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Showing posts from 2016

Looking Back, and Looking Ahead!

I always come across articles and such that talk about using early mornings for being productive and a good time to journal, so here is my December 2016 reflections!   See and celebrate success in little things you do everything, and all those little things add up to big results.
But first, today’s semi-success story! I got a bad case of flu in September, so I thought I was done for season, but last night with body fever and aches all night, also kicked off the cold tickle in my throat. I have been wide awake since 3 am. Usually, that means twisting and turning, and frustration, and trying to sleep, etc. etc., but instead I used another piece of great advice I have learned in these articles. If you can’t fall asleep in the usual time that you fall asleep in, get out of bed and try again later. So at 3:45 am, I got out of bed. I did some reading, did some around the house errands, drank emergenc, drank salt water, ate breakfast, took dayquil. Tried to sleep, but couldn’t in 15-20 mins, s…

This has been a sad week. One of the worst weeks this year with so much turmoil in the country I live in, in my life with relationships and what people are going through, and a bit at work. It began on Friday, and since Sunday I have felt depressed, sad, and defeated. When it rains, it pours!
It took me a good four days to realize that, as always in times like this, you have to be grateful for what you have, let go of what you can't control, and be hopeful and active about things you can control.
I am so grateful for the people in my life who see my sadness on my face or in my voice, and shower me with words of encouragement, care, love, and including sending me flowers. I appreciate that so much because it's the little things that count.
There are so many things that I can't control like how the presidential election unfolded and how badly certain people treat you, but you put up with it cause you have to. And you give when you don't want to or when it's divisiv…

November 9 2016

This is a very sad day for America. I don't have to cover the facts because you already know, we have elected Donald Trump to be our president.
I voted by mail couple weeks ago, and at around 4 PM PST, I started watching the election polls and results freaking about the whole time and hoping it was going to turn around. This lasted from 4 pm to midnight. I went home and sat on couch and just watched the election coverage literally praying that it would turn around, but it didn't. The moment I brought my pillow and blanket to couch to start falling asleep while watching the news, they announced Trump was taking stage, and a second letter I get a text that Hillary conceded.
I, with all of America, is shocked at the results and how this came out. It felt like a wake all night and the all day today.  However, people have not lost hope. I have seen a lot of feeds, messages, conversations, notes, etc. about #notleaving and continuing to respect, love, and keep going. Love will …

San Francisco Elevator Pitch

This week, I went to my first pitch event. It was very fascinating, and I really enjoyed my time.
I found it on EventBrite, and immediately signed up to go after I came from San Diego to check it out!
The way it works is that there are 10 people who sign up ahead of time to do a pitch as if they were asking for investment, and the panel gives them feedback on the pitch to help them improve for when they actual go pitch to real investors.
The hardest part is that the pitch can only be 2 mins, and there is a lot of content to squeeze in 2 mins, and you have to choose words very carefully to cover all your points and not leave your audience confused. After that, the panel asks a few questions, and finally each person on panel provides feedback and score on scale of 1-5.
Here were the pitches on 11/1 Adventures in Common, GlennFriendFinds, GregGiveYa, EugeneGoCarrot, TonyIrisVision, AmmadneoEyed, AlessioPacer Automated Solutions, KarlWatchbox, DavidWaveSolar, ColinTripTop, Basil

Other tha…

San Diego - Travel Diaries

Sunday evening (10/30), this Hispanic waiter brings me my delicious Indian food I have been waiting for, and as he is putting the food on the table, he says, "Who is making your wait?". I smile, and I say "no one".  You see, I was sitting alone at Royal India in Gaslamp Quarter (Downtown) San Diego. In fact, I didn't wait for anyone that entire weekend because I was traveling solo to San Diego to relax, to rejuvenate, to enjoy, to be in solitude!
For almost a year, I have had the itch to go to San Diego. I have been there before, but I really wanted to go back. For a while, I tried to coordinate with my friends for a weekend or holiday visit, but it never worked out. One day, I decided that I would just do a solo trip and it worked out with work as well. I have been spending so much time doing a lot of things (Dance, LeanIn, Work, friend's birthday, friend's baby shower, this that, etc.) and I just wanted to take  break. I was thrilled to have this week…

Past, Present, Future

I do a lot, and I love it!  I believe in planning, and therefore I am not waiting till end of December / beginning of January to reflect on my year and build a new year's resolution. And today is the perfect time, cause I am doing one of the first things on my ‘Things I am going to do list...”, which is doing a solo trip to San Diego this weekend.
In the last two days, I have had this feeling that 2017 is going to be a spectacular year! I said it to my mom, and to my girlfriends over dinner last night. I have strong intuition, and I have a really good feeling about this coming year.
Just looking back, in 2015 I had a few major highlights: Started my Covisint role Zumba and UJam Instructor WorkshopProfessional Piano LessonsBought a motel for my mother in Boise
The things in 2015 were a launch pad for amazing 2016: Year started in Europe Joined LeanIn in JanuaryJoined moreUpbeat Dance Troupe as a dancer and choreographer in FebruaryDid the Saroj Khan workshop, which was amazing  Start…

15 Things in 3 Days

Last time, I just wrote down a list of good things that happened or I did was so enlightening, so I thought I would do it again. For me, this is a form of gratitude and appreciation, which results in feeling happy! This encompasses three greats days: Friday - Sunday! On Friday, had my boss' staff meeting at 8 am, which meant waking up at 5:30, leaving by 6:30, to be at work by 7:30. I love the feeling of being ready to tackle the day super early in morning!After that, my staff meeting was in the afternoon, and it was one of the best ones because I create a specific agenda for each one of my direct reports to present something to the group which resulted in an engaging discussion (Training: new course PMO/BO: GTM process TP: Developer Tools UX: High-end Mockups for Unified Platform) and followed by a funny YouTube contest - 90 mins well spent!Got this great concept and then decided to go have drinks with coworkers.Watched Accountant to kill time between clubbing at the amazing Bloom…

Rise and Slay... A Success Story

Writing is therapeutic for me, hence the blog, but today I am going to a little bit deeper. I had a good weekend. I usually know good because in my head I say to myself multiple times that ‘oh, that was a good weekend’.
Friday night, we celebrated a friend’s birthday and a wine bar in Livermore, it was really nice! Saturday morning I cleaned the whole house. My house is never messy per say, but I can get OCD, so I have to make sure dishes are done, counters are clear, clothes are organized, etc. And then a friend came to visit and we watched dog videos on YouTube and took Pepper for a walk. After that I got ready for the FOG Diwali Dance competition, and we performed Baby Ko Base Pasand Hai with dance troupe and we won second place! Saturday night, I made myself a nice meal and watched a Bollywood movie at home and slept.
Sunday morning, we had a dress rehearsal for the DreamGetters (I’ll tell you about this later), which took over three hours, but it was very productive and I got to …

Dance Performance: FOG Diwali Festival

On Saturday, we did another dance performance with FOG, where we competed in the adult category. Again, we got second prize for our upbeat and masala dance: Baby Ko Base Pasand Hai!

I saw this move in Miami and didn't really much think of the dance before, but then my co-worker that week was like omg, that totally is a song you can dance on, you should do it, and it finally got stuck in my head, so I decided that we would dance to that song, and then we just concluded to just use it for this competition.

It took some time to choreograph it for me, but it turned out pretty well with a good combination of hip hop and bollywood style. We didn't get a LOT of time to practice it, and unlike Galla Gudiya (2nd place in FOG Independence Day), we performed this dance for the first time on stage. Galla Gudiya was performed three times prior to using it for competition, so I am pretty excited by this award. The dancers worked hard, and we had a lot of fun with it!

Dance Performance: Durga Pooja

This Sunday, we performed the ultimate Bollywood song that all Bollywood dancers aspire to, which was originally danced by the two dancing queens of Bollywood: Aishwariya and Madhuri. Dola Re Dola from Devdas (one of my favorite movies).

We were invited to perform at WomensNow Durga Pooja Event, and first we said no, and then they came back and asked us to perform, so we decided to do it and we had very little time.
Since it was Durga Pooja, we thought the best song to dance to would be  Dola Re Dola, so in midst of practicing Baby Ko Base Pasand Hai for FOG Diwali Competition, we decided to take on this song.  First, we thought we would just use Ritu's previous choreography from another Dance Company, but then I really wanted to change parts of the song edits and the songs a bit, so we infused some of Dance Company choreography and added in a lot of moves I picked up from the actual music video of Dola Re Dola.
We fully put the song together on Wednesday and practiced for 2.5 hou…

Investing In Self.. That Feeling... A Bucket List

Yesterday, I went home sick and was just not feeling well between the headaches and the bad flu I have been fighting for a week.

I had a conversation with a friend that went something like this -- you'll recognize the feeling.

"Want to go away for a while.. Get chance of pace.. New perspective... Need passion... And then you realize you can't cause you have responsibilities.. so gets frustrating and you feel stuck... and it's not even about money.. I am 27, I should enjoy life more.. Have done so much for others, managed so much at a young age, focusing on others all the time... I kind of have an itch to drop everything and just go travel (Friend was in complete agreement of the sentiment)"
How many times have you had this feeling or have talked to someone who has has this feeling.. "I just need a break" and how many times have you seen a quote on instagram or pintrest or facebook echoing this? It's a rhetoric question, but the answer is way too man…


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Monday, September 09, 2013

#128 09-09-2013 A Day For Police Horses

In this episode of hoofbeats, we welcome a new contributor Sarah Sheard, who has started sending us segments about fulfilling her lifelong dream of riding a horse.  Her audio made mention of patting police horses downtown Toronto, so we also re-aired some old interviews with Sergeant Al Jenkins and Ron Green of the Toronto Mounted Police Unit.  We also made a call for volunteers!  Among other volunteer roles, we have much audio collected that needs editing, including the interview with the horseperson in the photo below...  Want to know more?

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Home » Posts tagged with » Robert Render

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The Blood Harvest (reviewed by Lisa Marie Bowman)

The Blood Harvest, which was directed by George Clarke and is due to be released in the UK on March 1st, 2016, is a serial killer film with a twist. As the film begins, 39 men and women have been murdered in Northern Ireland.  Their blood has been drained and, in a touch that would […]


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Home | Tag Archives: Hajime Ohata

Tag Archives: Hajime Ohata

Film Review: Henge (2011)

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A young couple are living a quiet and happy life, until the husband suddenly begins howling uncontrollably. REVIEW: Oh dear. Here we have a film so infuriating in its waste of potential that I almost don’t know where to start. The disparity in quality between the beginning and end is so dramatic, so baffling, that I …

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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Josiah's b-day "party"

I was going to stick these pics in with the other 2 posts but decided they needed one all to themselves :)
How many people does it take to tie down Josiah??
"I'm gonna KILL you for this!!!!"
Matt being tickled

Kidnapped by the D's/R's...
....and taken to McDonald's...

....for ice cream :)

The kidnappers and the kidnapped

Mrs. C's b-day party

Hadleigh Laney Macey and I
David and Joel
Macey and I
Macey, Holly, Maggie, Emmy, and me
Me and Emmy
Me, Holly, Emmy, and Maggie with Laney
Laney...needs the sun photoshopped off her face but I don't have time right now :) I gotta go drive my lil girl
Lis and Laney
Chris Y and Ian C

Us :)

Scope on the gun :)
Guard duty....the birds love the winter grass seed
Sis :)
My little devil :)
macro lens :)
I don't like this pic, but the background is super cool!!
Awwww :)
GCC...Piano competition

Gold medal ♥

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Nationals Pictures (second post)

OK....this is the first time I've had time to post these...there's 3 posts bts ☺

Me and the show photographer having camera wars (seriously) in between classes. I think he was bored_and sorta (understandably) suspicious of anyone on the rail with a "big" camera. I think us, Kevin Kidder, and Kelly Campbell were the only ones! But we were watched....Kelly and Kevin were being paid by people to take pics instead of him because he didn't have enough time during a class to take more than 1 or 2 pics a class per horse. He was a pretty good sport :)
Show ring steward taking pics of a horse on his phone..too funny
Erica couldn't get the treats out of her pocket during halter
This lady was a..ummmm....character*
What a hat (1 of the judges)
Casey photographer. Not a very honoring pic....funny guy. He was dancing in the arena ☺
TX_Cadillac Ranch..very strange person that did that!
WOO HOO...its 2 am
Talk about RAIN!!! Crazy in Albuquerque..
Mom's little brother SHOCKED us by being there!
TX ranches
Mom and Dan
Me and the coffee....attempting almost unsuccessfully to figure it out. I won in the end ☺
Hotel in OK
Me and my puppy in NM??? Maybe Holbrook
Lisa and Basher (the brave) trying to look ferocious
big arena....
..and BIGGER classes. Up to 63 horses a class
Our trailer out the hotel (NM) window..some have heard the story that goes with this ☺
Casey and Rogue, Aimee's girl, won National Grand Champion
Silver Meadows Phantom Storm_won World Grand Champion in Single Pleasure for the past 4 years in a row. Almost unbeaten....Pearl, our "pig" is pg to him!
Springer Farms Brittany (roadster champ)
Buttonwillows Rocky Illusion and Cam Nelson

Cheerio..I'm done ☺


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text: Buffalo Wings This is what I have been told is the traditional recipe. The story is that a bar in Buffalo NY made this on the fly when they ran out of other bar foods. Hot foods sell more beer. 12 Chicken wings or so 3c Oil for deep frying 4oz bottle of Tabasco hot sauce 4oz butter celery sticks blue cheese dressing (or ranch) cut the wings at the joints, discard the wing tips. fry the wings in the oil until crispy, I fry about 1/2 in a batch. in a pan large enough to hold the fried chicken wings, melt the butter and add the bottle of tabasco mix, then add the pre-fried wings, stir to coat the wings and serve while still warm. the celery and dressing are to be served on the side. The chicken wings are NOT to be dipped in the dressing contrary to what the local restaurants say. This is meant to be a HOT dish, sometimes I add some Habanaro hot sauce to warm it up even more.


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Kingzer Flash Battery SD-9A 6 AA External Pack for Nikon SB-900 SB900

Product Description

About this product:SD-9A 6 AA External Flash Battery Pack for Nikon SB-900 SB900Quick Overview:This is an external battery pack SD-9A. It is designed to replace the Nikon SD-9A and provides external power to your Nikon SB-900. It is powered by 6AA batteries and reduces cycle time as well as giving you more flashes before needing to change batteries. There is a carrying case which can be hooked to your belt or strapped to your camera bag. There is also a mount screw allowing this battery pack to be mounted to the bottom of the camera, or anything with a 1/4′ socket.Features:A good external power source for flashes.Suitable for continuous flash use (Maximum of 15 consecutive shots without break or risk of overheating).Ensuring a stable power supply for the flashes.Can reduce recycling time to less than half of a normal cycle and can give up to double the amount of flashes as the original (Depending on state of battery charge).Protective soft case can be hold on belt or put in a bag; light and easy to carry.The one-way connector plug is designed to avoid mis-connections which can lead to flash unit damage.1/4′ Standard thread for tripod mount.Support Nikon flashlight: SB900.Uses 8 * AA size batteries (same batteries as flash) prior to a shoot to ensure fast and smooth A good replacement of Nikon SD-9A battery packSpecifications:Power: 6 * AA batteries (Not included)Output Voltage: 12VColor: BlackItem Dimensions: 15.8 * 6.9 * 2.5cmItem Weight: 144gPackage Size: 18.3 * 9.7 * 6.2cmPackage Weight: 233gPackage includes:1 * Flash Battery Pack1 * Screw1 * Case1 * User Manual

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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Some Thoughts About Poltergeist (1982)

Well, I think I can spare us any words about the plot here. After all, if you’re reading this, you’ve most certainly seen the film.

For quite some time, I’ve never really given Poltergeist much of a chance. Sure I’ve enjoyed it when I was a kid, but afterwards, a degree of dislike for its approach to horror as a carnivalesque special effects spectacular and a whole dollop of grumpy prejudice left me with a very cynical view of it, or of what it turned into in my mind. As is rather too often the case with me for comfort, I was wrong and unfair about Poltergeist. Fortunately, a recent rewatch of the painfully bland remake did make me curious about trying the original again, and watching it rather changed my mind.

Sure, I was right about Poltergeist in so far that it is indeed a film very much rooted in spooking its audience with its special effects – some of which still look brilliant to my eyes, some of which have dated as badly as CGI from the year 2001 – but it goes about it the honest way, certainly throwing something cool to look at on the screen every five minutes but also realizing special effects – even great ones – are not the only thing you need to catch an audience, and if you want to spook it for more than a few minutes, you’ll need to build an emotional connection.

The Hooper/Spielberg (how much of this is actually directed by Hooper and how much by the nominal producer Spielberg depends on whom you ask – at least some of the lighting and the sense of humour feel very much like a product of Hooper to me) film goes about creating this connection rather more subtly and rather less saccharine than Spielberg of this era is generally given credit for. The Freeling family is of course meant as an ideal identification foil for the film’s presumed white upper middle-class 80s audience, but the filmmakers are intelligent enough to realize that audiences might ask for representation but when it comes down to it, they’ll actually empathize with specific characters that are more than pure stand-ins for abstract notions quite a bit more. Consequently, the film puts a heavy emphasis on the way particularly the parents interact with one another, an - often quite funny – natural closeness that, together with fine and highly sympathetic performances by Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, presents the couple as the proverbial Good Parents, but also as people with flaws and difficulties who bicker sometimes, roll up a joint (or read up on Ronald Reagan) or make bad jokes in front of a mirror. In other words, characters whose troubles an audience can be interested in not because they are exactly like them (whatever that’d look), but because they feel like actual people. Compare that to the remake that doesn’t even manage to get any kind of personality out of Sam Rockwell.

Thusly prepared, the horrors of losing a child, encountering the supernatural and losing quite a few of the outer determinants of the Freeling’s as members of the upper middle-class during the course of the film, take on a much more affecting face, what could be an empty special effects extravaganza turning into a film that can actually touch you emotionally. Poltergeist’s considerable impact is further strengthened by some fine supporting performances. The child actors are merely okay (but they’re not horrible, with is the only thing I really demand of acting children, because they are children), but Beatrice Straight as parapsychologist Dr. Lesh sells some of the more problematic exposition with a great impression of human warmth and dignity, and Zelda Rubinstein is just perfect as Tangina, a character that’s a genuine weirdo the film still – or even because of that - portrays with great warmth and without any irony, leaving sceptical me very okay with a character I should hate with all the energy of a hundred burning suns (compare with the insufferable holier than thou Warrens in the similar in approach but to me completely ineffective The Conjuring films).

That the film looks fantastic (the lighting often is just outright beautiful), and that Hooper/Spielberg (Hooperberg? Spieler?) know how to pace a movie perfectly hardly needs a mention.

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I may post a video later in the year, but for now a still photo is best :)

  1. hmmm...not looking to having an orchestra in the house next year!! :)

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Friday, March 28, 2014

When Your Book Changes Direction--Why Juliann Rich's new book, Caught in the Crossfire, Took Dedication, Hard Work, and Learning New Writing Skills

In 2011, when Juliann Rich first decided to write a book, she intended to write an adult mystery. At the time this was her favorite genre to read so she began sketching out her detective and thinking of the murder plot. Then one day at work she had an image flash through her mind: two boys, holding hands in the middle of a bible camp.
Yikes. Now that's a book, she thought.
She put away her notes on murders and who-dun-its and who-figured-it-outs and began writing their story that night.
As the supportive mom of a gay son and as the daughter of evangelical Christian parents, it is definitely true that Juliann has compassion and insider perspective into the central conflicts within her new young-adult novel, Caught in the Crossfire, which will be released in June from Bold Strokes Books.
From the onset Juliann says she committed to writing a story that would put her readers into the world of a sixteen-year-old boy struggling to integrate his sexual orientation with his faith. It was also important to this author to depict the conservative Christians in her book as she knows them to be:  people of devout faith who act according to their beliefs and do not see the harm they are inflicting on their GLBTQ loved ones.
She says knew the test of whether or not she succeeded with that goal would come when her mom read her book.
Juliann's mother called as soon as she finished it.  She said it was a beautiful story and that she wanted to talk with Juliann's son now that she understood his journey better.
"Sharing Caught in the Crossfire with my family was incredibly healing," Juliann says.  "I have a mission for my book it would be twofold: to let gay teenagers know that God's love for them is unconditional and to spark healing conversations within families that are polarized by their differing beliefs."
How She Began--With Writing Classes!
I first met Juliann in the fall of 2011 when she took my online class, "Your Book Starts Here."
"I giggle now," she says, "but at the time I thought I needed to have a completed draft to take your class, Mary. I wrote like a maniac and completed the first draft two weeks into that first class. At the time I thought I was finished. Remember that? Ah, the bliss of ignorance. Thank goodness for the excellent feedback I got from you and the other writers in that class. I shudder to think of the outcome had I charged ahead into the querying process."
She went on to take the next level of "Your Book Starts Here," as well as "Revising Your Young Adult Novel" with Megan Atwood, and she was chosen for a mentorship with Ben Barnhart, former acquiring editor at Milkweed Editions.
In the end she took Caught in the Crossfire through multiple passes of revision.
Along the way many aspects of the novel changed.  She switched from third person to first person point of view, rewrote it from past tense to present tense and then back to past tense.  "This was amazingly helpful and breathed an immediacy and life into my manuscript," she says.  "I read my novel aloud so many times I can quote sections of it verbatim. This allowed me to hear the rhythm of the words, as well as spot redundant or awkward word choices. Eventually I realized that all this work had one goal: to get my forty-five-year-old self out of the way and let Jonathan's (my main character) voice come through."
By April 2012, Ben Barnhart, her mentor, gave the thumbs up. Caught in the Crossfire was ready for submission to literary agents.
Her Biggest Learning Curve
"Acquiring restraint in my writing," she says, when asked what was her biggest learning curve.  "My natural inclination, in writing and in life, is to spoil the people I love. I want to give everything I possibly can. But the best books hold enough back that the reader has to figure some things out. I knew this as a reader--love this as a reader--but it didn't come naturally to me as a writer."
She also says that writing setting is tough for her.  "I might have awesomely developed characters with authentic dialogue, but for all the reader knows, they could be floating in the stratosphere having a heart-to-heart. Seriously. This is an aspect of my work that I continue to strive to improve."
Her favorite character is and always will be the main character, Jonathan Cooper. He has become like another son to her.  "As an idealist, Jonathan always hopes for the peaceful resolution," Juliann says, "and I love that about him. I just finished writing the sequel to Caught in the Crossfire, and I had to put Jonathan through hell in that book. It darned near killed me to make him hurt so much, but he revealed a resilience and strength of character that surprised even me. That's the cool thing about writing a trilogy. I get to know my characters on the deepest of levels."
Most difficult? That one's easy too. Jonathan falls in love with Ian McGuire, also sixteen, also gay, definitely not into the whole "kum ba ya" thing, as he puts it. Ian is a deeply wounded boy who expresses his hurt through rage. "Anger is a challenging emotion for me," Juliann says, "so writing Ian pushed me to take huge leaps of growth as I explored emotional truth. For that I will always be grateful to him."
How Did You Find an Agent and Sell Your Book to a Publisher?
"I did two things simultaneously after finishing revision on Caught in the Crossfire. First, I established my social media presence: my website (, a WordPress blog, and my Twitter and Facebook pages. I focused all my sites on communicating one message: why I was the right person to write Caught in the Crossfire. I wanted interested literary agents who might Google me to see an established platform and to know that I am willing to partner with them in the promotion and marketing of my book and brand," Juliann says.
She recommends a great resource to learn how to build a platform:  Get Known before the Book Deal by Christina Katz. "Is this mandatory?" she adds.  "No. Great writing will land that deal with or without a social media presence. But it's an edge, and I wanted every possible edge going into querying."
The second step she took after establishing her platform was to prepare the proposal package: a tightly written query letter, synopsis, blurb and tag line. She used the following books to research literary agents and to help her learn how to write a proposal package according to industry standards:
How to Write A Book Proposal, Michael Larsen
How to Get a Literary Agent, Michael Larsen
Guide to Getting Published, Writer's Market
2012 Guide to Literary Agents
2012 Writer's Market, Deluxe Edition

A one-year subscription to Writer's Market ( came with the purchase of the book, 2012 Writer's Market, Deluxe Edition, where Juliann could search by genre and subgenre. This was amazingly helpful, she says.  She chose Young Adult (genre) and GLBT (subgenre), hit search, and a beautiful list of literary agents who were looking for books like Caught in the Crossfire appeared. It even provided links to their websites where she could read their submission guidelines. Following the agents' submission guidelines is rule # 1, she says.

To stay organized, Juliann also kept an Excel spreadsheet to track the agents names, dates of her submissions, and their responses. "In the end I submitted to thirty-two literary agents. I received five requests for partials (sample chapters) and three requests for the full manuscript."

In September 2012, one year after she wrote the first draft of Caught in the Crossfire, she accepted an offer of representation from Saritza Hernandez of the Corvisiero Literary Agency. Her passion for GLBT YA lit impressed Juliann.  "She struck me as capable of navigating the ever-changing scene of the publishing industry," the author says.  "It was a great decision, as she sold Caught in the Crossfire to Bold Strokes Books just months later."

Pansters or Plotters

"A lot of people put writers into two groups: pantsers and plotters," Juliann says. "Pantsers are people who write with no real outline or plan. They follow the whim of inspiration. Sometimes they discover magic, and sometimes they write themselves into corners. Plotters outline or storyboard or spreadsheet their story. Whatever planning format they choose, they know their plot before the first word is written."
Juliann wrote the first draft of Caught in the Crossfire as a pantser, mainly because "I didn't know any better," she says.  "It flowed and it was ugly and messy and wonderful. Once I started taking your classes, Mary, I learned about your W storyboard technique and applied it in revision, where I spotted missing plot points, a sagging climax, and unsupported turning points."
She approached the sequel, Searching for Grace, thinking she would save herself all those levels of revision by plotting the book from the onset.  She had her arc, her turning points, her "W" storyboard all filled out, but it didn't work. The story was too dark, too rigid. It lacked the spontaneity and element of surprise that Juliann loved about Crossfire.
"So I threw out my outline and went back in blind. I let my characters lead me, and it made all the difference in the world to the sequel."
She has concluded that writing processes exist on a spectrum with plotters on one end and pantsers at the other.  "Me? I'm best when I'm fluid," she says.  "I have learned to hold the novel loosely in my mind in the drafting stage. Allowing my characters to breathe and influence the direction we go in, yields the most authentic and unique first draft for me. I love that moment when my characters show up on the page with something they're dying to say. That's the best stuff, if you ask me, and I need to protect their freedom to do that.
"However, once that first draft is pulled together, in all its gore and mess, I am a plotter in the truest sense of the word. I flip on my editorial brain and examine my manuscript from the outside in, looking for ways to cut away the excess and let the most potent truth shine through."
Caught in the Crossfire will be released on June 16th, 2014 from Bold Strokes Books. It is currently available for preorder through, Amazon, Barnes & Noble in Trade Paperback as well as eBook format. After its release it will also be available in most public library systems and in many bookstores.

Juliann will be celebrating its release at Addendum Books on Saturday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m. If you're in the Twin Cities area, please join her at the Caught in the Crossfire Launch Party. She promises it will be a fun and memorable event.
 And her second novel, Searching for Grace, will be coming out with Bold Strokes Books Fall, 2014.  More details can be found on her website at

Friday, March 21, 2014

What's Keeping You Accountable to Your Writing?

Here it is, the first day of spring for us in New England, and I'm both eager and nervous.  Snow still covers the yard, but the light is stronger and birds are in their nesting frenzy.  Days pass quickly.  Outdoors will become part of my life again soon.

I'm a passionate gardener and kayaker.  So spring, summer, and fall predictably pull me away from my writing--big time.  I'm eager to get back to the quiet water and the glide of my kayak.  I crave walking barefoot through the new garden, feeling the soft air.

But here's my concern:  Will I slowly abandon my book as the warm weather calls me away from my desk?

There's nothing wrong with this--but my book is really important to me.  I made a commitment to it last year, to take it through final revision.  I have given the feedback time to simmer.  I have drafted a plan of attack.  But it takes sitting down at the desk and putting in the time.  And I love it, if I have some way to make myself show up every day.

About this time of year, I set up or renew an accountability system for myself.  I know what will happen if I don't.

This Week's Writing Exercise
This week's writing exercise is to explore and try one of the systems below, or use one of your own.  See if you start a new rhythm of accountability, perhaps writing five out of seven days each week.

1.  Sign up for a class where you have to write each week.
I like to sign up for an online writing class in fall and spring.  I'm comfortable with the format and I love the anonymity of virtual gatherings.  I look for classes that require me to practice new skills and workshop (share) my writing each week, if possible.  Launching into a new writing community is scary at first, but I have experienced only positive results.  Often the group is so fun to be with, we stay in touch after the class is over.

2.  Call a writing buddy and set up a check-in system.
My second accountability tool is to renew my connection with my writing partners.  Set up freewriting sessions with a writing buddy.  Monthly or weekly or daily check-ins, depending on how much you write.

3.  Try Jerry Seinfeld's technique:  Create a chain you don't want to break.Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret is a technique he used when he was just starting out.  The goal is to not break the chain of red X's on the calendar.  LifeHacker also offers online calendars to use for this technique.  Works great for anyone who loves to-do lists.

Bottom line:  Most of us, even very disciplined folks, need something to keep them going.  If they know that others are depending on them, waiting for them, expecting something, they'll try to deliver.  Writing a book is a long-term process and these accountability systems not only support you but get you to, as one student put it, "shut up and just write."

That's all that counts, in the end.  Whether you write.  Or not.

Friday, March 14, 2014

"Did I Write That?!" What Happens to Your Writing as You Grow in Skill

Practically every week, I get an SOS email from one of my students.  They've just discovered a clue about their book manuscript.  A light bulb has gone off--they realize something they didn't know before.  That's very cool.

The SOS is a cry for help, not because of this newly realized writing skill, but because they've read back into earlier chapters.  "I can't believe I really wrote that crap," they say.  "And now I have to redo it all."
Maybe poets and short-story writers and essayists don't run into this desperation.  A book writer will, certainly.  Because a book manuscript is a long writing
effort.  It can take a year or three or ten to get it tight and right.  We begin writing our book with a certain raw understanding of the story.
Most times, we have a limited view of our characters, plot, or topic.  We have no clue how appropriate page-turning tension will manifest on the page.

This is good and necessary.   Growth has to happen.  The writing process isn't static.  As time passes, as we learn new skills, we see our book in a new light.

I remember hiking the Grand Canyon.  There was the trail, then there were plateaus or ledges where you could rest and admire the view.  Book writers are on the trail, then they are standing on the plateau.  They look at what they've done and see it differently.  That's absolutely required.

But the depression sets in because we see how rudimentary our early drafts are.  We think:  Was all that hard work wasted?  Should I have gotten the MFA, taken the writing classes, upgraded my skills before starting out?

It's never wasted time.  We acquaint ourselves with our own stories--fictional or non--by immersion in them.  By practice.  Like becoming fluent in a foreign language, each book requires our time and loving attention.  If you consider it a practice, it helps relieve the sense of pressure that you have to get it right the first time through.

Allow yourself room to grow.

This Week's Writing Exercise

Here's what I say to my students when they ask what to do with those SFD (shitty first draft) chapters that are so below their current skills.

Consider them in three levels.  Ask yourself these questions about what can be salvaged.

1.  Content: Is there content here that I can still use?  Perhaps the scene itself, the research, the idea is intact.  Maybe it's OK, content-wise.  That's a huge step.  Continue to question #2.

2.  Structure:  Is it just a matter of placement (structure)?  Maybe this particular section needs to be located elsewhere in the book, and I didn't see that before.

Many writers pile backstory into the beginning of a manuscript, as a way to establish the story's credentials.  Once the story is strong on its own, the writer sees that background information is less needed.  But it's still good, and it can be moved to a later spot in the manuscript, where it flows better.

3.  Language:  Is the content OK and the placement (structure) working fine, but the way the writing comes across feels awkward?

When we begin a book, we often "tell" ourselves the story.  The narrative is dry, less scene-oriented, less demonstrated (shown) than delivered.   It's simply a question of taking the good material you already have in place and reworking the language, the balance of scene and summary, the show/tell ratio.

Writing a book is an act of discovery.  If you know it all before you begin, there will be no surprises.  And if the writer is not surprised, the reader won't be either.

Keep your early drafts--there's often gold in them.  Or at least enough shine to capture and build on.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Personal History: Where We Come From and How It Informs Our Writing

When my first novel was published, the most common question I got was:  Is this autobiographical?  How much of your life is in this book?

I don't know why readers, and interviewers, wonder about that.  Maybe they are trying to see the writer behind the words, align the real life with the made-up one.  I think the deeper question might be:  Where did you get your stuff?  where did these ideas come from?

I couldn't match myself with any of my characters, truthfully.  They were in their late teens, for one.  I barely remember those years.  Glad not to.  They were falling in love for the first time.  I do remember some of that.  One was a championship waterskiier--not me, for sure--and the other was a budding artist--yes, some of that is in my life too.  The location was real, a place I'd spent many summers.  But the story taking place on that lake--the name of the lake, too--was completely made up.

I saw their disappointment when I said this.  No, it's not my life, my history.  But the question made me think.

There was a lot of me in that story, even if the facts weren't from my life.  There was emotional truth, things I value and believe.  Like helping others and doing the right thing.  Like pain and heartache and taking risks.  Like trying to figure out your place in the world, and if you even have one.  And relationships too, echoed some of my personal history.  I grew up with a talented but frustrated artist for a father, someone I loved but didn't get close to until near his death.  My mother was equally talented--and she, like the fictional mother in my novel, flew small planes for many years.  I'd even lost a sibling unexpectedly, as Molly, my heroine, almost did when her brother had his boating accident.

So, if I tallied up the similarities of emotional truth, there were quite a few.    I had a better answer for those questions.  Yes, there is much of me in this book, even though it never happened to me.  It's a collage of who I am, how my personal history informs my writing.

Why We Get Stuck as Writers
I remember when I was working on the novel.  I got stuck.  A writing friend said to go back to myself, rather than to my characters.  "Mine who you are," she said.  I imagined myself a character in a novel (and sometimes, don't we all feel like one!), with values and beliefs, preferences and fears, things I knew and things I didn't know.  Not the facts of where I grew up, but what I learned about mind, heart, and life in general because of this place, this family, my education, culture, religion, and friends.  From my travels and the books I read.

I realize my effort to make something completely apart from myself was exactly why I was stuck just then in my writing practice.

So I began to reacquaint myself with my own personal history.  Not the facts, but the truths of it.

Writers can get stuck for a lot of reasons.  But a big one for me is not bringing myself into my own writing.  I have to acknowledge and use my personal history.  Otherwise my writing is unsatisfying, and I start to avoid it.

I'm not talking about the facts of your history, although that will certainly feature in many books.  But don't let the facts get in the way of the truth.

This week's exercise is what I used to say hello to myself again.  It enriched the writing I did in all the months that followed.  I've adapted it from many sources, but I want to give a particular shout-out to life coach Nancy Okerlund, author of Introverts at Ease and the e-newletter, Introvert Energy.

This Week's Writing Exercise
1.  Spend a few days listing your values.  Focus on the top ten.  Maybe you'd list "being a good neighbor," "order and beauty," "honoring diversity," "having enough money," or "solitude."

2.  Sit with these, maybe even discuss them with a non-critical friend who knows you well.  You're trying to come up with a picture of yourself.  What you believe is most important.

3.  Finally, consider how these values appear in your book.  Are they present at all?  The story may have characters who demonstrate the opposite of your values--that's still having values present in your story, especially if the character realizes some truth by the end.

4.  If you're stuck with your writing, see if placing one of your values into a chapter might make a difference.


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Saturday, 26 July 2014

Book Review - Smut by the Sea Vol #3

Smut by the Sea, Vol #3
Edited by Victoria Blisse and Lucy Felthouse

There’s a song that goes, “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, Oh I do like to be beside the sea…” It’s a tune I’m familiar with because I live in Blackpool and the song is practically the town’s anthem.

I mention this because, in Smut by the Sea, Volume #3, Victoria Blisse and Lucy Felthouse have managed to gather a collection of stories that combine the saucy fun of being by the seaside with the powerful impact of well-written erotic fiction.

With contributions from established and celebrated writers such as Tilly Hunter, Zak Jane Keir and Primula Bond, as well as the editors and too many other contributors to name individually, the content varies from the serious to the frivolous: never losing focus on the importance of the smutty content.

One of the first stories I read here was ‘Artistic License’ from Jillian Boyd. I’m not familiar with Jillian Boyd’s work so it was a true pleasure discovering her fun approach to storytelling as she relates the tale of Leah, alone on holiday following a break up.

Boyd’s writing is accessible and fluid in the way she relates a story. Her characters are credible and the erotic content is powerful and vivid.

The same can be said for all the fiction in this collection. It’s a book that is entertaining from beginning to end and delivers exactly what it promises in the title. If you do like to be beside the seaside, you’ll love reading Smut by the Sea, Vol #3.

Review by Ashley Lister

Saturday, 19 July 2014

What do editors look for? Treva Harte

Treva Harte became co-owner and Editor-in -Chief of Loose Id in 2004. She holds a B.A. in English Literature from University of Arizona (high honors), a M.A. in English Literature from University of Virginia and a J.D. from University of Virginia. She is a member of the Virginia and D.C. bars. From 1988 until 2008 she was a Trademark Examining Attorney for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Treva is also multi-published with several e-publishers in print and e-book, is a member of EPIC, RWA, including the Passionate Ink and Rainbow Romance Writers Chapters, has been a member of PAN, and was winner of the CAPA 2003 award in the "Erotic Fantasy Romance" category.

1) Put your email addy on your manuscript.  Things can be separated, even in cyberspace, and definitely on paper.  It’s incredibly frustrating to read a ms. and then try to figure out how to contact someone.

2)      Read the guidelines if you want to up the odds of it being read by the editor.  Read some other books by the company to up the odds of it being accepted by the publisher.

3)      Like what you write. Like the genre you write in. Those who do tend not to burn out.  Editors can tell you’re unhappy as you slow down and get cranky about edits.  Slow, cranky authors are no fun.

4)      Be proud of what you write.  If you’ve done the best you can do with it, don’t waste your time apologizing or picking apart mistakes that have been made.  Learn and move on by writing the next book.  Editors love to see authors getting better at their craft.

5)      Don’t demand validation from your editors—or anyone else.  Editors may or may not give it and if they do, it might not be in the way you want.  Readers may or may not respond to your work.  If you do get nice reviews and fan squee, there will be plenty of people waiting to tear apart any praise.  On the other hand, getting feedback from your editor about strengths and weaknesses in your writing and what you should be working on next is useful for you and your writing career with a publisher.

To find out more about Treva Harte, Eic Loose Id, visit or (Loose Change, a blog Treva sometimes maintains that includes writing and publishing tips).

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

 Edited by Kojo Black

An anthology of wet and wild erotica from: Janine Ashbless, Justine Elyot, Primula Bond, Lisette Ashton and Vina Green.

Melusine by Janine Ashbless
Every Friday for ten years, Martin’s beautiful wife has left their home to spend the night somewhere else. Now, Martin can bear it no longer, and he is out to uncover the mind-blowing truth…no matter what the cost.

The Pool Party by Primula Bond In the hills of southern France, an empty villa and luxurious pool provide two friends with unforeseen temptations...

Naiad by Justine Elyot Told in the style of a modern myth, Naiad is a wet and wild tale of an urban nymph returning to her element.

Hard to Swallow by Lisette Ashton A radio station's ambitious receptionist is enthralled by the voluptuous bottles of mineral water carried by all the DJs. There’s nothing like cool water for a dry throat, but it takes more than water to quench a burning lust!

A Divine Solution by Vina Green In the midst of the worst drought in decades, a young wife bursts the dam of her desire and, in doing so, discovers that she might just save her whole community...

Saturday, 5 July 2014

Five Tips from Shanna Germain

 Five tips on writing erotica from Shanna Germain:

1) Write all the time. As much as you can. Make time for it.

2) Read all the time. As much as you can. The first time for pleasure. The second for education.

3) Find a great first reader, one who understands what you're attempting to do and can articulate both your strengths and weaknesses as a writer.

4) Remember that when you read a published book, you're reading the equivalent of someone else's feature film. Don't compare it to your own blooper reel.

5) Don't sway to the marketplace. Trust your voice and vision.

Shanna  Germain is the author of many pieces of fiction including 'All About the Girls in Rachel Kramer Bussel's anthology Tasting Her. More of Shanna's work can be found on:


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22 December 2017

Goldman Is Setting Up a Cryptocurrency Trading Desk

Published by Bloomberg– 22nd Dec 2017

At least one of Wall Street’s biggest firms is growing more comfortable with cryptocurrencies.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is setting up a trading desk to make markets in digital currencies such as bitcoin, according to people with knowledge of the strategy. The bank aims to get the business running by the end of June, if not earlier, two of the people said. Another said it’s still trying to work out security issues as well as how it would hold, or custody, the assets

The move positions Goldman Sachs to become the first large Wall Street firm to make markets in cryptocurrencies, whose wild price swings and surging values have captured the public’s imagination but given pause to established institutions. Already, the bank is among just a few mainstream firms clearing a new breed of bitcoin futures offered by Cboe Global Markets Inc. and CME Group Inc. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., for example, have been taking a wait-and-see approach.

Goldman Sachs is now assembling a team in New York, one of the people said. While the bank hasn’t made a decision where to house the desk, one possibility is that it will operate within the fixed-income, currencies and commodities unit’s systematic trading function, which conducts transactions electronically, two people said. Darren Cohen, in the firm’s principal strategic investments group, is also looking at opportunities, another person said “In response to client interest in digital currencies, we are exploring how best to serve them,” Michael DuVally, a spokesman, said in a statement
Publicly, Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein has been circumspect. He tweeted in October that his firm was looking at how to deal with bitcoin. In a Bloomberg Television interview last month, he said his bank didn’t need a bitcoin strategy yet because the digital currency is still just developing and volatile.

And when the bank began clearing futures earlier this month, it demanded that some clients set aside funds equal to the full value of their trade, people familiar with the policy said at the time. The conservatism deterred some customers and led them to take their business elsewhere.


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Hungry and Well Dressed
Always Hungry, Always Dressed to Impress

Posts in October, 2015

Peek-a-Boo Lace

Tuesday, October 13th, 2015 My class schedule while having both Monday and Friday off can be a blessing and a curse. Blessing, no class Monday's or Fridays; curse, extensive amounts of class Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday are my lightest days in terms of class hours having a two-hour lecture from 10:30 - 12:30 and an hour and a half lecture after until 2. After having driven with my dad...

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Body Suit - Abercrombie| Skirt- One Teaspoon| Bag - Coach | Shoes - Sam Edelman

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How Microsoft blew it with Windows Mobile

How Microsoft blew it with Windows Mobile

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaking at a press conference in Tokyo earlier this month.

(Wired) — Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the PC market with a 90 percent market-share stronghold, but when it comes to smartphones, Microsoft is getting beat up worse than a mustachioed villain in a Jackie Chan movie.

Windows Mobile has lost nearly a third of its smartphone market share since 2008, research firm Gartner reports. Windows Mobile had 11 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2008, according to Gartner, and last quarter Windows Mobile’s market share plummeted to 7.9 percent.

Meanwhile, Apple’s global market share grew from 12.9 percent to 17.1 percent, and RIM saw a rise from 16 percent to 20.8 percent, according to Gartner’s figures.

It’s worth noting Microsoft got a head start with Windows CE, its pocket PC OS, in 1996. Windows CE serves as the foundation for the Windows Mobile OS shipping with some smartphones today. The smartphone OS market, in fact, has existed for several years, and Microsoft was an early leader in the space. But only recently have several additional corporations stepped into this space with their own platforms.

Microsoft’s biggest problem? One word: iPhone.

“It was really the iPhone that came out full-bore for a consumer perspective,” said Ross Rubin, an NPD Group consumer technology analyst. “We saw app development focus on consumer applications like social networking and games…. Particularly with Apple’s retail presence and advantages in that market, through design and so forth, that’s where Microsoft’s main challenge lies.”

Many other technology observers agree that Apple receives credit for sparking the smartphone boom. The 2008 introduction of the App Store enabled third-party developers to sell their own software, further enhancing the capabilities of the iPhone. This proved a workable model, giving 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners the ability to choose from the now 100,000 apps in the App Store.

Meanwhile, some developers earned hundreds of thousands of dollars with hot-selling apps. Even if most developers didn’t earn that much cash, the success stories helped make Apple’s App Store powerfully attractive.

Apple’s blockbuster success with the iPhone and its App Store compelled other tech giants to offer their own mobile platforms and app stores as well. Google, Nokia, Research In Motion, Palm and others have opened app stores and begun recruiting developers to compete.

But if Microsoft was the first player in this market, why wasn’t the software giant able to replicate the success it had with PCs?

“It was theirs to lose and they lost it,” said Raven Zachary, a technology analyst and owner of iPhone app development house Small Society. “They had everything they needed to execute, to do the right kinds of carrier deals to create an app store, create visual voice mail, touchscreens and so on. They’ve been in this space since the beginning.”

To Peter Hoddie, CEO of Kinoma, which develops a mobile media browser for Windows Mobile and other platforms, a major knock against Windows Mobile isn’t the OS itself, but rather the weakness of the bundled apps included with it.

“The sad part for Microsoft is that in terms of operating systems, they have a great one, and they had it long before anyone else did,” Hoddie said in a phone interview. “Their first problem is the built-in apps are uninspiring, so that sets a very low bar for developers who are coming to the platform.”

Hoddie compared Windows Mobile to the iPhone, whose apps he described as “beautiful,” which encourages third-party developers to produce apps of similar quality.

He added that Microsoft’s second problem is segmentation in the hardware ecosystem. Windows Mobile ships with several different manufacturers’ hardware, including HTC, LG and Samsung. The problem? From a developer perspective, that requires coding an app for several phones with different UI styles, buttons and screen sizes. (The same problem, incidentally, has started to plague Android developers.)

That would give the iPhone another advantage: The iPhone operates on a closed system, which can only run on Apple hardware, meaning third-party developers can produce apps and games that work exclusively with the iPhone.

Therefore, despite Apple’s questionable and controversial approval policy for iPhone apps, developers can code one app that works with 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices, which is less time consuming than developing several versions of one app for a variety of Windows Mobile smartphones. In turn, that spells out to a larger number of apps in the App Store, which enables Apple’s hardware to cater to a larger and broader audience.

The inability to recognize the new smartphone audience is another one of Microsoft’s flaws, Rubin said. Microsoft’s mobile OS history is rooted in personal digital assistants, which were marketed toward enterprise audiences. Today, the smartphone has shifted into the mainstream as a consumer device, and yet Windows Mobile is still largely focused on enterprise features.

And even in the enterprise market, Apple’s iPhone is winning. In a recent customer satisfaction survey conducted by JD Power, Apple grabbed the number 1 spot for smartphones in business. How? JD Power found that more than half of business smartphone owners reported downloading third party games for entertainment, and 46 percent report downloading travel software such as maps and weather apps.

That would suggest enterprise users are interested in mixing business with pleasure in their devices  and the iPhone’s wealth of choices in the App Store covers those needs.

“I would say Microsoft needs to err more on the side of going too far into the consumer segment versus trying to achieve a good balance between enterprise and consumer features at this point,” Rubin said.

Despite Microsoft’s recent shrinkage in the mobile OS market, it’s not over for Windows Mobile. Rubin said he expects Microsoft to redeem itself with its next OS  Windows Mobile 7  as it did with Windows 7 after negative reception of Windows Vista.

Microsoft declined to comment on details about Windows Mobile 7, but a spokeswoman said mobility is one of Microsoft’s top investment areas, and the company’s mobile strategy will not change.

“The company’s mobility strategy has not changed; it is and has always been to provide a software platform for the industry,” a Microsoft spokeswoman said in a statement. “The company works closely with many mobile operators and device makers around the world because people want different experiences on a variety of phones.”

Leaks indicate Microsoft plans to incorporate iPhone-like touch gestures. Windows Mobile 7 is scheduled for a 2010 release.

“Microsoft believes the Windows brand is very strong, and consumers associate the Windows brand with enabling them to do what they need to do in their digital lives, at least on the PC,” Rubin said. “In general with this whole Windows phone terminology, Microsoft is trying to do more to leverage what it believes is the good will value of the Windows brand.”

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It’s fall.
The trees are changing color.
Pumpkin spice is everywhere.
It’s novel writing season.

I’ve written about my novel attempts for the last few Novembers (2011, 2012, 2013), so I’m going to skip the full National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) explanation and just jump right into it.

For 2014, I’m writing a novel titled The Signateur. It started as an idea I had shortly after I abandoned my novel last year. When I was looking for story ideas for this year, I found it in my Ideas folder in Evernote. (Score one for technology.)

The story takes place in the near future and centers around Cameron Simmons, a thirty-something who works as the signateur for Acta International. A signateur (in my story) is a legal representative for a company who signs official documents completing agreements—a specialized job being that very few people know how to handwrite anything, let alone sign a document in cursive.

Speaking of the story taking place in the future, the signing pens use ink tied to the signer’s DNA, regular paper is mostly illegal, and everyone learns how to use a one-handed “invisible” keyboard in the third grade.

Those are some of the main pieces of my story, and I’ll share more when November is here.  There are a couple more details in the synopsis on NaNoWriMo’s site. Check it out here.


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Dx eCommerceAn Affordable eCommerce Platform For An Ambitious Merchant

Sometime in July of 2014, DX Retail Store (Not the real name, due to a non-disclosure agreement with the client) approached Icelark with a vision of creating an online digital experience similar to the then Nigeria's ecommerce market exclusives Jumia and Konga.

Being an obscure and small one-location retail store for various kinds of goods ranging from household electronics to furniture, to security equipment, DX was relatively well experienced within its traditional commerce arena. But they needed more reach and visibility in order to effectively expand their operations and gain a significant percentage of their market share.

They recognized the potentials of digital to help them achieve this corporate goal. Their first challenge, like a whole lot other businesses in a similar situation, was in choosing the right digital solution provider with the needed capability to enable them get there.

The Value Of Finding The Right Strategic Digital Partner

After a few bad experiences with the wrong digital services providers, they approached Icelark cautiously, for initial discussions. With some rightful skepticism, as they later confessed, they related their vision of taking their offline retail experience online to the CEO of Icelark at the initial meeting at a popular fast food joint somewhere at Surulere, Lagos.

Their confidence on Icelark's capability grew as the Icelark representative fleshed out their vision with specific potentialities as it relates to the current state of the ecommerce scene in the global arena, and how they could leverage it to push their vision beyond their wildest dreams. And most importantly to them, doing so at an insignificant fraction of the cost their future competitors, Jumia and Konga, were spending on their platforms.

The outcome of that first meeting seemed too good to be true for the DX team, but the clarity and authority with which the Icelark representative restated and fleshed out their initial vague vision statement convinced them to give it a shot.

Establishing Project Objectives And Overcoming Initial Challenges

Within two weeks of the initial meetings the papers were drawn and the project contract awarded. After a few other meetings the project objectives was established and outlined in concrete terms. The two teams identified and agreed on a three-phased project timelines to account for the logistics limitations of DX at the time that would not allow the full extent of the ultimate goal to be achieved at once.

This challenge, logistics, is typical of ecommerce website that deals with physical good, and DX case was not different. So this necessitated that the initial roll out of their digital commerce platform will have to be scaled down to account for this shortcoming, while the solid foundation for the full expansion in the future would be laid with the first phase.

The first and pilot phase would limit the area of operations of DX to with Lagos state only. Then subsequent phase would branch out to the surrounding state in the next phase, and ultimately they would become nation wide.

Research And Analysis, Value Propostion Creation

After the project objectives and general milestones has been established, the Icelark team started off with their standard research and analysis programs that included primary and secondary customer, competitor's and industry research.

From the result and insights gained we crafted a customer journey map for the new DX digital customer experience we would be creating.

We focused on identifying and providing solutions to the potential pain points within the customer journey with DX new experience, based on customer needs, expectations and preferences identified. The end result was a digital user experience tailor-made specifically for the identified Dx's primary target audience.

We then brainstormed, articulated and clarified a suitable value proposition for the primary target audience. This would become central to all DX's messaging, not just online, but offline equally, for a unified brand experience at all touchpoints.

Creating A Commerce-Based Business Model And A Mobile Experience

Working with the DX management team, Icelark analysed and crafted a unique ecommerce-based business model for DX that would enable them deliver on their brand promises, at the same time align closely with its business objectives optimally. The result was a management and operational model that would straddle both DX's online and offline worlds and integrates them seamlessly.

The DX management were very excited by the resulting customer experience proposal and gave their nod of approval for Icelark to go ahead with the next phase of the project: Creating the digital strategy that would outline and detail the roadmap from bring it to life.

Recognizing the increasing importance of mobile at the time one of the main objectives for the project was to create a mobile-friendly, responsive website experience.

Digital Strategy Phase

The digital strategy phase identified and detailed all the digital initiatives that would be integrated into the wholesome digital experience DX desired. This included the technology architecture, information architecture, content strategy, content management, inventory management, third-party integrations, custom functionalities, among a lot of other necessities.

The final result of the digital strategy initiative was a comprehensive roadmap that detailed each initiative clearly, including their priorities, timelines and expected outcomes. With the detailed digital roadmap at hand, Icelark set out to implement it.

Founded On A Solid Technology Foundation: Drupal Framework

Given the specific requirements for the project which included, security, robustness, performance, extensibility, custom functionality, data-driven, low-cost, etc, the choice of a technology foundation for the project was evident: Drupal and Drupal Commerce platforms, for the content management and ecommerce functionality respectively.

Drupal and Drupal Commerce pair proved to be an excellent choice in the post-launch period. Thanks to the infinite extensibility power of the Drupal platform, every relevant extra/custom enhancement and functionality that was identified through feedback for actual use by customers, were easily achieved. Of course, it took the long-standing Drupal expertise and experience of the Icelark team to make some of those customization efforts seem easy to pull off.

The Result

The decision by DX to go digital with its retail brand at that time proved to be a very wise and rewarding one. In less than one year after the DX Commerce digital platform was launched, the revenue and profit from the online experience surpassed that of the direct store experience. And this was in spite of the fact that the online operations was responsible for the improved results from the in-store sales over the same period.

What Next?

A little over a year after launch of the DX Commerce web platform, the initiative proved so successful that DX kicked off into the next phase without a second thought, expanding their operations to cover neighboring states around Lagos.

DX is already on its way to becoming national with operations already into a few major states within Nigeria that are further away from Lagos, including Port-Harcourt and Abuja. The logistics requirements of a complete nation-wide expansion would be enormous, but with innovativeness, resourcefulness and the right technology partner DX could pull it off, no doubt.

Got a similar project idea in mind? Get across to us:

234-81 7608 4053
A digital technology and solutions services provider. The strategic partner of choice for the future digital business leaders.

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Cute little cafe near Dongdaemun Shopping Center

After a long shopping day, we visited this really cute cafe near Dongdaemun (in Seoul, South Korea),  sorry we didn’t remember the name but the displays were just so kawaii.

Those paper with clips you see are random letters or notes from the customers (I wish I knew Korean TT_TT)

A much detailed photo of the display.

Published 24 July, 2012

Posted in Things and tagged ,

Small blocks of shelves
Signs in Seoul trains
Madrid little things
Window Shopping at the Crystals City Center Las Vegas

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Ashland Chocolate Festival Celebrates Sweet Decade

Feb 28, 2014

The artisan chocolate industry in Southern Oregon has found its sweet spot.

Ten years ago about the only local chocolate you could buy was made by Harry & David, Endangered Species, or Dagoba. The Oregon Chocolate Festival, which celebrates its 10th year from March 7-9, has helped nurture a local artisan chocolate industry and granted new shelf space to many new startups.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I see this much interest,” says Karolina Lavagnino, festival founder and marketing and sales manager for the Ashland Springs Hotel, the festival’s venue. “We had 14 vendors the first year, last year there were more than 40.” The number of festival goers, many of them out-of-town visitors for this three-day event, has also risen from about 300 to 1,500 last year.

“It’s been wonderful, I’ve seen partnerships build because of the festival, products created,” says Lavagnino. “For example, Rising Sun Farms. They created a chocolate cheese torta that never existed before, created for the festival then I would see it in the stores. The blue cheese truffle that Lillie Belle Farms created with the Rogue Creamery, created for the festival, now it’s a popular confection. “

To create that truffle, says Jeff Shepherd, owner of Lillie Belle Farms Artisan Chocolates, “we experimented with every different chocolate that I had at my disposal and combinations and every one of their cheeses.” Recalling the process of getting to the final product, Shepherd laughs. “It was hit or miss, making different batches, trying different combinations, trying different ratios. I made some of the worst truffles on the planet. It was a grueling experimentation process.”

Shepherd started Lillie Belle Farms not long before the first Oregon Chocolate Festival and has participated in every one. His Central Point business has become an international success: his signature product, Lavender Sea Salt Caramel, won a silver medal at last year’s International Chocolate Awards in London. Martha Stewart Living purchased well over a hundred pounds of the caramels as a corporate gift one year, and a few years later, Oprah listed them on her website as a Christmas gift suggestion.

As to which of his 100+ products he’ll bring to this year’s festival, Shepherd only hints. “We hardly take any truffles to shows any more because people are buying bars. So maybe there’s a trend in bars.”

The 10th annual event begins on Friday evening, March 7, with a chocolate-themed First Friday Artwalk in downtown Ashland. Many local retailers will feature chocolate among the hors d’oeuvres they offer to the artgoing public that evening. Also on Friday is the Chocolate Makers’ Dinner at Larks, the Ashland Springs’ restaurant.

The main event on Saturday and Sunday is the vendor display area—with plenty of samples and an opportunity to chat with the chocolatiers. There will also be a candy-making workshop for kids at ScienceWorks, chocolate/wine pairings at Enoteca Wine Bar, a baking class at Deux Chats Bakers, tastings at Harry & David, chocolate body treatments at Waterstone Spa, chocolate facials at Lithia Springs Resort, and more.

The Chocolate Makers’ Dinner is a four-course meal featuring chocolate-infused dishes designed specifically for this year’s event.

“This is the most challenging menu we write every year, because classically, chocolate is not served with a lot of savory dishes. You look for combinations, like beets work really well with bittersweet chocolate,” explains Damon Jones, Executive Chef for Lark’s who oversees the production of the dinner. “We’re looking for how to fit the chocolate in there to accentuate the dish. It’s not a stand-alone feature, it’s just a hint.”

A dinner for 140 people presents challenges of its own, but the pairings are created in a brainstorming session with four or fives chefs. This year’s signature dish is “grilled lamb loin with mint-chocolate-porter demi-glace, roasted garlic carrot puree & Yukon potato frites.”

Like most festivals, the Oregon Chocolate Festival is also a competition. In addition to “Best in Show,” the festival’s three judges select winners in six categories. The judges decide by consensus, a task made difficult by the growth in both quantity and quality of the entries.

“I’m looking for something that’s unique but also something that’s—I guess I’ll use the term ‘delivers on flavor,’” says Charlie Douglass, a returning judge whose day job is chocolatier for Harry & David. “How do the flavors unfold, how do they present themselves in the product? Are they harmonious—which is pretty much what I’m looking for. Sometimes it’s nice to have a finishing flavor that everything wraps up to.”

Though there is plenty of science in chocolate making, the art is in assembling all the pieces for a variety of effects. “Is it balanced?” asks Douglass. “Does it really say what it is? When you eat it, do you need to search for it? Or do you go, ‘that’s this!’ And/or does it have any surprises? Sometimes they do.”

The surprise could be in the timing of unfolding flavors, or the contrast between sweet and salty, citrus and spicy. Says Douglass, “sometimes surprise is not so good. Maybe there’s some strange flavor note that is legitimate but it doesn’t really fit or sometimes it’s an interplay between flavors that’s really strange, but of course in the food world the opposite could be true: there’s an interplay that’s really wonderful.”

With more than 40 vendors at last year’s festival, a winner had to be different just to be noticed. And after hours of tasting, “they all start to seem similar,” says Sarah Lemon, another of last year’s three judges. Lemon is Food Editor for the Mail Tribune. Thinking back on last year’s competition, one item that has not melted in her memory with the others was a chocolate-stuffed pretzel bread, the winner in the baked goods category. “It was just off the hook it sounds so weird … salt has become a big thing in chocolates, there’s a ton of things with sea salt—salted caramels, to pair this salted pretzel bread, that’s what stood out in my mind.” The pretzel, made by Sunstone Artisan Bakery, also ended up with Honorable Mention for Best in Show.

Other unusual pairings of ingredients that ended with an award include the Cleopatra Truffle from Sweet Thang Chocolates, a morsel that Lemon recalled “had pomegranate oil and apricot jam with toasted pistachios on top.” Pairing spicy ingredients with chocolate is a worldwide chocolate industry trend that grabbed the attention of last year’s judges. Melting Pot’s Jalapeño Toffee won the Best Chocolate Candy category, and the fruit/spicy pairing in The Great Unbaked’s Orange Rawbañero Truffle won Best Raw Chocolate product.

“What I’ve noticed that’s gotten big in the past couple of years is raw chocolate,” says Lemon. “A lot of people are into raw foods.”

Raw chocolate has grown so quickly that it was only a few years ago that it was given its own category in the competition, even though raw can take a variety of finished forms that could also fit into existing categories. Fortunately, says judge Charlie Douglass, “the one category that keeps getting better is the raw chocolate category. That’s where the beans are not roasted so that there’s a different flavor profile. But some of the early years of those products weren’t nearly as good as some of the later years.”

The popularity of raw chocolate is due in large part to the touted health benefits of raw cacao powder. High in flavinols, raw cacao rates extremely high as an antioxidant—almost four times as much as gogi berries of the same weight. And while dark chocolate can also have positive health benefits if eaten in small quantities, the benefits decrease as other ingredients are added, like high fructose corn syrup. Several studies have found dark chocolate and its antioxidant qualities as lowering the risk of cancer, though that view has not reached consensus in the medical establishment.

Cacao is a stimulant, acting in a similar way as coffee, though at a lower level. It would take 20 cups of hot chocolate to equal the amount of caffeine in a similar-sized cup of coffee. Cacao contains an additional type of pick-me-up: serotonin. This chemical is used in the brain to regulate sleep, appetite, and mood. It also serves as an anti-depressant, which is one reason we often reach for chocolate when we feel blue. One research study found that allowing chocolate to melt in the mouth increased feelings of passion more than kissing. This may explain why chocolate is a favorite gift for Valentine’s Day.

In addition to using unroasted cacao bean, raw chocolate makers must limit their processing temperature to around 111 degrees. “Traditional chocolate is often heated to 140-160 degrees for one to three days,” says Todd Bjornson, owner of the Ashland-based Zorba’s Chocolates. Because raw chocolate is made by mixing the cacao powder, cacao butter, and sweetener rather than purchasing ready-made chocolate, an extra step must be taken to tempering the chocolate. In the tempering process, seed crystals are formed, which gives the finished chocolate its characteristic texture.

It’s not only the labor, but the raw materials that lead to the high price tag for raw chocolate. “(It’s) eight or nine dollars a pound just for the raw materials. Organic raw chocolate costs probably two to three times as much as plain old chocolate,” Bjornson adds.

With the extraordinary growth of the Southern Oregon wine industry during the past decade, it should come as no surprise that wine/chocolate pairings have become popular both as a special event at the festival and with vendors. Last year’s Best In Show award went to Smitten Artisan Truffles, whose signature chocolate at the festival—calamansi and creme honey truffle, with Philippine limes—has a wine pedigree.

“It started when I wanted to make a chocolate that paired well with Methven 2010 Chardonnay on Valentine’s of 2012,” explains Vanessa Holden, owner of the Portland-based company. “I wanted to make something that would pair with a drier Chardonnay, the fruit and acid in the wine really balanced it out nicely.”

When Holden does her public wine/chocolate pairings, Pinot is her go-to wine, semisweet or bittersweet for the chocolate. “My interest lies is being able to find ingredients that will bring the wine to life without overpowering it,” says Holden. To that end, one of her most unique pairings was a 2011 Sémillon dessert wine paired with a passionfruit habañero truffle.

If you’ve been invited to a wine/chocolate pairing party, Holden recommends you bring “nothing too sweet, I also would not recommend milk chocolate because it has a different coating on the palate with the milk powder than a semisweet or bittersweet would, you also don’t want to get too insane with spice or mint because anything like that is really going to kill your palate, you want to be able to bring the wine to the forefront while still having something that plays nicely with it.”

Another favorite wine of Holden’s for chocolate pairings is a Grenache. Currently, she says, “I’m doing a Grenache infusion right into the chocolate—talk about wine and chocolate pairing!”

Chocolate has uses beyond the gastronomic. Waterstone Spa will be offering several chocolate-themed facial and body treatments. Lithia Springs Resort will be holding a chocolate martini facial spa party. “Chocolate is so healthy for the skin,” says Susannah Bahaar, one of last year’s vendors who creates chocolate-themed lotions and creams out of her Applegate Valley home. Her top selling product is a white chocolate body butter. “White chocolate is also an incredible antioxidant,” she says. “It’s so wonderful to be able to rub the cacao butter directly on to your skin.” Other ingredients include vanilla and honey, arnica and St. John’s wort.

Bahaar’s other chocolate products include a chocolate lip gloss and a drinkable aphrodisiac she calls Love Potion #9. It contains nine ingredients, which include cocoa paste, port wine, ginseng, and is sweetened with honey. “Last year, a honeymoon couple came to my table and bought some,” she adds.

Expect to see plenty of other non-traditional uses of chocolate, and unusual pairings of ingredients at this year’s festival, be they the bacon-dipped truffles or ancho chile-flavored chocolate from last year’s festival. It’s also possible that a hot new product may make its debut in 2014.

Case in point: the Bend-based company, Sipping Dreams. “They make a chocolate bar that looks like a soap bar and you dump it in milk or water and it dissolves and you have hot chocolate to drink,” says festival founder, Karolina Lavagnino. “They connected with one of our judges and she helped them go national. It was one of our success stories.”

More information at Oregon Chocolate Festival.

Daniel Newberry is a freelance writer living in the Applegate Valley. He would love to be a judge at next year’s Oregon Chocolate Festival. Email him at


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FREE PATTERN: Valley Yarns Knit Stars

If you’re looking for a gift topper, bunting idea, or an ornament FREE knitting pattern for the holidays, you are in luck. WEBS Yarn has a sweet little star pattern just for you.  🙂 Related posts: Free Pattern: Red Rock Pullover from Tahki Yarns Free Pattern: Bessie Stole in S. Charles Collezione Luna and Stella […]


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Saturday, 16 February 2008

Winter Seascape # 5, entrance to Scheveningen harbour

oil on canvas
16 x 24 cm
painted on location, Sat 16 Feb (mid-afternoon)

No, this is not S. Tropaz or some port in sunny Cyprus. This is sunny and cold Scheveningen, Holland. Positioning myself only meters away from the opening to the outside harbour(buiten haven), thus no people walking, but sailboats and sailors returnig, to the shelter of this port. Despite the cold, it was fine to be on location, doing my thing.

1 comment:

René PleinAir. said...

And it shows Alberto, just great fun to watch it! The weather is nice isn't it, a bit cold though.