• “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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  • Switching It Up.

    “The road to hell is paved with…blank pages,” I said yesterday and, this morning, for quite some time, I was staring right now that pathway to damnation. And the interesting thing is that I knew exactly what had lead me that way. You see, I had quite a few things I needed to get done…

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  • Author Quotes: Roth.

    “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” -Philip Roth. I’m pretty sure Roth won’t mind, but I’m going to have to politely disagree with him on this one. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the sentiment. It’s terribly easy for writers to get caught up in their Next Big Thing, the new and shiny…

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  • “Not one, she realized with a chill, was staring at her as though she had gone mad. They were all staring at her as though she was going to tell them what to do next.” “Paladin of Souls” by Lois McMaster Bujold God-tainted, mad-touched, recently isolated, the main character of Lois McMaster Bujold’s fantasy yarn…

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  • Art Day!!!

    Anyone who also has me as a friend on Facebook has probably noticed that I have what I happily declare as an “ART DAY!!!” just about every Thursday. Lately, my job has been scheduling me fairly consistently (unheard of in retail!), which includes Thursdays free, which is fabulous, because Thursday is the one day that…

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  • “‘After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.’” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling It’s always great to revisit the classics, and I don’t think anyone can (effectively) deny that the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling is a modern classic. Not only that, but…

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  • When I was working on my first publication, Bowlful of Bunnies, I thought I’d hit on a pretty good idea. As a collection of short stories, I could easily put together a collection of the short pieces I’d been cultivating and hawking for the past ten years, and then add some newer material to the…

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  • Back to Business.

    Writing, especially in the independent field, is a business. And a business will pretty much go to crap if you don’t tend to it, keep it up, strive to accomplish more and more and more, and generally WORK. Unfortunately, writing is usually not a business that helps you pay your bills right away, so there’s…

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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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