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Writing Tidbits (and an early New Year's Resolution) November 18, 2008Posted by LHK in Atlanta, writing craft.
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Regarding NaNoWriMo, I think it's all or nothing for me. As in, I throw all of my writing energy and time into it, to the detriment of all of my other projects, or I work on the other projects and let NaNo languish. I've chosen the latter.
Saturday was the monthly meeting of Atlanta Writers Club. I wasn't able to stay for all three presentations, but I did catch the first two. First up, Doug Crandell returned to AWC to do a one-hour workshop on the craft of the short story. I appreciated that he hammered home the point that, yes, short stories must have plots — literary fiction included. He usually starts his story with a character, or even with just a single character trait. Then he discovers who or what is the character's opposing force. The story grows from there. He said he used to write a lot of stories with guns in them; everybody laughed at this, but I'm sure it was uncomfortably true for some of us. Myself included.
Here's my problematic method of crafting a short story:
1. Find character. Done. Oftentimes, this comes down to "insert an already-created character" (one of my own, I mean. Don't mistake me for a fanfiction writer).
2. Come up with nebulous idea of the philosophical conflict guiding the story.
3. Recognize that there need to be actual events and settings to prop up said philosophical conflict.
4. Start writing anyway.
5. Write 4000 words based on the character and the philosophical concept.
6. Delete 2000 of the 4000 words.
7. Reach the place where the end of the story should naturally be. From here, there are two options:
8a. Quit writing story and never come back to it.
8b. Throw in a random murder, a suicide, a car accident, an armed robbery, or a dead relative who's been messing with the protagonist's mind.
I don't really aspire to have my name all over the lit journal world or to be in Best American Short Stories (it surprises me to be able to state this sincerely; I tend to be the ambitious type, but I seem to have mellowed a bit lately, or at least channeled all outlying ambition into my YA novels). I'd just like to be able to write a short story that actually is a story, rather than a collection of haphazardly-arranged scenes. And while I figured out long ago that novels with true plot and structure don't just burst from head to page (unless you're William Faulkner on his As I Lay Dying bourbon bender, or — and I say this begrudgingly — Stephenie Meyer and her vampire dream), I've churned out a lot of literary crap under the delusion that short stories can emerge fully-formed in a single sitting.
So here's an early New Year's Resolution: I'm going to unearth all the short story writing advice I've internalized over years of how-to-write books and workshops and a whole boatload of fantastic short stories themselves. (One of my favorite online destinations for short fiction is StorySouth, by the way.) I'm going to try to write a short fiction piece with the goal of creating something that is unmistakably a story.
Joshua Corin, author of a rather hilarious sounding novel called Nuclear Winter Wonderland, spoke next. He covered the differences and similarities among playwriting, screenwriting, and novel-writing. (Quick primer: in playwriting, dialogue is the focus; in screenwriting, images are the focus; in novel-writing, narrative voice is the focus.) And he'd probably agree with my plan to have a plan for my next short story. At one point, he said, "Even if you don't know where you are, know where you're going." Yes. Also, he stated that just because you have an idea for a novel, story, screenplay, or play, it doesn't mean it's time to sit down and start drafting it out. I agree — my ideas need a lot of time to attach themselves to character details and bits of dialogue and description before they're ready to be put to paper. I feel uncomfortable sitting down to start on something unless I have one or two of those gotta-fit-these-in lines or phrases lying in wait in my head.
I left the meeting feeling inspired to go home and write… something. I wasn't sure what. I've got plenty on my to-do list.
Plus, you know what's nice? I am actually acquainted with a handful of people at Atlanta Writers Club, so during monthly meetings I actually manage to chat with people rather than just sit with my arms crossed and silently grump about how no one ever talks to me. With every passing year I grow just a little teeny tiny bit beyond the personality I cultivated so well in high school.
If you're even slightly a fan of children's or YA literature, you should check out the Winter Blog Blast Tour that's being hosted by Chasing Ray and other fine kidlit-related websites.
Just the latest "why don't I live in New York City?" moment November 17, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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A British theater company has adapted Virginia Woolf's The Waves (one of my favorite novels!) into a multimedia stage play.
The Waves is a series of stream-of-consciousness monologues by six different characters. I maintain that the best way to experience the novel is to read the whole darned thing out loud, as I did several years ago. (To be fair, I was marooned in my apartment in Japan at the time, recovering from a running injury. I had nothing but time and headspace to fill.) As the review of this production notes, one might expect a stage play of The Waves to be little more than six different readers dramaticizing the monologues, with moody music played in between. But this one goes far beyond that, and I am jealous jealous jealous of anyone who gets to see it:
While one performer reads from the script, others are occupied in rendering the sights and sounds described in the play's interior monologues. And surely no ensemble in New York is as multifarious as this one, which works with drill-team precision. Each member appears equally at home in the roles of narrator, silent-movie actor, camera operator, sound-effects maker and on-the-spot dresser and set decorator.
Homemade devices like a bowl filled with water, a fragment of lace or a leafy branch are used to frame faces and body parts, which are then projected in simulcast video to suggest a child peering through foliage, a boy peeking through a window or a terrified girl staring into a puddle. (The performers put on only bits of period costumes — a sleeve or a collar, say — depending on how much is included in the camera frame.) At the same time other performers are shuffling their shoes on stones, perhaps, or flapping sheets or running a finger around the edge of a partly filled glass.
It's only playing in New York through Saturday. I haven't checked, but I'd bet you a lot of money that this production ain't makin' it to Atlanta.
(I do get to see John Hodgman speak tonight, though. You know, the PC guy from the Mac commercials?)
Book Review: Catalyst, by Laurie Halse Anderson November 14, 2008Posted by LHK in book reviews.
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When she's "Good Kate," Kate Malone dutifully attends track practice, makes straight A's, gets a thrill out of ironing the clean laundry, and smiles through her minister father's sermons. When she's "Bad Kate," though, she goes out on midnight runs, or lusts after her boyfriend, or resents the responsibilities she has to take for her asthmatic brother. Catalyst explores the clash between Kate's two sides while chronicling the last few months of her senior year in high school.
Her breaking point is finding out that her dream school, MIT — which is, in fact, the only school to which she applied — has rejected her. And that her classmates in AP Chemistry were betting against her acceptance. Ouch. Worse, the combination of a fire at the Litches' house down the street and Kate's father's generosity means that Kate's grade-school nemesis, Teri Litch, is now taking up residence in the Malone house. And more specifically, in Kate's bedroom. A tragic accident derails Kate's future plans even further, and alters her focus and her mindset.
When I heard Laurie Halse Anderson speak the other night (which rocked! which means photos and more discussion of said event are to come!), she talked about how Catalyst was meant to (subtly) underline the phenomenon of first-world teens being so bloody straight-lined toward one path of success — that is, the path of taking all AP classes, getting at least X score on your SATs, going to a prestigious college, and eventually getting a job that makes you a lot of money. She mentioned visiting a school in Michigan where the afternoon announcements featured a list of the most recent college acceptances for graduating seniors. Imagine the pressure. But Ms. Anderson wasn't sitting in an AP class at the time she heard the daily college announcements; rather, she was in a vocational class where the usual troublemakers and (perceived) underachievers had been sent. One of the girls in the class, briefing Ms. Anderson on the social structure of the school, said, "They don't mention us on the announcements. They don't care about us." This girl was part of the inspiration for Teri Litch.
Kate's character trajectory in Catalyst is predictable, though comfortingly so. If you read the first few pages, you'll see there's little else for her to do but come closer down to Earth. And it is a relief when she does, although the journey is difficult.
One of my favorite things about Laurie Halse Anderson's books are the seemingly mundane details of teenage life that become sneakily revelatory when put in just the right spot. I loved Kate's experience of getting her first pair of contact lenses and realizing just how many things she wasn't able to see before. (This happened to me, too. I was thirteen, and I had no idea that I should have been able to see individual blades of grass in the yard when I looked out my bedroom window.) I love Kate's annoyance and fear at having to merge onto the highway. I love how the school is so overcrowded that seniors have to take lunch period so early in the morning that doughnuts and coffee are served.
A good book. I'd say I liked it better than Twisted, but not as much as Speak. And remember how I was worried that my own novel mirrored Catalyst in some annoyingly coincidental ways? Well, it's not as bad as I thought, though I think I'll need to make sure Mitchell is a soccer player instead of a distance runner. And reading Catalyst made me rethink Mitchell's quest to go to Harvard. A-revising we will go.
I think my "currently reading" box is way outdated, or at least not complete. Right now I'm reading Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, which is don't-want-it-to-end-but-can't-stop-reading-it fantastic.
November Frustrations November 9, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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Last week, blogging literary agent Jonathan Lyons dared to ask what his readers thought of NaNoWriMo. A lot of vitriol resulted. Man, who knew? The poor, defenseless month of November shrunk away in defeat.
I didn't want to sully the comment box there with my long-winded, wishy-washy sorta-opinion on NaNoWriMo.The concept of the event is so simple that for years it seemed like it was above criticism. In my mind, in a way, it still is. Fast-drafting is a perfectly normal way for writers – professional or not – to pound out the first draft of a story. Writing between 1500 and 2000 words a day is fairly normal output for most habitual writers. And few people expect to be able to go from idea to polished novel within the span of thirty days. I think most NaNo-novelists are realistic about what the quality of their output will be, and I doubt that NaNo has been solely responsible for the uptick in the amount of dreck in agents' and editors' slush piles over the years. Probably the personal computer and the relative accessibility of the publishing industry through the Internet have been the major culprits where the problem of bad novels escaping into the world is concerned.
Of course, one could also argue that a mass writing event can only be as good as its participants. And if said mass writing event is offered to the general denizens of the Internet, you'll attract a lot of people who have a passing interest in writing, or who like the idea of the 50K challenge, but who do not habitually read and who do not study the craft of writing, and the discussions on the forums tend to be a reflection of this. Questions often fall along the lines of "Has anyone ever written a novel in present-tense?" or "Is it possible to have more than one narrator in a novel?" and it seems like the few people in the "Literary Fiction" subforum who were actually writing literary fiction have been scared off by the masses of newbies who have unwittingly redefined literary fiction as "manuscripts in which plot has been replaced by Livejournalesque rambling."
And, yeah, I haven't followed my own advice to stay away from the general forums. It's just my instinct to jump to the defense of first-person point-of-view or writing a novel in present tense every time I see those techniques maligned. I swear I'm trying to quit.
Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I doubt I'm going to hit the 50K this year. This afternoon I wrote about 600 words to bring me up to a little over 7000 total, but that'll probably be as far as I go with it today. I've just got too many other things on my plate to worry about scrambling through a first draft of Rob's Day Out! And by the way, Rob's Day Out! has not been a terribly interesting novel so far. I suppose I should have had something more than the title in mind when I began it. Also, the idea that the entire story is going to take place in twenty-four hours was another brilliant way to set up a creative roadblock for myself. So far, the one amusing thing that happened (Rob follows a truck towing a trailer full of llamas, and eventually winds up surrounded by said llamas in the parking lot of a McDonald's off I-85 in north Georgia) was born from a suggestion made by my writing pal Erin. Rob escaped from the llamas before 7 AM, thus leaving me with many, many more hours of his day out (!) to fill up. And with what? I'm not sure.
Maybe if nothing else, I've at least learned that Rob worked best as a supporting character in my stories. He's a more action-oriented character than any of my other main characters have been, and it's difficult for me to write about characters like that. Rob is low on personal demons, self-doubt, and paranoia. If there are going to be enough conflicts in his life to fill a novel, they have to come from external rather than internal sources. And where's the fun in that?
Also, three points of excitement!
1. I'm typing this on my brand-new MacBook Pro. It's so light! And bright! And widescreened!
2. After 3.5 years of being a blonde, I am back to being a brunette. And a darker one than before, for that matter. One day soon I'll share some photographic evidence.
3. I'm going to hear Laurie Halse Anderson speak tomorrow night!
Weekly Bookstore Jamboree – Week 5: Anatomy of a Write-In November 2, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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Bookstores visited: Borders on Cobb Parkway in Smyrna
What I bought: a chai latte
What other people bought: I didn't get to observe the checkout area, but I did get to see a lot of other people buying coffee. And by "coffee," I mean, of course, French vanilla lattes and mochas and cappuccinos and such.
What I looked at: Mostly, I was there for a NaNoWriMo meet-and-greet / unofficial write-in, rather than to look at books. What's a write-in, you ask? Basically, it's a NaNoWriMo-invented event wherein a bunch of crazed novelists gather at a particular spot and write fiction in the presence of each other's tacit support. Occasionally, there's a word war: everyone tries to write as many words as they can within, say, fifteen minutes. Since this meet-up took place before NaNoWriMo began, no one was doing a frantic first draft, so there was no cause for a word war. I worked (slowly) on a strange flash fiction piece about a dead dentist, as well as a YA short story called "The Understated Unraveling of Mercedes Moreno."
We did grab a few books from the writing reference section: the obligatory copies of the NaNoWriMo handbook No Plot? No Problem, as well as Robert McKee's Story and Blake Snyder's Save The Cat! I mentioned both of those in my last post, didn't I? They're about screenwriting, but more specifically, they're about the plot backbones of stories that work. I generally suck at creating good, working plot backbones. Even in the case of "The Understated Unraveling of Mercedes Moreno," I've got three central characters, an opening conflict, and a foggy idea of the story's goal. As usual, the characters have come to me fully-formed (which isn't hard, as I've been writing about Mercedes, her sister, and the other people in her life for years and years), but the direction in which the story will go has yet to be determined.
That's my usual operating mode for writing fiction: the characters come first, and then either a theme or a conflict will emerge. How I go about dramatizing that theme or conflict is dealt with eventually. I'm not ashamed of this method, although it does make for slow going in terms of finishing anything. I think it's also why I took an unintended break from fiction writing for a long time in college and into my early twenties — when I was younger, I felt it was okay to play around on the page with characters and undramatic situations (e.g., I once wrote an entire "story" composed of scenes of different characters waking up. How did one character's typical morning differ from another character's typical morning? I found it fascinating). Years later, I decided I didn't want to write such aimless fiction anymore, but when I realized I didn't know how to take my fiction from aimless to, uh, aimful, I just quit. I switched my focus to writing for my website, and didn't look back for many years.
How I got back to fiction, and how I braved the territory of real plots for the first time, is a post for another day.
For reference about plotting, though, Save The Cat! author (and fellow WordPress user) Blake Snyder has a recent blog post about finding the "spine" of your story.
What other people looked at: A lot of people come to Borders on Sunday morning to sit in the coffee shop area and read magazines. Who knew? Others were doing work on their laptops. Someone was reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
Bookstore notes:
The Cobb Parkway Borders is a very strange place: if you take the first right into the maze of shopping center, as I did, you wind up on the bottom floor of a parking garage, with no way to drive up to the second floor. It looked like a good place to get one's car broken into. Some bits of glass near the stairway were strong evidence for this theory. I parked anyway, figuring there were enough other people trickling in to divert any thieves' attention from my wee Nissan. I took the stairs to the Borders entrance, where shoppers are greeted with a bin of bargain books and a tall escalator. Everything else – the non-bargain books, the coffee shop, the checkout – is on the second floor. Like the shopping center as a whole, the second floor is a maze. I gave up looking for the YA section. The coffee shop area is pretty great, though, and it includes an expansive patio.
Tips for NaNoWriMo October 29, 2008Posted by LHK in NaNoWriMo, writing craft.
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(In case this is your first time on the Internet, "NaNoWriMo" is "National Novel Writing Month.")
Every year, NaNoWriMo happens. And while I generally meet the 50,000-word goal for my annual NaNo project, I never fail to get behind on my writing, to get frustrated with myself for not having enough ideas in mind by the middle of the month, and to get mildly violent with inanimate objects for the amount of bad writing advice that gets tossed around on the NaNo forums. If you're a cranky NaNoWriMo veteran like me, you might want to get on the right track for a saner November before the month actually begins. Here are some tips.
Avoid the general forums.
Do you really need to be the seventy-eighth person to weigh in as to where you got your novel's title, or who you wish could play your main character (excuse me, your "MC") in the never-to-appear film version of your novel? Do you really need to chime in on a game of Movie Quote Bingo or tell the world which song you're listening to right now? What, exactly, do you hope to accomplish by doing this, especially when the likely result will involve all of the high school freshmen on the forums talking around you concerning their shared love of Vampire Weekend or Tokio Hotel? The song you are listening to right now is "The Ol' Beggars Bush," by Flogging Molly, or maybe Stephen Sondheim's "Every Day A Little Death," and you're trying to tell people that your favorite novel is Catch-22 or Infinite Jest or The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul… and no one will acknowledge you. This is not your fault. Do not keep feeding the meter. Move away. Subscribe to just a few forums — your genre forum, your regional forum. Stick to those. Interact and make friends there.
Let people make mistakes. This includes you.
A bit of an offshoot from "avoid the general forums": you can't help everyone. At some point, you might even give up on trying to help anyone. Because if someone posts a topic concerning the use of multiple first-person narrators, and you're like, "Yeah, you should go for it. It doesn't always work, but you should challenge yourself," you'll soon be drowned out by the sixteen other respondents who contend that first-person point-of-view is "experimental" and "not done very often," and who encourage the original poster to write in third-person limited, past tense (because "that's just how stories were traditionally written").
Stop punching the wall.
You can't save anyone from bad writing, or from using fanfiction-inspired terminology, or from spending the month of November writing 50,000 words about the Gryffindor kids meeting up with the entire cast of characters of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, or from starting a new forum thread that's written entirely in txtspeak (and which is, ironically, about how the poster wants to be able to expand her writing style so that she can reach the 50K. Here's a hint: you don't do it by writing "idk" all the time).
But you can use NaNoWriMo to try out a different point-of-view or genre, or to finally do that present-tense rewrite of the draft that just didn't sound right in past tense, or take the supporting character from last year's novel and see what he has to say for himself. Me, I'm mostly going to spend November doing the revisions on The Center of Gravity so I can get that blasted thing sent out, but if I'm able to do a NaNo novel, I'm definitely going to be doing a weird one. I'd originally planned on writing a YA short story cycle about my character Mercedes. It's been rattling around in my head for a while. But then, when I was driving to work the other day (actually, sitting in the turn lane and waiting for traffic to pass), I suddenly wanted, more than anything, to write an adventure-caper about Rob Howington, one of the supporting characters from The Center of Gravity. And I wanted to call it Rob's Day Out! With the exclamation point! I don't know what it's going to be about! Or where Rob will go on his Day Out! But I'm sure! It will! Be! Fun!
(Image from XKCD, of course.)
Learn how to do a 5,000-word day.
This can be done, even by slowpokes like me. I usually find myself needing an extra-high-word-count day somewhere around the end of the third week of November. Maybe there were a few days that I wasn't able to write at all, and several more on which I only wrote 500 or 1,000 words. Rather than wind up with a 7,000-word deficit on November 29, it's better to get yourself out of the hole as much as possible around November 21 or 22.
I try to do a 5,000-word day in sets of 500. And, yes, you really will need the whole day for this, not just a few hours after work. You'll need to sit down soon after you get up and do that first set of 500 words. Set the tone for the rest of the day. Get 2,000 words down before lunch. Take a walk after lunch, and then come back to hit 3,500 or 4,000 before dinnertime. Cruise on in to the 5,000-word mark around 8 or 9 PM. By then, you'll have earned dessert, a stiff drink, a Netflix movie, or another 1,000 words before bed.
What I did last year was grab some scrap paper and write out every single hundred-word multiple between my current word count and my goal word count. 38,100… 38,200… 38,300… and on and on. I'm the type of person who really likes to check things off lists. I tacked the list above my desk and kept myself sitting there, writing, until I could scratch off those first 5 numbers. My writing sessions tend to start out slow, crest to a quicker pace, and then begin to drop again. At the height of my productivity in a Crazy-High Word Count Day, I could get to the point where I'd write 600 or 700 words before I would look up, check the word count tool, and then scratch off the numbers I'd passed through.
Plot. A lot.
I've never done this; maybe one day I will. You'll need a screenwriting book for this one: either Blake Snyder's Save The Cat! or Robert McKee's Story. Both of these books are far more organized than all the organization I have had in my entire life. Snyder's book in particular lays out the individual "beats" that make up a basic movie plotline. This can be pretty easily applied to a novel. In Story, McKee goes into great detail about the usage and placement of the inciting incident, the first and second act climaxes, the weaving-in of backstory, and other useful things. If you follow these books seriously, you can have a reliable roadmap for your novel before NaNoWriMo even begins. Considering how many drafts I did of my novel before realizing that the inciting incident and the climax don't work well together, I sometimes have regrets about not attempting a Save The Cat!-style plot map before now.
Weekly Bookstore Jamboree – Week 4: John Green Mania October 26, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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Bookstores visited: Little Shop of Stories in Decatur
What I bought: Nothing, but Adam bought a couple of John Green paperbacks we didn't own
What other people bought: Lots and lots of John Green books. Paper Towns, mostly, but Let It Snow (the recent novel he co-authored with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle) was also a popular choice.
What I looked at: Adam, who got to the bookstore super early and was milling around the second-story loft when I arrived ("Look up!" he called to me as I walked through the front door). John Green, who spent some time trying to connect to wireless Internet so he could webcast his presentation. He eventually had to give up on the wireless, and he started the book signing early. Well, as Adam and I were the only ones in the loft's signing area at the time, we unnecessarily rushed John Green's table and got a few moments to chat with him while he signed our books. Then, my pal M. arrived with a bunch of John Green books in tow. While he signed away, he asked her to call his editor to report the news about the canceled webcast. I watched, openmouthed, as M. used John Green's iPhone to call the very esteemed senior editor at Dutton Children's Publishing.
When she came back to her seat, I was like, "M.! Do you have any idea who you just talked to?" I tend to fangirl about YA editors and agents just about as much as I fangirl about YA authors. It's a problem. It's probably good that I was first in line at the signing table and not third, because nobody at Dutton Children's Publishing needed to hear my squeeing over John Green's iPhone.
Also, I had to observe the crowd. We were not quite the oldest people there. Some of the younger girls had brought their parents, and I noticed a couple of fellow SCBWI'ers sitting near me. Everyone else was pretty much highschool-age, though, and many of them had brought DV cams and were taping the whole thing.
What other people looked at: I should mention, though, that Adam and I were very much the weirdos of the crowd that eventually gathered in the loft at Little Shop of Stories. Adam with his delightfully non-partisan "Everyone Poops" t-shirt (isn't he modeling it nicely?), and me with my knee-high-booted work ensemble, and our distinct lack of a camcorder. When the high school girls had their moms take photos of those of us sitting in the first few rows of seats in the loft, I felt kind of strange scooting in and smiling for the camera. They had such a sense of community, and we were clearly the outsiders.
(This is not to say that the crowd was not perfectly nice, though. I caught the girl behind me saying to her seat-neighbor, "Are you here by yourself? I don't want you to be lonely. It's hard to come to book signings by yourself." And everyone else was swapping YouTube usernames and e-mail addresses and proposing future Nerdfighter meetups.)
Anyway, then Mr. Green himself took the stage. He read "the infamous page 23" from Paper Towns. (I connected page 23 with its subject matter immediately. I could have jumped up and said "BLACK SANTAS!" but I wisely stayed quiet and in my seat.) Then he spoke a bit about the themes in the novel and how he'd been exploring those same themes throughout his professional life – namely, ideas about human perception and how we filter our hypotheses about others through our own experiences. Also, he spoke about how he learned to tell stories by sitting on his roommate's old couch and listening to other people tell stories and trying hard not to bore his friends by telling his own.
Then he took a bunch of questions. I can never come up with good questions to ask at author events or conferences until five hours after the event is over. Anyway, I asked John Green when Will Grayson, Will Grayson, his co-authored book with David Levithan, was coming out. Scintillating, I know. He said he didn't know; probably sometime next year. Other people had much better questions than mine.
Bookstore (and author) notes:
If you don't follow young adult literature, then you were probably heretoforth unaware of the existence of one John Green. That's okay – nearly everyone I know pleads ignorance regarding the author of Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. But if you do follow young adult literature, then you're entirely familiar with the fan cult surrounding the Green brothers, John and Hank, and their video blog and their gigantic Nerdfighters community.
Regarding the bookstore, I realized I needed to spend a lot more time at Little Shop of Stories. And I will! Laurie Halse Anderson is paying a visit there early next month.
A Busy, Nervous Day October 25, 2008Posted by LHK in writing craft.
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The Actual, Real New York Editor's business card came in the mail the other day. I wasn't going to believe it was truly coming to me until I had it in my hand. Well, now I've had it in my hand, and now it's tacked to my bulletin board, which is just to the right of my writing desk, which you can see in the photo there. I've been working hard today, mostly making notes on my Luminotes wiki rather than actually diving into the manuscript and making changes there. Right now, the thought of going into the manuscript and doing anything other than minor line-editing makes me hyperventilate a little. And, you know, I don't think there's anything pathological about that. There's no sense in starting to make any sort of big, plot-level changes until I'm entirely sure how they're going to impact the rest of the manuscript. Everything is so frustratingly fragile at this point — knock out one piece and you wind up invalidating three other plot points.
Hence the glass of red wine, I guess.
In the center of my writing desk sits Old Blue, my Toshiba Satellite laptop. Old Blue has survived five separate novels, about two dozen short stories, six drafts of one novel, several rough plane rides, and a generalized addiction to the Internet. Old Blue has been with me since 2003. Old Blue still bears the scars of my circa-2003 habit of eating grapefruit while reading cnn.com and nytimes.com. Sticky little spots and smears that predate YouTube, but that now sit right on that area where the screen appears when you're tired of writing and you start watching Stephen Sondheim-related videos at 2 in the morning. Old Blue has survived a lot of that. Don't tell Old Blue, but he or she is about to have a nice rest. My new MacBook Pro is going to be arriving soon.
The two books to the left of Old Blue are a couple of useful thorns in my side. On the bottom is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King, a book I like to thumb through every week or so, whether I'm working on a first draft or a seventh draft. It reminds me of those little things to try to avoid at any stage on a piece of writing – overdescription, poor rhythm, inappropriate pacing. My old boss gave me the book about a year and a half ago, and it's taken a beating in the time that it's been in my presence. The book on top of Self-Editing is Laurie Halse Anderson's Catalyst, which I may have to sit down and read in full tonight. I've been paging through it for about a week now, and I know the general plot of it. I also know that it has some glaring similarities to my own novel. For instance, a character named Mitchell who's about a graduate from high school with a perfect attendance record. And another character (the narrator, Kate) with a religious single parent and a senior-year schedule full of AP science classes and a habit of going running when things get tough.
Mitchell Waterson is the main character and narrator of my novel. He takes AP Physics and is a "good slow runner" on the cross-country team. His widowed mother is a Southern Baptist (and a bit of a kleptomaniac). He's never missed a day of school. And while I firmly believe that a good novel is "all in the execution," and while I can see that my novel is stylistically different from Laurie Halse Anderson's, and while the crux of the plot is entirely different from what happens in Catalyst, I can definitely make things easier on myself by excising some of these character similarities before the novel is seen by people who know other YA novels inside and out.
Just more revisions to add to the list.
Time to break for dinner. I'll update again with my John Green (!!!) photos and thoughts either later today or tomorrow.
The List O' Happiness October 21, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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All items to be expounded upon later. But for now:
1. The Center of Gravity won first place in the middle grade and YA novels contest at the SCBWI conference!
2. An editor at a major YA imprint judged the contest. The whole thing was done anonymously, so she has no idea whether a nerdy girl, an old man, or a monkey with a typewriter wrote a novel called The Center of Gravity, but apparently she attached her business card to her comments on my work, and the contest coordinator is mailing it to me.
2a. (This item is an orphan from The List O' Major Freakouts.) So now I need to get the full, polished manuscript ready to send to her. You may recall that I walked away frustrated from what I'd intended to be the final draft of the novel. Yeah. I need to get back to that, get my character arc in place, and come up with a way to end the whole thing that doesn't leave my characters furious with me.
3. I think I comported myself fairly well at the conference. Only one or two babbly outbursts, and perhaps two or three conversations that went on too long and devolved into uncomfortable hmms and head-bobbing. Probably having M. there was good for me, as she's the type to walk up to anyone she sees and say, "Hi! Who are you? What do you write?" I wound up meeting some local folks who are around the same point I'm at on my novel, including the other girl who was bestowed with The Business Card. I hope it'll work out for us to get together.
4. Tonight was the ever-important day known as JOHN GREEN (briefly!) Visits Atlanta Day. Hurrah! He wasn't able to broadcast the show via webcam to New York as he'd hoped, and he had to rush out just after 7 to make his flight to Melbourne, Florida, but he was able to give a short talk, read a few pages from Paper Towns (including the hilarious description of Radar's parents' collection of 1200 Black Santas), take a bunch of questions, and sign books. Who was first in the signing line? Yep, that weirdo pictured on the right.
Conference checklist October 17, 2008Posted by LHK in Uncategorized.
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This afternoon, my friend M. and I are heading out to Birmingham, Alabama for SCBWI Southern Breeze's fall conference. Will my first chapter from The Center of Gravity place in the writing contest? Will I meet my critique partner soulmate? Will I get more than ten seconds of face time with any of the visiting editors? We shall see. What I do know is that a couple weeks ago I had a vision of attending this conference in a purple dress, and after a couple of fruitless shopping trips, I did finally manage to procure a purple (I mean, "eggplant") dress earlier this week. The dress I tried on after it nearly got stuck on me. I had the first two minutes of an anxiety attack in the dressing room as I contemplated grabbing a pair of scissors and slicing the dress off.
But never fear. I'm a survivor. A good pull over the elbow freed me from the dress (which was ugly, to tell you the truth. I was drawn in by the woodland-creature-print that adorned it. I don't have a squirrel-print dress, do you?). So at least I'm 100% sartorially prepared for this conference, if only about 70% mentally prepared.
See ya later. Updates on Sunday or Monday.


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I've just found three interesting websites for illustrators:
Storybird is a collaborative storytelling site for people who want to make an illustrated book. It works like this. Illustrators can have a shop there with about 50 images, and site users can select from those illustrations, construct a story around them, and pay a small fee for the use of the images. From memory (as I can no longer find this information on the site) it's only about 25c per image used and the site managers take 30% commission, but once they're in the shop, the images can be re-used for many Storybirds by different site users. It's an interesting concept linking the illustrator directly to the 'consumer' (usually, kids). If anyone's had experience of this site as an illustrator, I'd be very interested to hear their views.
Artist Daily is the website of American Artist magazine and has an online forum for artists and various free pdfs etc you can download on art topics.
Watercolour Wednesdays, a collaborative blog where published or aspiring children's book illustrators can go to practise their art with weekly challenges, and share their art and methods. This week's challenge was to do a picture of children doing something they enjoy in spring, so this was mine.
- Gay McKinnon
- Welcome to my art blog from Tasmania, Australia. I post a little on my various art projects while also working in plant genetics. For more, please try the links to my various art pages or email me at email@example.com. Thank you for visiting!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Interesting websites for illustrators
Posted by Gay McKinnon at 11:50 AM
Labels: illustrations
2 comments:
- Mary L.March 28, 2010 at 3:54 PM
I love it!ReplyDelete
I know that I've already commented on your beautiful piece, but I guess it bares repeating. How deliciously fabulous! It's wonderful indeed.ReplyDelete
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subset: commoncrawl


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This is just a short message for the readers of this blog. I've had quite a busy week thus far, but will be returning tomorrow with a Review of Gary Oldman's version of George Smiley, in the classy museum piece remake of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I'll also be introducing a surreal weekend column courtesy of resident Sawf Lundun Knowledge Guru 'Allotment Slim', so feel free to give a little bit of feedback on this little venture.
Over the course of December I will be radically overhauling the site, most likely turning the present Apercu into a film-focused blog, with hopefully a few innovative new features, a more user-friendly approach, some alternative content and the same focus on diverse areas of cinema. I'll be looking to create a regular pattern to the blog week, more on which will follow shortly.
The non-film based material on the site will be moved onto an alternate Apercus blog site, which will in effect work as a more free-form location for my occasional writings. Thank you to everyone who has recently got on board and signed up for e-mail updates or just taken a cursory glance of my content. You can also find links to my reviews on www.imdb.com, as well as info and updates at the Large Association of Movie Blogs largeassmovieblogs.blogspot.com . Finally, I would just like to draw your attention to three other websites. First of all there is the excellent and highly innovative little movie blog at themovieblog8.wordpress.com, which is shaping up to be a really interesting little site and has housed some of my writing in the past. Secondly there is the Icelandic-based film blog www.filmophilia.com, which is an excellent movie news site and will hopefully feature some odds and ends from myself in the near future. Last but not least, there is www.canadiancinephile.com which contains great reviews that aren't afraid to trade in strong opinions. All three of these sites are well worth a look and a little of your support.
Once again thanks to all of you for making this a really good blog-month for me. Hope you like some of the changes to come and stick around for the long haul.


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Replacement Lamp for Cat. No. 2425 ETDRS Illuminator Cabinet
Florescent Lighting
Each Illuminator Cabinet uses 2 lamps and it is recommended that both lamps be replaced at the same time. Each lamp must be used with our fenestrated sleeve to bring the light level to our specifications. Cabinets manufactured after November 2008 have lamps which include the fenestrated sleeve mounted onto each lamp. Order this for replacement in cabinets that do not have removable metal sleeve on the the lamps.
Cabinets manufactured before November 2008 have a removable fenestrated sleeve which is placed over the lamp. Replacement lamps for those cabinets are Catalog No. 2427.
NOTE: If your cabinet uses fenestrated sleeves or is Version 1 (manufactured November 2008 through December 2014) your cabinet should be replaced if you are doing research or clinical trials. See replacement links below.
Replacement lamps are used specifically for large ETDRS Illuminator Cabinet (Cat. No. 2425). Lamps provide florescent lighting which incorporate high efficiency and a longer life. Lamp provides an accurate and uniform illumination of approximately 759 lux that helps in dependable vision testing.
Lamp life is recommended that the lamps be replaced annually.
To ensure proper Illumination & Uniformity: Only Order OEM Replacement Parts from Precision Vision, Inc.


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For Your Convenience
- Assistive Hearing: Personal amplification headsets are available for use during films and some additional library programs. For more information, ask at the Welcome Desk.
- ATM: Available in the Lobby.
- Book Baskets: Located throughout the library for in-library use.
- Clear View Video Magnifier: Used to magnify hard to read images, the Clear View Video Magnifier is located in the Senior Room.
- Copiers: Color copier is located in the Lobby. Black and White copiers are located in the Lobby, adjacent to the Reference Desk, and inside the Technology Center.
- Device Charging Station: Located in The Loft.
- Digital Conversion: If you have VHS tapes, audiocassettes, or LPs, the Sachem Library has converting machines that can digitize your old media. The library sells recordable CDs & DVDs, but feel free to bring your own. Please call first to ensure the machines are free. There is a 2.5 hour limit per machine. Sachem Library cardholders only.
- Digital Display Screen: Available in The Loft for collaborative projects.
- Fax: Outgoing fax service is available in the Lobby and in the Technology Center.
- Large Print Computer Monitor and Keyboard: A computer with large display format is located near the Reference Desk.
- Notary Public: A Notary Public is generally available Monday-Wednesday, 10:00am-12:00pm, and 2:00pm-4:00pm. Please call ahead to confirm availability.
- Outside Drop Box Hours: Items may be returned to the drive up drop box 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The drop box is located on the left side of the entrance driveway. Items returned before the library opens will be considered returned the previous day.
- Print at the Library/Remote Printing – Print from your computer, or mobile device, to one of our library printers.
- Social Story – A video tour of the Children's Department for first time visitors.
- Tend Coffee @Sachem Library: Relax in the cozy fireplace lounge located adjacent to the Circulation Desk. Enjoy a fresh-roasted coffee or cappuccino, healthy snack, or fresh-baked pastry. Open daily. Cafe closes 45 minutes before library.
- Typewriter: Located in the Technology Center.
- WiFi: Available throughout the library and in Inside/Out, the library's garden extension.
- Wifi Hotspots: Available to borrow at the Reference Desk.


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National/Green Coalition Even More Unlikely
National are now holding on to their polling lead by the skin of their teeth and their traditional coalition partner when things get tight is looking increasingly dodgy. Act has lost its libertarian base and the social liberalism, a strong element within that philosophy, that used to softened their hardline economics and make them appear more mainstream. The new faces of Act, like John Banks and Don Nicholson, come across more like flaky members of a conservative christian party and this kind of political philosophy has had minimal support in New Zealand in the past and even less so now.
The Maori Party has developed into the party for the money orientated, entrepreneurial sector of the Maori community and they have lost their activist, social justice element to Mana. This will potentially halve its support and diminish its value as a useful coalition partner.
All that remains are the Greens. We Greens are an increasingly credible political force and we have the real potential of getting around fifteen MPs this election. National have directed most of their attacks on Labour but have been very soft on us and Green candidates around the country have been surprised to find ourselves on very friendly terms with National candidates. There is high degree of political flirting coming from the National camp in an attempt to flatter and soften the broader Green membership into thinking a closer relationship with National would be alright.
Labour on the other hand have been desperate to counter the large chunk of voters that are obviously shifting to the Greens and are coming out with policy announcements that could almost be quoted word for word from the Green Party website.
Much political commentary has has described the positive elements of a potential National/Green coalition and there have been some criticisms and frustrations expressed around the apparent duplicity of the Greens political positioning. The Greens are in a powerful position at this point and we have achieved a level of political maturity to know that to come out with a coalition preference already established would be a form of political self-castration.
Despite the a lack of media coverage it is the Green Party who have defined this election campaign with clear messaging and a comprehensive and visionary economic plan that has real credibility. While Labour was scrabbling around to answer Key's clever challenge "show me the money" we Greens were sitting on a fully costed package that sees New Zealand well out of debt far earlier than what National or Labour have proposed.
If National or Labour wish us to consider them as potential partners it is policy that will be the most influential element of any courting attempts. National does not understand this at all, for them being in the seats of power is everything and just to offer the possibility should be enough. Their "greenwash" works with many voters, despite the visual evidence in our rivers and the Rena wreck that says otherwise, but it doesn't work with us. They don't seem to understand that each of their policy releases so far have just represented another potential bridge burnt. Even the Blue Green's within National are becoming increasingly uneasy about National softening their commitment to the environment.
If National comes knocking on the Greens door after the election to make up some missing seats then there would need to be some serious bridge building beforehand. If the policy compatibility doesn't exist to any great extent then any coalition based on confidence and supply would be even more highly unlikely!


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A review of Anantara Kihavah Villas – one of the luxury resorts in Maldives.
Anantara Kihavah Villas is one of Maldives top luxurious resorts. It is situated in the Baa Atoll and is about 30 minutes by seaplane from Male Airport. The resort has 79 spacious beach and over water pool villas. Guests will be greeted with a postcard-perfect and instagram-worthy scenery from the villas, the beaches, to the clear and turquoise water of the island. Check rates and book at Anantara Kihavah Villas.
Here's a virtual tour of Anantara Kihavah during our two-night escapade in the resort. It was one of the best vacations, ever! There was a tropical depression in the Indian Ocean during our stay so the weather was not good, but of course we still managed to enjoy our holiday. (Read: 8 Luxury Resorts in Maldives)


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Egyptologists dig into mystery of possible tomb
The unearthing of evidence pointing to the lost tomb of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at a 2,000-year-old temple in the Mediterranean has raised skepticism among some Egyptologists even before the first remains are raised.
"I don't see a compelling argument for why they should have been buried in this temple," said Renee Dreyfus, curator of ancient art at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. The argument is being touted by top Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who hosted a show-and-tell in Egypt last weekend of 22 coins, 10 mummies and a fragment of a mask with a cleft chin that may evoke Antony (or if not, at least Richard Burton, the actor who played Antony). The artifacts were discovered in the temple of the god Osiris, according to an Associated Press report.
"It's an interesting idea, but I reserve judgment until I can see that they've actually found the burial," said Dreyfus. "If they are buried there, we congratulate him. He is adding something that archaeologists have been looking for for generations."
Even if a burial site is found at the temple, Dreyfus will want to know, "Did they in fact find cinnamon in her tomb?" she said. "It has come down to us that in addition to great treasures, she also was buried with cinnamon, which was an exotic spice at that time." If there is no cinnamon, Dreyfus would guess that there is no Cleopatra either.
"It's important for archaeologists to dramatize and publicize their initial discoveries," J.J. Manning, professor of history and classics at Yale University who formerly taught at Stanford, said, "But there is nowhere near any kind of evidence to show this is Antony and Cleopatra. I would be surprised if such a tomb would survive, given the politics of Roman history."
The temple is near the ancient seaside capital of Alexandria. This is where Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. According to lore and the HBO series "Rome," she and her brother Ptolemy XIII inherited the throne in a job-sharing arrangement neither found satisfactory. First, he drove her from Egypt and into the arms of Julius Caesar in Rome. After Caesar was assassinated, she returned to Egypt and later had her brother killed so she would have the throne all to herself.
While in Rome, Antony had fallen for the Egyptian queen, and he followed her home and married her even though he already had a wife in Rome. Antony was part of the triumvirate that succeeded Caesar, and that arrangement didn't work any better than Cleopatra's throne-sharing with her brother. Antony and Caesar Augustus, another member of the triumvirate, went to war for control of the Roman Empire. Augustus won.
Cleopatra spread a rumor that she had committed suicide, hoping to throw off Augustus, who was out for blood. One person who bought the ruse was Antony. He fell on his sword. When she learned about Antony's suicide, Cleopatra, who had always been a seductress, induced a poisonous snake to bite her chest.
"If we have an intact tomb, then we can confirm the literary accounts, which are highly suspicious," said Manning.
In a story published in the Independent, a British newspaper, archaeologist Kathleen Martinez, who has been working at the site for three years, said the presumed burial site is deep underneath limestone, connected by a series of complex tunnels. Martinez called it "the most sacred temple of its time" and speculated that the lovers were "buried in a temple rather than a public tomb to protect them from the Romans." But in the same article, Egyptologist John Baines of Oxford University questioned why Augustus, who defeated Antony, would have chosen such a distinguished burial place.
"I don't see a particular connection between that site and Antony and Cleopatra," Baines said. Others question whether Augustus would have allowed them the dignity of any kind of burial.
"It's an old urban legend that Augustus had threatened to scatter their bones to the wind, so that nobody could make a mausoleum," said Bill Macdonald, creator of "Rome." Macdonald, who wrote the episode about Antony and Cleopatra, said it is plausible that aides to Cleopatra secreted the bodies away before Augustus could have them burned and scattered, which is how they ended up hidden in the temple.
"It was pretty chaotic there at the end," said Macdonald, who grew up in San Francisco. "Anything is possible in the ancient world. These were devious people."
The archaeologist Hawass is coming to San Francisco in June to open "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" at the de Young Museum. The traveling exhibition, containing 130 objects, 50 from the tomb of King Tut and 180 from his ancestors, is three times as large as the 1979 show "Treasures of Tutankhamun" which drew 1.4 million people, the largest attendance for any show in the 114 years of the de Young, according to museum spokesperson Jill Lynch. By then, it might be known whether Hawass has truly discovered the final resting place of the world's most famous lovers. If it turns out to be a false lead, it will raise other questions.
"If the lovers were not buried there," said Dreyfus, "why are there so many objects relating to Cleopatra in that temple?"


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This is breakdown of my expenses for May investigation.If you have any unclear issue, please let me know.
Sometimes, I needed to arrive at each place before the murder or the Black Cat arrived at, so I needed to use air plane because air ticket was expensive, but I could get there earier.
- Air ticket from Cairo to Beirut airport
- Taxi fee from Beirut airport to docks
- Air ticket from Beirut to Athens
- Taxi fee from Athens airport to Piraeus
- Ticket of Boat "The Syria" from Piraeus to Venice
- Water taxi fee from Venice dock to railway station
- Train ticket from Venice to Rome
- Hotel fee at Rome
- Air ticket from Rome to Cairo
- Taxi fee from Cairo airport to the flat where Salahadin stays
- Taxi fee of round move between Beirut city and Jusef's café because I needed to tell Jusef about Borkman's death and his message.
This time, I could protect very very valuable antiquities of Egypt and my investigation is worh to pay these a little expensive expenses. Thank you for your understanding.


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Teen Anxiety Disorder is a mental illness characterized by teens experiencing an almost-constant state of worry, fear, or nervousness which colors much of their thinking and experiences. When teens are suffering from an Anxiety Disorder, it's not possible for them to simply "get over" their fears or reason themselves out of their nervousness. In fact, often the anxiety may not be connected to any conscious event or reason, and therefore persists despite changes in circumstances. In other words, even if the teen happens to be partaking in an enjoyable event in which their fears logically have no basis, the teens will continue to feel the anxiety, nonetheless. Because of the overwhelming nature of it, the anxiety can grow to affect just about all aspects of teens' lives and can become a destructive force in teens' responsibilities and relationships without the use of teen anxiety treatment.
There are several different types of Teen Anxiety Disorder, characterized by the specific symptoms a teen is experiencing. These include:
- Teen Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Teen Phobia
- Teen Panic Attack
- Teen Social Anxiety Disorder
- Teen Obsessive Compulsive (OCD) Disorder
Some of the specific symptoms of Teen Anxiety Disorder often affect teens physically as well as mentally. The anxiety can cause stress reactions in the body, characterized by:
- chest pains
- increased heart rate
- increased body temperature
- perspiration
- headaches
- stomach aches
- fatigue
- panic attacks, in which teens struggle to catch their breath
One of the unfortunate effects of these side effects evolving is that they can create a cause-and-effect cycle, in which the anxiety triggers physical symptoms, and the physical symptoms create more stress and anxiety. This can become a very difficult, scary, and overwhelming process for teens to feel stuck inside.
Paradigm Treatment Centers Teen Anxiety Treatment:
We base our Teen Anxiety Treatment programs around supporting teens to recognize thought patterns, observe and/or change belief systems, and find healthy ways to eliminate stress in their lives. Therapy involves a combination of individual and group talk therapy sessions, alternative arts therapy programs, and an array of supplemental support programs, designed to assist teens in making improvements and changes in specific areas of their lives (such as academics, nutrition, athletic goals, and more.) At all of our Paradigm Treatment Center locations, teens have individual talk therapy sessions every day while in treatment, in addition to several other group therapy sessions. In talk therapy sessions, therapists work with teens to help them identify how their thought patterns produce and perpetuate anxiety. This especially includes identifying stressors and triggers in their lives which may need deeper processing, in order to uncover and work through the underlying emotional aspects of the anxiety. At the same time, our therapists work with teens to also observe how their anxiety affects behaviors and what kinds of changes may help them to feel better as well as to be more successful in their lives. We also teach tools an array of tools and techniques to cope with anxiety and deal with stress, so that teens become gradually stronger and more able to face challenges, when they arise.


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May 9, 1924 - March 28, 2019
Concord, Massachusetts | Age 94
Frances Anne (Egan) Mitchell, (94) of Concord passed away March 28, 2019. She was the beloved wife of the late Daniel Mitchell who died in 2006.
Frances was born in Boston on May 9, 1924 the daughter of the late William and Florence (Riddler) Egan. She was raised and educated in Boston. Fran continued with secretarial courses at The Katharine Gibbs School and following graduation with her Associates Degree, she worked at several secretarial positions including the Massachusetts State House in Boston.
When Frances met her future husband Daniel, they married and settled in Concord where they raised their 5 children. Fran was a dedicated Den Mother for Cub and Boy Scouts as well as for Brownies and Girl Scouts. She worked for Concord's Fernald School for Special Children and for Emerson Hospital. Later, she became a licensed Real Estate Broker in the Concord area.
Frances and her family were communicants at St. Bernard's Church, now known as Holy Family Parish in Concord. She was a Eucharistic Minister for those who could not attend Mass. And she was a long-time member of the Sodality of Our Lady.
When she wasn't working or providing for her children, Frances enjoyed her many volunteer positions one of which was at Emerson Hospital. She was also a member of the Concord Women's Club, the Book Club and was an avid and serious Bridge Player. Most of all she loved her family and spending time with each of her children, grandchildren and with her first great granddaughter.
Frances is survived by her daughters Joan F. and her husband, the former Ambassador Kenneth F. Hackett of Florida, Rita M. and her husband Frank Wahlen Jr. of Groton, MA, and Regina M. Mitchell of Concord, N.H.; her son Bernard J. Mitchell and his wife Pamela of Hopkinton; her brother James Egan and her sisters Mary Carroll and Claire Steeves. She was the loving grandmother of Diane, Katrina, Kevin, Jennifer, Michael, Colleen, Peter and Owen and great-grandmother of Abigail. She was a loving aunt to her many nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband Daniel, Frances is predeceased by her son Daniel Mitchell and brother William and sisters Rita and Florence.
Family and friends will gather to remember and honor Fran on Sat. April 6, 2019 from 9:00 to 10:30 in the Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord. Fran's mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11:00am in Holy Family Parish, 12 Monument Square, Concord. Interment will follow in the family lot in St. Bernard's Cemetery, Concord.
Those who wish may make contributions in her name to:
Saab Residence at D'Youville Life and Wellness Center
981 Varnum Ave.
Lowell, MA 01854
email: email@example.com
Director - Glenn D. Burlamachi, CFSP
74 Belknap St.
Concord, MA 01742
Map | Profile


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launch (something) against (someone or something)(redirected from launch it against)
launch (something) against (someone or something)
To instigate or initiate some action or plan of attack against another person, group, or thing. We are prepared to launch a counterattack against them that would wipe them off the face of the earth, should we be so provoked. We're launching an information campaign against our primary competitor in the market.
See also: launch
launch something against someone or something
to set something going against someone or something. The general launched an attack against the town. Claire launched a gossip attack against James.
See also: launch


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Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 60 min
Yeild: 2-2.5 dozen cupcakes
For the cupcakes, followed by strawberry filling ingredients which starts with strawberries:
- 3 cups flour (a gluten-free multi-flour blend will also work in place of wheat flour)
- 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 Tsp baking soda
- 1.5 cups raw cane sugar
- 0.5 cups brown sugar
- 1 Tsp salt
- 10 Tbsl vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tsp vanilla
- 2 cups cold water
- 2 cups fresh diced organic strawberries
- 0.5 cups raw cane sugar
- 2 Tbsp corn starch (and maybe 1 extra teaspoon depending on total thickness)
Cooking Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt until thoroughly mixed.
- Form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Add the oil (or applesauce if substituting), vanilla extract, lemon juice and cold water. Stir until completely combined and free of lumps.
- Grease the muffin tins with oil or nonstick spray, or line with parchment cups. Fill each well to about three-quarters full.
- Place the muffin tins in the center rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- While the cupcakes are baking, start your strawberry filling. Over medium heat, add the chopped strawberries to a saucepan and stir constantly as they heat up and begin to soften.
- When the strawberries are mostly liquid, add the sugar and corn starch. Continue to stir constantly for a few minutes more as the mixture thickens to a jelly-like in consistency.
- Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.
- When the cupcakes are done -- check that a toothpick inserted in the center of one cupcake comes out clean -- transfer the tins to a wire rack to cool.
- After the cupcakes have cooled, prepare them for the filling. Using a paring knife, cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake, going deep enough to allow plenty of filling but not so deep that you cut through to the bottom.
- Remove the cone and fill the space with the strawberry mix almost to the top but not quite.
- Cut the "iceberg" portion off the cone you pulled from the cupcake so you have just the thin disk for the top and replace the "lid" over the strawberry filling. The leftover portions of cupcake cones are perfect for snacking while you work!
- Decorate with a little powdered sugar or sliced strawberries, and serve.
Related posts on MNN:
- Recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (gluten-free)
- 5 easy eggless desserts
- 5 ways to add raw cocoa powder to your diet


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To mark the start of Wimbledon, we have teamed up with new charity Malaria No More UK to give away a tennis ball signed by top British tennis star Andy Murray!
Murray is a big supporter of Malaria No More UK, a groundbreaking new charity committed to ending suffering and death caused by malaria. Despite being a wholly preventable and treatable disease malaria still claims close to one million lives every year. Malaria No More UK is committed to ending this and you can be a part of it. A £5 donation will buy and deliver a life saving mosquito net to protect a mother and her child in Africa. To find out more about malaria, Andy's support and to donate please visit www.malarianomore.org.uk.
To win our special ball, signed by Murray, please answer the following question.
Question: Besides Andy Murray, name another sportsman who is also a member of the leadership council of Malaria No More UK.
Entry Deadline
Please e-mail your answer to firstname.lastname@example.com before Monday, 29th June. Entries received after the stipulated time will be disqualified and ineligible for consideration for prize.
Notification of Winners
The winner will be announced by the Organiser via e-mail and will be posted on this blog. The prize will be sent to the winner by Malaria No More UK via Royal Mail.
Additional Terms
By entering the competition you consent to receiving Malaria No More UK's newsletter. They won't inundate you with junk mail – they'll only send you information when it's useful.


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I had a nice patient who came in with some nice painting on her boot. She was with her grandchildren and they were scared of this CAM boot that was used to treat her foot problem. They were afraid until she pulled out the paint and let them color the boot. I had another patient who was going to develop a company that sold bling for CAM boots and things. This is another company that does the same their name is busted bling. Check out some of the designs.
To your health,
Dr. Donald Pelto


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Whether your needs include Construction Rentals, Purchase, Leasing, Parts or Service – we look forward to helping you find the right solution! We have all types of construction rental equipment including Boom Lifts, Scissor Lifts, Forklifts, Telehandlers, Rough Terrain, Light Towers, Trenchers, Skidsteers, Excavators and more. Our factory Trained and Certified Technicians will be a strong asset to help make sure your equipment is running and limiting downtime. Our goal is to win your business and keep it by building a strong relationship. We try to make the whole equipment rental process simple. It all starts with you calling us and "we will pick up the phone". Give us a call today – we are ready to help you with all of your construction rentals and answer all your questions.
Medley is your local construction rental source in Socorro, Horizon City, Fabens and the surrounding area in El Paso, Texas. We look forward in servicing you!
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- Prestigious gated
- Residential development
- First-floor purpose built apartment
- Elevator in block
- One designated parking space
- Three double bedrooms Separate kitchen Generous balcony overlooking communal gardens Gas fired central heating
- Two bathrooms
- Total floor area approx. 88 sq.m (947 sq.ft)
Full Description
The accommodation extends to approx. 88 sq.m (947 sq.ft) and comprises of a spacious entrance hallway which leads to a bright and spacious living room. There is also a west facing terrace balcony, accessed from the living room offering a picturesque view of the neighboring stone cut building, the imposing and beautiful church and the communal gardens within the development. There is a separate kitchen/breakfast room with a generous array of kitchen units, good counter space, and extensive tiling. There are three double bedrooms with the master bedroom having the benefit of an en-suite bathroom. There is also a main bathroom off the entrance hallway. The apartment block has an evelator. There is a surface car parking space. The property has gas fired central heating and double glazed windows.
The grounds of Chapelgate are professionally landscaped and presented to a most exemplary standard. The property is situated in close proximity to the M50, M1, Dublin airport, DCU, Bolton Street DIT, St. Patricks teacher training college and the Mater Hospital. There is an abundance of amenities including shops and restaurants not to mention the well renowned Botanic Gardens all just moments from your doorstep.
- Entrance Hall: (2.50m x 5.45m)
- bright, spacious hall way off which all accommodation radiates
- Living Room: (3.80m x 6.05m)
- spacious living room with feature feaux fireplace and sliding patio door to generous balcony overlooking communal gardens
- Balcony: (2.00m x 4.00m)
- Kitchen / Dining Room: (4.00m x 2.50m)
- with shaker style wall and floor mounted units, integrated oven, hob and extractor hood, plumbed for washing machine. Window overlooking communal gardens
- Bedroom 1: (6.30m x 2.50m)
- measurement including en-suite. Double bedroom with build in wardrobes. Ensuite shower room with wc and whb.
- Bedroom 2: (2.30m x 5.05m)
- double bedroom with built in wardrobe
- Bedroom 3: (4.10m x 2.35m)
- double bedroom with built in wardrobe
- Bathroom: (2.30m x 1.65m)
- with wall and floor tiling, bath, wc and whb
BER Details
BER No. 109322610
Energy Performance Indicator: 182.67
Contact Details
Address: 171 Howth Road, Dublin 3
Telephone: 01 8536016 or you can also email us at firstname.lastname@example.com
Any intending purchaser(s) shall accept that no statement, description or measurement contained in any newspaper, brochure, magazine, advertisement, handout, website or any other document or publication, published by the vendor or by Lisney, as the vendor's agent, in respect of the premises shall constitute a representation inducing the purchaser(s) to enter into any contract for sale, or any warranty forming part of any such contract for sale. Any such statement, description or measurement, whether in writing or in oral form, given by the vendor, or by Lisney as the vendor's agent, are for illustration purposes only and are not to be taken as matters of fact and do not form part of any contract. Any intending purchaser(s) shall satisfy themselves by inspection, survey or otherwise as to the correctness of same. No omission, misstatement, misdescription, incorrect measurement or error of any description, whether given orally or in any written form by the vendor or by Lisney as the vendor's agent, shall give rise to any claim for compensation against the vendor or against Lisney, nor any right whatsoever of rescission or otherwise of the proposed contract for sale. Any intending purchaser(s) are deemed to fully satisfy themselves in relation to all such matters. These materials are issued on the strict understanding that all negotiations will be conducted through Lisney.
Please note we have not tested any apparatus, fixtures, fittings, or services. Interested parties must undertake their own investigation into the working order of these items. All measurements are approximate and photographs provided for guidance only.


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Algorithm trading is a system of trading which facilitates transaction decision making in the financial markets using advanced mathematical tools.Here are the basic steps an algo trader have to go through his/her learning cycle to become a professional Algo Trader.
Why Trend Followers should care about India VIX
Recently India VIX had returned from the peak volatility of 36 during 28th august down to sub 20 levels.Now very low volatility is prevailing in our Indian markets. Trend followers, traditionally benefit from increasing volatility while other strategy player experience losses. History reveals movement from low volatility to higher volatility produces outsized trend following returns.


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the guardian)
Spikes in air pollution can heighten risk of chest infections, research suggests
Study of PM2.5 levels in Utah suggests increase in diagnoses of viral infections such as bronchitis follows even brief upticks in pollution
Nicola DavisLast modified on Fri 13 Apr 2018 11.39 BST
Even short-term increases in air pollution are linked to a higher risk of developing viral chest infections that turn into conditions such as bronchiolitis, new research suggests.
The study, carried out by scientists in the US, looked at levels of tiny particles in the air known as PM2.5s across eight locations along the Wasatch Front in Utah, including Salt Lake City. This area features a string of towns and is home the majority of the state's population and, due to various factors, experiences large variations in air pollution.
The team then looked at the number of people who turned up at local healthcare centres and hospitals and were diagnosed with acute lower respiratory infections during the same period of time.
The results, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, reveal that an increase in diagnoses of such infectionsappears to follow an uptick in air pollution in the previous weeks.
"There may be some connection between air pollution and lower acute respiratory infections, whether it is that air pollution causes the airway to become more susceptible to infection, or once you are infected it may cause the body to respond less vigorously to the infection," said Dr Benjamin Horne, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, adding that it could also be that high pollution drives people to stay indoors, increasing the chance of passing infections around.
The team analysed healthcare data from more than 146,000 individuals who were diagnosed with an acute lower respiratory infection between 1999 and 2016. More than three quarters of diagnoses were made in children under the age of two years old, the majority of whom had bronchiolitis. In some cases, the infections proved deadly: 26 children and 81 adults died within a month of diagnosis.
The reason for the high proportion of young children, said Horne, might be down them being more vulnerable to infections or adults being more likely to nurse their own infections at home.


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Don't Miss
Lockhart Hires Mathis Head Coach
Updated: June 2, 2011
2011 Coaching Change: Lockhart Lions
Old Head Coach: Robin Rapp -- Leaving after leading the Lions to a 6-15 record over the last two seasons.
New Head Coach: Paul Kilby -- From 3A Mathis where he led the Pirates to a 18-7 record over the last two seasons.
Team News: The Lions have had only 1 winning season during the last 9 years (8-4 in 2008).
Click To see all the coaching changes for 2011
By: Michael Wright
Lone Star Gridiron
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Heat the tomato sauce in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onions, the chopped garlic and sliced chile pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat, stir in the chopped cilantro and allow to cool completely.
Halve the avocado, remove the pit and using a knife, score the flesh into squares and scoop out of the shell. Combine the seafood mixture with the spicy tomato sauce, avocado, lime juice and 1 Tbsp of BLiS Blast Hot Pepper Sauce (or more to taste).
Basic Seafood Mix
6 large prawns (16 – 20 size)
4 - 6 oz bay scallops
1/2 lb fresh squid (calamari) tubes & tentacles, cleaned
1 tsp sea salt
Remove the shells from the prawns (if any), leaving the tail intact. Clean the squid if it hasn't been cleaned already, removing the internal organs, "quill" and beak. Cut away the head & eyes, leaving the tentacles intact. Slice the tubes crosswise into rings.
Prepare an ice water bath by filling a large bowl halfway with ice and water; set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The prawns, scallops and squid will cook very quickly; take care not to overcook them or they'll become tough and rubbery.
First, add the prawns and reduce the heat to low and wait one minute. Now add the squid tentacles and lastly, the bay scallops and squid rings. IMMEDIATELY TURN OFF THE HEAT. Cover the pot and wait for two minutes. Quickly drain the seafood and plunge into the ice water bath until cool. Drain well and place into a large nonreactive bowl.


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Rocket Pop by Alex Tinsley
patterns > Wild Hunt Designs and 1 more...
> Rocket Pop
© Alexandra Tinsley
© Alexandra Tinsley
© Alexandra Tinsley
© Alexandra Tinsley
© Alexandra Tinsley
Rocket Pop
by Alex Tinsley
This pattern is available for $6.50 USD buy it now
Note: This pattern requires the knitter to use a chart.
Nothing says summer-in-the-Midwest like a mysteriously patriotic popsicle from the back of a truck! Now you can enjoy some of that artificially-flavored, retro-ish Americana all year long (or, you know, pick another three favorite colors.) Simple cables swim in a stockinette background for a delightfully chaotic look that's easy to execute, and the brim can be worn up or down depending on the level of slouch you desire.
(And yeah, I know my colors are technically out of order- I liked 'em this way, but you can do it blue- white-red if you're a true popsicle loyalist.)
About this pattern
by Alex Tinsley
26 projects, in 15 queues
overall rating of 4.8 from 14 votes
average difficulty from 11 ratings
About this yarn
by Malabrigo Yarn
100% Merino
210 yards / 100 grams
145020 projects
stashed 80169 times
rating of 4.7 from 19836 votes
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Posts by: Mike Tebbutt
Leki Micro Trail Vario Trekking Poles For Trail Running
Mike TebbuttAug 12, 20183
Trekking poles have gotten lighter weight and more packable over the years. They are compact and easy to use. They can help you...
Salomon S-Lab Sense 6 SG Review
Mike TebbuttJul 11, 20171
Salomon leads the industry making the best trail running shoes out there. The Salomon Sense 6 SG is an elite trail shoe for serious...
Desolation Wilderness Overnighter
Mike TebbuttSep 12, 20161
Follow along on a one night backpacking trip to Desolation Wilderness with TMS ambassador Mike Tebbutt and his crew of humans and dogs...
Topo Athletic MT-2 Shoe Review
Mike TebbuttMay 24, 20164
Walking up to the shoe wall, my eyes immediately were drawn to the Topos, a brand I had never even heard of. Check out Iron Tebby's review...
Mike TebbuttFeb 11, 2016Like
Field Test: TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbutt breaks in Scarpa's new Freedom SL boot at the Benson Hut on the Pacific Crest
Tahoe Rim Trail Unsupported Fastest Known Time Report
Mike TebbuttJul 16, 2015Like
TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbutt's Tahoe Rim Trail Unsupported Fastest Known Time Report!
Brooks PureGrit 3 Trail Running Shoes Review
Mike TebbuttJun 22, 2015Like
Looking for great construction, durability and eco-friendly manufacturing in your next trail running shoe? Check out the Brooks PureGrit 3!
Thin Tahoe Winter Provides Us With Multi-Sport Paradise
Mike TebbuttMar 11, 2015Like
TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbutt outlines all there is to do and be active in Tahoe during another low-snow winter.
Backpacking the High Sierras with Mike and Liz Tebbutt
Mike TebbuttDec 16, 2014Like
TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbutt hiked an 80-mile stretch of the John Muir Trail with his wife Liz. This is their inside scoop on the hike,...
TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbut Is Ready To Race Western States 100
Mike TebbuttJun 26, 20141
We're wishing the best of luck, speed, power and perseverance for TMS Ambassador Mike Tebbutt, who will run the Western States 100-mile...


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Audio Sample
Umberto Eco
The Name of the Rose
Read by Sean Barrett with Nicholas Rowe & Neville Jason
This hugely engaging story of murder, superstition, religious politics and drama in a medieval monastery was one of the most striking novels to appear in the 1980s. The Name of the Rose is a thrilling story enriched with period detail and laced with tongue-in-cheek allusions to fictional characters, the most striking of which is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, who displays many characteristics of Sherlock Holmes. Although he looks at the past through a postmodern lens, Eco catapults his readers into the dark medieval world as Brother William tries to discover why people are dying inexplicably and nastily in the monastery. There is something not altogether right within the library that is the pride of the establishment… The old man Adso, who was an impressionable novice at the time, tells the story.
16 CDs
Running Time: 21 h 05 m
More product details
ISBN: 978-1-84379-762-3 Digital ISBN: 978-1-84379-763-0 Cat. no.: NA0145 Download size: 324 MB BISAC: FIC004000 Released: September 2013
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Sean Barrett adopts a reminiscent air as Adso, now an old man, tells of a time when he was a novice traveling with Brother William. Brother William was tasked with investigating charges of heresy at an abbey in 1327 and ended up also solving a series of murders. Barrett deftly handles the Latin phrases and the long passages of church history and politics that are woven into the interviews and inquiries of Brother William. The general tone is reflective of the quiet monastery setting; however, Barrett finds opportunity for artfully varying the pace and attitude. Chapter introductions and the preface are narrated simply and clearly by Nicholas Rowe and Neville Jason, respectively.
J.E.M., AudioFile


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Volume for drapes
More work done on the squirrel and background area. (4).
More work done on the squirrel and background area. (4).
Come enjoy a feast for the eyes and ears as well as the palate! Six of Victoria's finest art galleries present Gallery Walk 2008, from 5 to 8 pm November 27th. There will be horse-drawn carriage tours of the galleries, all of whom are celebrating the season and the 11th anniversary of the Victoria Gallery [...]
Bubble, bubble - it's still in the pot boiling away. More work done. (3)
 Bit more work on the face and hair. (6.5)
More time spent tonight (6)
Worked on it a bit more today. (7)
Courtesy of the website (Squirrel, Squirrel, Squirrel) I found this little gem. I had no idea what was out there. My mind is blown. This week Wired Magazine's GeekDad blogger named his Top 10 list of obscure superheros who deserve their own movies. You can also read about Squirrel Girl on wikipedia!
A bit more work done. The underpainting is almost complete, then I will begin on the detail work. (3)
I bit more work today (6).


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LEEC appoint Asahi Life Science Co. Ltd as our official distributor for Japan
LEEC Ltd first met Asahi Life Science Co. Ltd at Medica in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2009.
Following the meeting Asahi Life Science president Mr. Takahashi visited LEEC's head office and factory in Nottingham. Following this visit Asahi Life Science invited Paul Venners (LEEC Managing Director) and Mark Darton (LEEC Business Development Manager) to Japan to help Asahi Life Science Launch LEEC's products into the Japanese market.
Following the success of the show exhibiting the new LEEC CO2 incubator at Bio-Expo, July 2010, an official contract was signed by both companies which appointed Asahi Life Science as official distributors for LEEC Laboratory products in Japan.
LEEC very much look forward to a long working relationship with Asahi Life Science Co. Ltd.
LEEC Culture Safe CO2 incubator model Touch 190S. The world's first 200°C sterilisation


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Thursday, May 31, 2007
I am just about out the door to go and teach in Braidwood for three days. It takes 2.5 hours to get to the airport, so there is still a bit of a drive before I hop on that plane! I know I have shared a picture of All the Sweet Perfumes of Arabia before but it wasn't finished at that time- it is now. All the hand quilting is done, the binding is on and it really does remind me of Damascus- the rich colours of the old decorations and ceramics and of course the textiles, the density of the smell of perfume- the layers and layers of history and stories.
Got to keep packing!
Yep and I am still looking to rent a small place in France for awhile- a year or two at least.
Posted by Dijanne Cevaal at 10:48 AM
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How to Cut Hardboard
Hardboard siding provides an alternative to wood or vinyl for covering the exterior of a home. Hardboard, also known as cement fibre siding, is a relatively low-maintenance product that is easy to paint and seal, making it an easy choice for homeowners looking to install and forget.
When installing, you will probably have to cut some of the siding pieces to fit properly on the wall. However, using basic woodcutting blades will serve only to waste your time, since those blades will quickly become dull against the hardboard. Instead, use special blades to carefully and accurately cut the boards.
Wear a dust mask and protective goggles when cutting hardboard siding. Fibre cement produces more dust than regular wood siding, so you must protect yourself.
Set up your work station outdoors to avoid making a mess with the dust. Cover any nearby bushes, cars or other objects with tarps to protect them from the dust.
Attach a tungsten carbide blade to a circular power saw. These blades are specially designed to withstand the hardboard.
Lay your piece of hardboard face down on your workstation. Score your cutting line with a utility knife to give you a guideline to saw.
Cut through the board with the circular saw, starting at one end and working your way through the board. If necessary due to thickness, make multiple shallow passes with the saw instead of a single deep pass, to ensure that you cut directly into the scored line. Continue until your cut is complete.
- Many professional installers use siding shears to cut hardboard. These shears are extremely effective and can limit dust, but are also extremely expensive and not worth the price for a single installation. If you want to try these shears, check with local hardware or rental stores to see if you can lease shears for a single project.
- Some professional saws include a dust collecting mechanism. These types of saws can help you cut down on the mess from cutting hardboard.


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Feeding the growing demand for innovation in government.
What do robotics, 3-D printing or virtual currencies mean to public CIOs? We pose those questions in this issue's 6 Emerging Technologies and What They Mean to CIOs feature. Our goal for the story was twofold. First, we wanted an assessment of whether these and other emerging technologies could one day become important to you. Second, we wanted to spark some fresh thinking and conversation around using new technologies to solve government challenges.
Others at e.Republic, Public CIO's parent company, and I have been talking a lot lately about the growing demand for innovation in government. Policymakers are asking for transformative uses of technology that literally change the cost and performance equation in key policy areas like transportation, education, public safety and health care. And in many cases, they're asking public CIOs for guidance.
Lately we've come across some interesting methods for promoting innovative thinking, and we've tried to expose them through coverage in our magazines and websites.
For instance, Orlando, Fla., forms diverse teams of employees — known as innovation teams — and tasks them with solving a particular problem. "We mix it with different age groups — we try to bring the drive of the youth with the wisdom of the senior staff members," said Orlando CIO Rosa Akhtarkhavari. The story is similar in the Northern California city of Rancho Cordova, which uses "Matrix Teams" to tackle community issues. The idea, said City Manager Ted Gaebler, is to drive outside-the-box thinking by mixing together city employees with different skill sets and backgrounds.
Palo Alto, located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, is one of a growing number of governments to create an innovation council. The idea isn't particularly new — Colorado launched one in 2007 and San Diego created one in 2009 — but it appears to be gaining favor. And it's hard to think of a city better positioned than Palo Alto to exploit the concept, given the amount of technology brainpower located in its backyard. The council's initial roster includes representatives from Xerox, SAP and Stanford University, as well as Web 2.0 guru Tim O'Reilly. "We want to partner with these people and, together, create opportunities," said city CIO Jonathan Reichental.
Within a few months, North Carolina expects to launch an innovation center to test new technologies and determine their usefulness in an enterprise environment. For instance, state CIO Chris Estes wants to use the new center to test end-user devices before settling on a strategy for replacing aging desktops. The center will be housed in repurposed state office space, and it'll be open to agency CIOs, members of the academic community, vendors and local software developers.
Meanwhile, California is studying procurement changes designed to make state contracting more attractive to new companies and fresh solutions. "We're looking at changing procurement models because we need to find ways of enabling innovation," CIO Carlos Ramos said at e.Republic's Beyond the Beltway conference earlier this year. A high-profile procurement task force is expected to deliver recommendations soon for updating California's technology purchasing policies.
If you have other ideas for sparking innovation, we'd like to hear from you. Let's continue the conversation.