her say "she would certainly be a fearsome thing to behold." I liked this addition. ;)<br />
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Something I've found as I've been struggling to be a more consistent writer these past months, is that sometimes if I burn out on writing, resting/goofing off can help, but what often helps even more is engaging my brain in a different way, whether that be editing a friend's work, watching or reading something in Japanese, drawing, or playing the cello, each thing uses my brain in a different way, almost like a brain massage or stretching a brain muscle. <br />
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Though my current aim is to become a professional writer, at heart I want to end up accomplished in all of these fields: writing, reading fiction, reading non-fiction (whether it be history, science or biography), watching fiction (I believe in quality television and film), editing (my own and others' works), drawing, singing (karaoke of course ;) ), playing musical instruments (cello, bass and piano), listening to music (classical and contemporary), language (Japanese), philosophy, physical strength (I lift weights and do cardio), cooking (I love cooking Italian and Japanese) and even dancing (probably my area of least talent among the categories listed)<br />
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It can be difficult to make time for all of them, and obviously some get prioritized over others, but there are so many rich experiences to be had in life that I want to go after them all! <3 Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-12722009277304742312012-09-20T12:03:00.001-07:002012-09-20T15:00:46.107-07:00Awesome Characters: Genjo SanzoToday I'd like to talk about Genjo Sanzo from the manga/anime Gensoumaden Saiyuki. It is a story based on the classic Chinese tale "Journey to the West" but drastically alters the characters and plot. The "west" mentioned in the title is India. The story has the characters making their way from Sanzo's home temple in China to a location in India where dark forces are trying to resurrect an ox-demon king. Sanzo is actually a title, rather than a name, it's the highest rank of buddhist priest, but his group of fellow travelers call him that like it's his name.<br />
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Sanzo isn't what you would expect from a priest, he swears and smokes and is almost always in a bad mood. He has a revolver known as a banishing gun which works significantly better than a regular gun on youkai. The English translation of youkai is often demon, but they're not creatures from hell, they're kind of like evil elves, they're just another race that lives alongside humanity and is generally more powerful than humanity. There was actually peace between most of the youkai and humans until the experiments to resurrect the ox-demon king started. It sent a "minus wave" out that causes youkai to lose their minds and go on murderous rampages. Sanzo's group is constantly battling crazed youkai on their way to India.<br />
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Sanzo is a complex character. His motivations are mixed. On the surface, it looks like he's going on the trip to India because he's a priest and the Three Heavenly Aspects ordered him to go, but he's only a priest because his mentor, Koumyou Sanzo, found him as an orphan, raised him, and when Koumyou was dying, he made him the next Sanzo. Sanzo is determined to avenge him and take back the seiten scroll the enemy youkai stole, which was supposed to be passed on to Sanzo along with the maten scroll which he still has and which the enemy wants. He's pretty obsessed with his goal and pretends like he doesn't care about anything or anyone else. But along the way, he does end up saving a lot of people from crazed youkai, and though he won't formally lecture as a priest, he does drive home some philosophical points to people when they need some sense knocked into them. <br />
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His fellow travelers is another area where appearances are deceiving. Despite the fact that when the group meets someone new, Sanzo will refer to his three fellow travelers as his servants, the reality is, they are his friends and he cares about them, and they have no obligation to follow him at all. He also respects them because all three of them are badass enough to take care of themselves. In fact, it's pretty common for them to have to rescue him. That's another thing I like about him, he's an aloof badass, but he's not over-powered.<br />
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Really, the dynamic between the four main characters is one of the best reasons to watch the show. They joke, they fight amongst themselves, they back each other up, they help each other deal with issues (each of them has a dark past of course) and they kick a lot of ass together. <br />
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I've realized writing this that Saiyuki is hard to explain in a few paragraphs, but I hope that was another interesting Awesome Characters post regardless. Sorry it's been like a month. :)Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-72317864123312845752012-08-20T11:30:00.000-07:002012-08-20T11:30:03.672-07:00Beautiful Blogger and Reader Appreciation AwardsThe very lovely <a href="http://katelliswrites.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kat</a> tagged me with 2 blog awards: the Beautiful Blogger Award and Reader Appreciation Award. Thanks Kat! <br />
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The rules say I'm supposed to tell you 7 random things about myself. Kind of like Kat's TMI Monday, so I'll put it up now.<br />
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<ol>
<li>Everything I write will be in some way influenced by Sailor Moon. That show got to me right around age 11 and implanted itself in my mind and it will never, ever come out. </li>
<li>I do not understand what it would be like to be straight or gay. It's like asking me to forever choose between cheesecake and chocolate. How could I ever choose????? (I'm married so in a sense I've limited myself, but it's not to men, it's to one person who I love who happens to incidentally be a man, which is a different concept, to me. But my brain still works the same way. And I still enjoy writing f/f romances. ;) )</li>
<li>Japanese: I have lived in Japan twice and been there four times. I can watch most anime without subtitles, it generally has to have a lot of jargon or business lingo for me to need the subs. I sing karaoke both in English and in Japanese.</li>
<li>I love to draw. I have had two different webcomics, but they are SO time consuming that I always quit. I often draw pictures of my friends or their characters.</li>
<li>As my blog title says, coffee and music are my biggest source of fuel for writing, I have difficulty writing if I lose access to either one.</li>
<li>I play the bass in an amateur rock band. We write our own songs, as well as practice with covers of things as widely ranging as "Dreams" by the Cranberries, "One more soul to the call" from Silent Hill, and "The Royal We" by Silversun Pickups. We are planning on playing a short set list at the Halloween party this year. Our first performance in front of more than 2 people. o_o</li>
<li>I played the violin for years in school and I am self teaching myself to play the electric cello.</li>
</ol>
Tagging people with these awards! They are:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://thescribblednoveler.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Taliesin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://writelock.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Audrey</a></li>
<li><a href="http://yvonnesbookendings.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Yvonne</a></li>
</ul>
Have fun! <span class="st">♥</span><span class="st">♥</span>Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-37022143221104539972012-08-16T12:14:00.000-07:002012-08-16T12:14:06.621-07:00Awesome Characters: The DoctorI've decided to make Thursdays my Awesome Characters day. Today I'm going to talk about the Doctor from the BBC TV show Doctor Who. Specifically, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. (You might be thinking "but there are a million people out there who've already talked about the Doctor," and you're probably right, but I'm going to anyways :D ) As usual, Awesome Characters includes spoilers.<br />
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The Doctor is the epitome of a complex character. He's a scientist, he's a romantic, he's a hero, he's someone who carries a deep pain that never really goes away. One of the Doctor Who spinoff novels put it well when they described the Doctor as having a Tigger side and an Eeyore side. Add in a righteous fury side and you've got a basic description already.<br />
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In the new 2005+ series, the Time Lords have been sealed away in a "time lock" so that their war and all the crazy shit that had come down on their home planet couldn't destroy the rest of the universe (see the last Ten special for details). The Doctor is the one who did this. This gives him a lot of mixed emotions, to say the least. On the one hand, he saved the universe, on the other hand, he essentially destroyed his race. So you might think he'd be Eeyore-Doctor all the time, but he's not, he copes and he moves on to the best of his ability. His profound sadness comes out from time to time and reminds us that he cares so deeply about people.<br />
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One of the best attributes of the Doctor, for me, is his ability to see the universe with wonder and joy, even though he has already seen so much of it and already knows so much about it, and has a lot of good reasons to hate everything, he is still able to revel in the beauty of life. It isn't limited to conventional beauty either,
he sees a werewolf and thinks "you beauty," he sees a crazy clockwork
robot and thinks "you beauty," he's the quintessential joyful nerd. This is his truer Tigger side. He has another Tigger side which is more his version of a misdirection attack on whoever he's dealing with. He acts sort of crazy to distract the person from whatever he's actually doing. This also comes out in his tendency to act like he is in charge of everything which gets people used to taking orders to do what he says.<br />
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Righteous fury Doctor is just what you'd expect: he's a hero. He won't put up with aliens endangering the Earth, or cruelty, he doesn't like to kill and he's ready to sacrifice himself to save the day. He's also a nerd hero in that he saves the day with science-y shenanigans instead of combat (most of the time).<br />
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Another interesting facet to the Doctor is that he needs people. This is where Nine and Ten are mirror images in a way. Nine is born alone at the end of the war and he becomes happier when he takes on Rose. He dies happy saving her. Ten, on the other hand, is born happy, surrounded by people who care about him. But Ten walks a path of loss and the more alone he becomes the more unbalanced he becomes. He dies unhappy and alone. (Don't worry that's not the end, there's still an Eleventh Doctor after all :) )<br />
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The Doctor is so multifaceted that even this description is just the beginning. I can't recommend enough that anyone who wants to write awesome, complex characters, especially in genre fiction, should watch the 2005+ Doctor Who. <br />
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Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-39403001995748521762012-08-09T11:57:00.001-07:002012-08-09T15:40:23.570-07:00Awesome Characters: Naruto and SasukeI decided my blog was too boring with just random status updates about how my writing is going, so I'm going to try to implement some other segments to spice it up. One of those segments is Awesome Characters, where I will discuss, well, characters who I think are awesome. :)<br />
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Today's characters will be: Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. (That's surnames first, for those not into Japanese) from the anime Naruto. A google image search will show you plenty of examples of what they look like. Note that the series has a time skip, so there's a kid version and a teen version of both.<br />
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I don't know how I could possibly talk about them without including some spoilers (no ending spoilers however--it's not over!), so if you've decided you want to check it out without knowing anything more about it, leave now.<br />
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Ok then. Naruto is the main character of the show which is about ninjas. He starts out as a little brat who staves off his loneliness by pranking the village by doing things like painting goofy doodles onto the Mount Rushmore-like carvings that hang above the village. Really, he's just a lonely kid who's not that great in ninja school and for reasons he doesn't understand yet, he's an orphan and no one in the village wants anything to do with him. Even his homeroom teacher initially treats him with coldness. However, the reason for this is because on the day that Naruto was born, the Nine-tailed Fox was unleashed on the village and the people suffered great losses, including Naruto's teacher, who lost his parents that day. The Nine-tailed Fox was sealed up inside of Naruto, so he is what's known as a jinchuriki, a carrier of a tailed beast. This is basically like being a walking weapon of mass destruction, so the villagers are forbidden to talk about it, so they end up just giving Naruto the cold shoulder constantly and he has no idea why.<br />
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However, his homeroom teacher sees that Naruto has a good heart and is really just an ordinary kid, and warms to him. This sets Naruto on a happier path, he still deals with feelings of resentment toward the villagers who treated him so badly, but he channels his feelings into a positive goal: he's going to become Hokage (leader of the village) one day, and make all of the villagers recognize him as a great person. Little does he know at first, but his father was actually Hokage, and his parents sacrificed their lives to save him and the village on that fateful day, his mother was the Nine-tails jinchuriki before him, and they sealed the Nine-tails inside of him not as a curse but because they had faith that he'd be able to handle it, and they are right. Throughout the series, Naruto matures from being a brat to a real hero. His personality is so complex and real that sometimes I get this odd
feeling like I KNOW him, like he's a real friend of mine somewhere out
there. Like, his personality doesn't shift unbelievably far, he continues to be something of an airhead in some ways, but his heart and spirit just grow stronger and he strives for peace in situations where anyone else would not be able to resist taking revenge.<br />
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Speaking of revenge: enter Sasuke. Naruto and Sasuke are paired up in a three-man-cell along with a girl named Sakura after they graduate from the ninja school. Sasuke is the opposite of Naruto, he has excellent grades and a cold personality. He was created to be Naruto's foil and rival. Naruto is blond, Sasuke has black hair, Naruto wears orange, Sasuke wears blue. Naruto is energetic and loud, Sasuke is aloof and laconic. There's one thing they have in common: they both lost their parents. The difference is, Sasuke wasn't an infant, he was a child who remembers having a family, and they didn't die defending the village, his brother slaughtered his entire clan and left Sasuke alive, claiming that he "wasn't worth killing" and that Sasuke should "hate him and come and find him if he wants revenge." Sasuke latches onto revenge so hard that it consumes him. Instead of something like Naruto's dream to become Hokage, Sasuke's only intention in his ninja training is to become strong enough to kill his brother. <br />
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The thing that makes Sasuke's story so tragic (up until now at least, like I said, the series isn't over, I don't know his ultimate ending) is that he almost finds happiness with his team. The pivotal episode comes when they are confronted with his brother too early, Sasuke's still just a kid, and yet his complete and utter failure when he attacks his brother shatters his happiness. That, combined with his jealousy when he sees Naruto is starting to become stronger than him, convinces him that he'll never achieve his goal if he stays with them, and when another enemy presents him with an opportunity to desert his village and become powerful, he takes it.<br />
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Even then, Sasuke isn't completely evil. We see him on team evil, but he doesn't kill his enemies, he just incapacitates them. He claims it's because his brother is the only person he wants to kill. However, he descends into real evil territory after he makes a shocking discovery. His clan had been planning a coup against their village, and his brother was given the choice to slaughter his entire clan (with some help from someone you meet later) for the good of the village and he took it. Peace at any cost. Sasuke is enraged at the village for forcing such a choice onto his brother, and once his fury is redirected at his home village, he loses the mercy he had been holding onto, and starts killing (or at least trying to kill) even people he considered his closest friends.<br />
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Meanwhile, Naruto is the opposite. His compassion for Sasuke is absolute, even after Sasuke tries twice to kill Sakura (their third team mate) Naruto is still convinced he's going to save his friend, or at the very least, die with him and be friends with him in the after life, because Naruto so easily could have gone the way Sasuke did if he hadn't had positive influences in his life.<br />
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I'm unsure where the author is going with them, and a lot of my feelings still hang in the balance, wondering how he's going to resolve things. (Are they really both going to die at the end??) But the fact that I care so intensely about the outcome just shows how well crafted they both are. <br />
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Did you read my little talk about Naruto and Sasuke? Was it interesting? Leave me a comment and I'll write about more awesome characters that I love. :)Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-70189573903148547672012-08-07T12:38:00.000-07:002012-12-25T21:18:27.460-08:00Changing POVWow, it has been over a month since I started this MS. I've now gotten to a point where I realize first person isn't going to work for this MS. Though I really wanted to give first person a try since I've read some fabulous books written that way, ultimately this story is developing into a plot where the MC may not be present or conscious during events that would be better shown on camera. Therefore, third person multiple seems the way to go.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-61741464586920717522012-06-21T10:05:00.000-07:002012-08-09T12:11:30.946-07:00Off we go!Yesterday was the Summer Solstice here, I had decided that I would start this WIP at the precise moment, 4:09 PM yesterday. Starting was challenging but fun. I haven't been this serious about a WIP before. I was telling the lovely <a href="http://writerswanderings.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cait</a> yesterday that I feel like if I can just get through this MS and get it as polished up as I can, then the dam inside my head will break and nothing will stop me anymore. As it stands I've spent a lot of time day dreaming about novels, planning novels, writing parts of novels, and not enough time writing novels to completion and revising novels. This will be a big step forward for me from being a hobbyist writer to becoming a querying writer, and hopefully, beyond.Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-83095564666208729992012-06-09T21:26:00.002-07:002012-08-09T12:11:54.587-07:00Being MichelangeloToday <a href="http://thescribblednoveler.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Taliesin</a> and I were discussing our impending doom, aka how in just ten days we have to begin writing our novels. After I read a <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1IvOej/www.lbgale.com/2012/06/07/the-frankenstein-drafting-process" target="_blank">Frankenstein analogy</a> retweeted by <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/jennykacz" target="_blank">Jenny</a>, we got to talking about the steps to creating a novel and came up with our own analogy: Being Michelangelo. I've never been much of a sculptor, but I know what it's like to turn a rough sketch into a finished drawing. But Taliesin mentioned chiseling out a statue and I found it fitting because, a
perfect slab of marble looks pretty (the swirly mist stage where you haven't
made any firm decisions and your idea looks great), then you have to make it all
ugly by breaking into it (the decisions), then you start seeing a human figure
but it's all wonky and ugly (the first draft), then it improves (the following drafts) and so forth until hopefully you've polished it so well you're left with your masterpiece. Even Michelangelo has to make a crappy statue before he makes a perfect statue. <br />
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This should have already been obvious to me, but for some reason imagining it out is helping me cope with my feelings of "ruining" my pristine marble slab by hitting it with those initial hammer strokes, cutting away the areas I won't need when I start the first draft of the body. It's giving me new courage. <br />
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<br />Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-43479211169340993072012-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:002012-08-09T12:12:07.242-07:00MusicThought I'd share some of the songs that are inspiring my WIP.<br />
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LI theme - "Too Close" by Alex Clare. I twist the lyrics in my head for this one, it's not that he's growing apart from the MC, it's more that he and the MC are so goal-oriented that he feels like they're too deep in their missions to fall in love. <br />
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MC theme - "Not In Love feat. Robert Smith" by Crystal Castles. Similar to the other song, the MC is resisting falling for the LI, rather than it being over. For some reason these songs just work in my head even though the lyrics are off.<br />
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Love theme - "Melody" Clark Owen feat. Lena Katina. The way they sing the duet parts is perfect for when the MC and LI are working together. <br />
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10 days left!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4429364704927268513.post-91873865720220059402012-06-04T21:32:00.000-07:002012-06-04T21:32:29.643-07:0010 Life RulesThis blog-like device is mostly just a writing journal for me, I've never given a thought to readership, but if anyone does read this and wonders why I'm not talking about writing. I think the foundation of a successful writing career is having a well balanced writerly life, so I'm laying out ten life rules that I think will help me along the way. <br />
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1) Remember that the world has always sucked; it's also always been beautiful. </div>
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2) Remember to follow your heart, follow your muse, be smart but not
fear-filled.</div>
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3) Remember that goal-related activities come first, but it's ok to relax
sometimes; it's ok to need to be alone sometimes.</div>
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4) Remember to leave the past in the past after you've learned from
it.</div>
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5) Remember to fix yourself; help other people humbly.</div>
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6) Remember to keep in touch with loved ones, near and far; don't burden
others, but don't refuse help just for pride.</div>
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7) Remember that it's okay to get and look older.</div>
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8) Remember to maintain your health but not obsess; eat quality, splurge
occasionally.</div>
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9) Remember to maintain your intellect but don't feel like you have to know
everything.</div>
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10) Remember to keep your own score and use outside rating systems only in
practice, never in heart; change your internal rating system with careful consideration.</div>
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<br /></div>Bridgethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12714841623463385874noreply@blogger.com2