2012 Thank you's and highlights

2012 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:

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 Taliesin and we were both struggling to get any projects off the ground.

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 Jani Grey.

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 Cait and Kat who were lovely enough to include me in their conversations and before I knew it they were my friends too.

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!

Kat especially is my idol and I want to be her when I grow up. <3

Also from twitter came Marieke 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.

I can't make this post without mentioning Leigh Ann Kopans 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!!!

I also want to shout out to Juliana and Megan who are both sweethearts and brighten my day all the time. <3

Looking forward to a bright 2013 in Writer Twitterland.

Back From The Dead!

No, this isn't a post about zombies. ;)

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.

Time to get working! It's good to be back.

A fearsome thing to behold

In 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:

"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."

"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."

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. ;)

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.

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)

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

Awesome Characters: Genjo Sanzo

Today 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. :)

Beautiful Blogger and Reader Appreciation Awards

The very lovely Kat tagged me with 2 blog awards: the Beautiful Blogger Award and Reader Appreciation Award. Thanks Kat!

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.

1. 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.
2. 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. ;) )
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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
7. I played the violin for years in school and I am self teaching myself to play the electric cello.

Tagging people with these awards! They are:

• Taliesin
• Audrey
• Yvonne

Have fun! ♥♥

Awesome Characters: The Doctor

I'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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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 :) )

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.

Awesome Characters: Naruto and Sasuke

I 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. :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. :)

Changing POV

Wow, 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.

Off 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 Cait 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.

Being Michelangelo

Today Taliesin and I were discussing our impending doom, aka how in just ten days we have to begin writing our novels. After I read a Frankenstein analogy retweeted by Jenny, 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.

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.

Music

Thought I'd share some of the songs that are inspiring my WIP.

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.

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.

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.

10 days left!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!

10 Life Rules

This 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.

1) Remember that the world has always sucked; it's also always been beautiful.

2) Remember to follow your heart, follow your muse, be smart but not fear-filled.

3) Remember that goal-related activities come first, but it's ok to relax sometimes; it's ok to need to be alone sometimes.

4) Remember to leave the past in the past after you've learned from it.

5) Remember to fix yourself; help other people humbly.

6) Remember to keep in touch with loved ones, near and far; don't burden others, but don't refuse help just for pride.

7) Remember that it's okay to get and look older.

8) Remember to maintain your health but not obsess; eat quality, splurge occasionally.

9) Remember to maintain your intellect but don't feel like you have to know everything.

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.

Beat sheets

Today I saw this post by Francesca Zappia. It contains a link to a beat sheet spreadsheet which I found fascinating. I had heard of beat sheets for screenplays before but had never really looked at one or tried to use one for noveling. I did some digging around and found an INCEPTION beat sheet on the website of the guy who designed the beat sheet spreadsheet. I also found a THE HUNGER GAMES (novel) beat sheet on there too. Between the two of them, I got a pretty good idea of how it works, and I think I understand something of what made the pacing in INCEPTION and THE HUNGER GAMES so well done and satisfying. Also, neither one adhered specifically to the number formula used in the spreadsheet, I imagine there's a lot of flexibility to be had there, so I'm not planning to use it as some kind of paint by numbers worksheet but more as a guide.

Preparedness level: 40%

4 weeks left until the change over from outlining to chapter writing. Preparedness level estimated at: 40%. If I make a few good breakthroughs I could conceivably get to 50 or 60% within the next day or two, need to put in the time and make that happen.

One month

Today is one month until my start-writing deadline! Still so much work to be done on my outline. And no matter what, this one's going until the end of the plot, no quitting at 20k, no quitting at 40k, no matter what kind of pile of nonsense it is, it's going until it's over, likely ~90k, and it's getting at least one major revision, no matter how much I might whine! Wish me luck.

Reward

Today I was reading Leigh Ann's post about rewards and decided that I need to promise myself a good reward for following through on this draft. As I was typing out my comment on her post, I realized just how long it's been since I've finished a rough draft. The vast majority of the novels I've started over the years have been just that, started. Most of them (that even get from outline stage to first draft stage) just sort of fizzle out after 20 to 40k and I decide I need to move on because I have a better idea. But consequently I've been robbing myself of the experiences of finishing and polishing manuscripts. So, no matter what I end up thinking about my current novel idea when I hit 20 or 40k, this time I'm going to keep going, I'm going to finish the plot, and I'm going to revise it at least once before I let myself think about trunking it.

The reward for a finished first draft shall be a Kindle Fire, I really want one!

Deadline

I've been pushing my estimated start date back as it looks like I just won't be ready. New estimated start date is May 15th. However, I've decided to give myself a deadline of June 20th, the summer solstice here, to be the latest estimated start date I'll be allowed to make. Not that I think I'm pushing it back for the wrong reasons, but I could use the extra little threat to keep myself working hard.

Writing friends

KazNo may have been a bust, but through it I made a writing friend in Jani.Between doing some beta work for Jani and hitting the gym hard, I haven't spent toooo much of my free time on the outline between yesterday and today, but now that Jani is set for the moment, it's back to the outline for me. One thing that's been inspiring me to outline is this post by Rachel Aaron, who is very much in the plotter camp. I'm taking some advice from her method, and between that and the awesome features of Scrivener, my writing process is evolving into something that should work well for me.

Joke's on me maybe!

It's April 2nd and I'm not writing yet, I've still got so much I want to plan out. I decided a while ago that outlining was how I was going to write this one, so if I stop outlining now and dive in I'll probably be repeating the past instead of making progress. I think I might revise my goal to: finish outline in April and be ready to write on May 1st. It's not as fun as being able to write with a bunch of other people for Karen Mahoney's KazNo, but I think it may be the right call.

Ready, set, go!

I'm starting this blog because I finally have a novel idea that I'm ready to commit to. Writing here will keep me honest about my progress and give me something to look back on when I'm curious about my up's and down's later.

This blog is mostly for my own purposes, and to let my friends follow along with my progress, but feel free to comment if you want. :)

My plan is to start my novel on April 1st, what a joke, eh? ;)

Digital Art Commissions

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to draw your characters. When you commission me you will receive two files per drawing. One will be a size appropriate for the internet and the other will be a high resolution file which you can use for printing if you wish to make merchandise using my art. I love supporting authors and so I allow you to use my art for promoting your books.

Here are some things you should know:

I accept digital art commissions on original characters only (you must own the copyright so no fan art). I won't do nude commissions or anything I find offensive.

To begin the commission process, leave an e-mail address in the comments here and I'll e-mail you with the subject line "Bridget Shepherd Digital Art Commission" and I'll delete the comment so your e-mail address isn't just sitting here.

My base price is $20.00 US for a portrait such as these seen below. More complex pieces will take longer and more effort and therefore have an additional cost. I accept "Verified" paypal payments only.

see more examples of my work at http://bridgetshepherd.deviantart.com/

I'll do my very best to create the sort of image you want but I don't give refunds. No one has ever asked for one but I want to make that clear anyway.

Bridget Shepherd is my pen name. The name on my paypal account is my legal name. If you commission me you must agree not to share my legal name with others unless I authorize you to. I like my privacy.

Thank you for your consideration!