Challenges

  • I have been sitting on this idea for a while now, since the beginning of the year, and, as we head into June, the middle of the year, I realized that I’d better get my butt moving on it if I wanted to accomplish this idea before 2013’s eventual conclusion (which is likely to happen…

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  • “Poor lumpy Maudette, with her bitten thighs, was more interesting in death than she’d ever been in life.” “Dead Until Dark: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries Book One” by Charlaine Harris The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris have been on my To-Be-Read list ever since the HBO show based on the books, True Blood, came…

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  • “And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky It has been a very, very long time (too long?) since a book has affected me in the way that The Perks of Being a Wallflower has. I’m talking…

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  • “What else was there in any life–human or artifact, mortal or immortal–besides a useful existence?” “Magic: The Gathering – Bloodlines – Artifacts Cycle Book VI” by Loren L. Coleman With the completion of Bloodlines, I have officially read through an entire Magic: the Gathering book cycle. Now, I’m not much of a player of the…

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  • “…it is, indeed, the art of ellipsis, or of suggestion,–the incredible technique of impressing the inexpressible by non-expression of an impression.” “Renaissance in Japan: A Cultural Survey of the Seventeenth Century, Japan’s Literary Giants: Basho, Saikaku, Chikamatsu” by Kenneth P. Kirkwood Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a bibliophile. I can’t borrow books, because…

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  • “I believe the costuming of today’s Japanese young women reveals, in a powerful way, how for many young Japanese females, Japan is a hard place to become a grown-up woman.” “Kickboxing Geishas: How Modern Japanese Women are Changing their Nation” by Veronica Chambers For me, Japan has always been an interesting country, and part of…

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  • It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in A Round of Words in 80 Days, which is a real shame, because I truly believe that the sense of community and encouragement with that group is what ultimate lead me to publish my book last year. As I’m struggling to get off on the right…

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  • “A lot hinges on the fact that, in most circumstances, people are not allowed to hit you with a mallet.” “Unseen Academicals” by Terry Pratchett Anyone reading the blog could probably gather that I’m a pretty big Terry Pratchett fan. I think he’s bloody brilliant, and I’m continually convinced that he’s only getting sharper and…

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  • “It wasn’t the best story in the world, but, as the mouse had told him on more than one occasion, it wasn’t the worst, either.” “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest/Wicked Bestiary” by David Sedaris. I am unique. I am an individual. I want to be known for my own voice and my own creative abilities.…

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  • Quite often, especially lately, especially in the insanity that is being upper management for retail during the hoilday season, I find myself wishing on thing more than others. I wish I could be a faster writer. At the start of this year, when I really started to cling to the idea of self-publishing and really…

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