Challenges
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As far as fantasy goes, I’ve always been inspired by Tolkein’s scholarly breadth of detail in his worldbuilding, most notably his dizzying work with creating full, functional, quite honestly breathtaking structures of language. Naturally, this is something I’ve always wanted to weave into my worldbuilding for Aryneth, but, as one would imagine, languages are not…
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“‘…The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed…’” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling As we move along in the iconic Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, we reach the third book, which, for me, starts to really…
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NaNoWriMo word count goal: 50,000 NaNoWriMo word count reached: 22,033 NaNoWriMo grade: F So, National Novel Writing Month for me this year was not exactly spectacular. I didn’t even reach the halfway point, which is probably one of my worst showings so far. The thing is, though, I’m not too concerned about it because, while…
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Today, a terrible thing almost happened. I almost quit NaNoWriMo. With only a week left to go, that’s a pretty extreme decision, and the fact that there’s only one more week left to go is one of the many reasons I decided to keep going. You see, November is a very crazy month for me.…
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“‘Planeswalkers, tornadoes, plagues,’ counted Jodah, ‘all are natural phenomena. You can no more avoid them, or blame them, than you can blame an avalanche or a storm.’” “Magic: The Gathering: The Shattered Alliance, Ice Age Cycle Book III” by Jeff Grubb You may have noticed in my reviews of the first two books of the…
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“Jimmy was the type, Mary Helen had been told, who could sell snow to the Eskimos. As a matter of fact, he had started out selling purses. ‘There’s a lot of money in purses,’ Lucy often quipped.” “The Missing Madonna: A Sister Mary Helen Mystery” by Sister Carol Anne O’Marie What’s not to love about…
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“We are all overdressed in our little flashy frocks, our slasher heels, and we all eat small plates of food bites that are as decorative and unsubstantial as we are.” “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn I went into Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl with the unfortunate bias I have going into anything particularly popular or raved…
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“The viewpoint of a historian is that of a surveyor on a hillside, overlooking a river. He can see the flow of the river and has no doubt about how it runs and why. The participants of history view that same river as would a fish, unsure of where it is taking them.” “Magic: the…
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“The old saying is true: what goes around, come around…especially when it’s crap.” “Of Thee I Zing: America’s Cultural Decline from Muffin Tops to Body Shots” by Laura Ingraham with Raymond Arroyo It was through this book, Of Thee I Zing, that I was able to finally pinpoint what it is about conservative talking heads…
L.S. Engler 