Posted by Daphne on April 12th, 2007 — Posted in Current Events, Environmental Issues, Legacy of Blood
For a story I’m writing that’s set in the future, I needed to research this sea level rise I’ve been hearing about. With the temperature rise from global warming, the sea levels will also rise, for two different reasons. For one thing, it’s basic physics that water expands as its temperature rises. As the temperature of the earth rises, the temperature of the oceans and all other water on the earth will also rise. As they rise, the water will expand, and the sea levels will rise. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on March 11th, 2007 — Posted in Legacy of Blood
Did you know vampires are fascinated by counting? Or that plants such as hawthorn or a branch of wild rose will repel them? I didn’t either, but as part of researching vampires for my novel, I learned quite a few things I didn’t know before. Something else I didn’t know was that Dracula wasn’t the first novel written about vampires; just the most famous. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on March 2nd, 2007 — Posted in Legacy of Blood, Pandemics
A few days ago I wrote about some research I’d done about pandemics. At the same time, I also learned about disease transmission. Those flu pandemics that hit fast and burned out after several months were all airborne pathogens (diseases). We’re all familiar with airborne disease – it’s why we cover our noses when we sneeze or our mouths when we cough. The disease spreads into the air through our coughing and sneezing and then other people breathe it in and are infected. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on February 12th, 2007 — Posted in Legacy of Blood, Pandemics
I recently did a little research into pandemics and pathogens for a story I’m writing. I discovered some very interesting stuff, like – there were more pandemics in the 1900’s than I knew about. I knew there was one in 1918, but apparently there were two smaller flu pandemics as well, in 1957-8 and 1968-9. They were bad enough that 70,000 died in America in the first one and 34,000 in the second. That’s not as many as the 1918 flu (675,000 dead in the U.S., including at least one of my great-grandparents), but it’s still a lot of people. I’m yet again amazed by what we *don’t* learn in school. This other site talks about even more epidemics in the 1960’s that were apparently not as bad, but significant enough to be mentioned. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on February 7th, 2007 — Posted in Legacy of Blood, Writing Popular Fiction
(If you haven’t read day 0 and day 1, you might want to check them out first.)
I woke the next morning with butterflies. First up that morning: my first critique group. The last time I was in a face-to-face critique group was 1989, and I don’t remember the experience fondly. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on December 29th, 2006 — Posted in Internet Marketing, Novel Writing
I found this great article: 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job on Steve Pavlina’s blog, and it reminded me of a book I read in the month or two before I quit my job: Making a Living Without a Job
by Barbara Winter. It helped a lot in shifting my mind from “employee” to “self-employed”. And while it contains a lot of the same ideas as in the Steve Pavlina article, it also gives ideas for ways to make money quickly, when you’re just starting out or when you hit a low spot, and how to make that transition into having no “job.” Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on November 20th, 2006 — Posted in Internet Marketing, NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog… in late October, I joined StomperNet. Since then, I’ve been just swamped. I’m learning a huge amount, but (naturally) it’s taking a lot of time. Considering the state of my finances, it’s very needed! Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on November 9th, 2006 — Posted in Current Events, Internet Marketing, NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing
I’m thrilled to pieces that the democrats did so well in the midterm elections. Yippee! Hooray!
Now to keep their feet to the fire. There’s a lot to be done, and a lot to undo, and if they screw this up, it’ll hurt our chances of taking the White House in ‘08. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on November 1st, 2006 — Posted in NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing
It’s nearing midnight on October 31. I suppose you think that means we’re getting close to the witching hour. But no! At 12:01am on November 1, that yearly trial begins… it’s NaNoWriMo!
I’m probably not going to start word one until I get up tomorrow morning (something about starting off fresh) but I’m getting a little tingle watching the clock, all the same. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on September 30th, 2006 — Posted in Application, Cats, General, Good Reading, Novel Writing, Writing Popular Fiction
I’ve been so busy lately. My parents came to visit for a week, and my cat is sick. He’s going in for a procedure next week, and hopefully it will clear up a lot of his problems. The siding is finally finished, but… there’s a bit more that needs to be done. I need to find the money for it. I haven’t been writing much; instead, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the business and trying to make a little money. I’m running out. 
Oh, and I was in a wedding. And I applied for the MFA program at Seton Hill. Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on August 15th, 2006 — Posted in General, Legacy of Blood, Novel Writing
Welcome to my new home. Not too far from the old, just down the block and all that. (For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, today I moved from my test blog to this nice new permanent blog, and brought along most of the posts from the old one.) Read more...
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Posted by Daphne on August 2nd, 2006 — Posted in Legacy of Blood, NaNoWriMo, Novel Writing
Signed up for a bunch of writing dares today – Unfinished Business at the end of the month, this weekend’s marathon. And of course I’m in the middle of the July/August Dare. I’m also planning on the outline marathon in the middle of this month, then the one in October prepping for nano, and of course Nanowrimo itself. I also set up the neat countdown up above (at least, it’ll be there until Nano, then I’ll take it down and maybe put something else up there. Read more...
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