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 Life, Adventure, Family, Writing what else is there? Random thoughts. |
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WELCOME TO: GEMINI RISING   UPDATED INTRO 30 JUNE 2025: Just a little about me. I've been married for 33 years this past NOV and currently live in Southern California, but I grew up in New Hampshire. I've got 2 boys who are young adults. I work as a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. I enjoy my job a lot. Still. If you can believe that. I love to write. Thankfully both of my boys achieved Eagle Scout. My Scouting days are over and I'm back to focusing on my writing. I like to get out in nature, drink coffee and watch football. Here's a little bio about my zodiac. GEMINI: Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive; when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are. Like children they are lively, and happy, if circumstances are right for them, or egocentric, imaginative and restless. Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them. They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts. Geminians can be successful in many walks of life though their general characteristics tend to make them unreliable. They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be: debaters, diplomats (though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice), orators, preachers (brilliant rather than profound), teachers, authors, poets, journalists, or lawyers. CURRENT BLOG PROJECT:
RULES: 1. Blog has to be more than 2 paragraphs, some people have tried putting a one-liner response. That won't cut it. 2.You need to respond at least once every week to other participant's blog posts. This is a 7 week activity= 7 blog responses within each of the weeks. It's fun getting to see what others noted that you might have missed or hadn't thought about. 3. You don't need to blog everyday, catch-ups are allowed if you want to go for the bigger prize award. But each entry must be a separate entry. So, if you do all 51, you'll have 51 entries. 4. Please tag me Lyn's a Witchy Woman   in your entry so I can keep track of your entries for the prizes.5. Posting in a book is preferred to keep the forum from being clogged. You can use any book you want. ALONG FOR THE RIDE: HOST: Lyn's a Witchy Woman Princess Megan Rose   and her wolf, PeytonSung'manitu  and his pet rock, Peachy AmyJo-Downhill slide begins!  SandraLynn  AmyJo-Downhill slide begins! Richard ~ Looking for Luck!  WakeUpAndLive  and his dog SproutKrista Jellyfish is in Tenerife! 🌴 RECOGNIZATION: 10-24 Entries, MB plus 10K Awardicon 25-50 Entries, MB plus 25K Awardicon 51 Entries MB plus 50K Awardicon Merit Badges Collected from Virtual Blogging &Virtual Blogging Friends: ![Merit Badge in Let Dreams Take Wing
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To my upcoming virtual traveling blog companion. Dream big and fly high!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Let_Dreams_Take_Wing-2335469_1.gif) ![Merit Badge in Normal Is Boring
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here's to another week of creating adventures!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Normal_Is_Boring.gif) BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: SEPTEMBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Nonfiction
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Congrats on your Honorable Mention in Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Nonfiction.gif) Big thanks to WakeUpAndLive for hosting the contest! OCTOBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Halloween
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Congratulations on completing the 13 Poetic Days of Halloween.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Halloween-2026567.gif) Big Thanks to Lyn's a Witchy Woman for hosting the contest!Find me at: WEBSITE: http://www.stephanieburkhart.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor GOOD READS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031660.Stephanie_Burkhart YOU TUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee  WARNING I intend to be open, honest, and forthright. No topic is off limits from religion to you name it, I'm going there. If you think you might be offended...back up now - this blog isn't for you. For those who "dare"  check out the "Gemini Rising..." 
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| I wanted to get back to this sooner, but this is first chance I've had to get back to it. BTW -- Happy New Year!! 2020 is in the house!! From my last BLOG: WHAT HAPPENED NOW IN 2019? Courtney Milan, a well known romance author of Chinese decent recently tweeted criticizing remarks about another romance author. The other author is Kathryn Lynn Davis who wrote "Somewhere Lies the Moon," in 1999. One of the characters in Davis' novel is of Chinese heritage. Milan called the book "a F*** racist mess." WHY? So who is Courtney Milan? Who is Kathryn Lynn Davis? What's the plot of "Somewhere Lies the Moon?" Why didn't Milan criticize Davis in 1999? Why do it now in 2019, 20 years later? And what did the RWA do about it? It is an organization that is about the writers, the romance writing process? What happened to start this and how can be resolved? WHO IS COURTNEY MILAN Courtney Milan is the pen name for Heidi Bond, an author who grew up in Southern California. She has degrees in math and chemistry. She attended and graduated law school at the Seattle University of Law. She's been a writer since she was ten. Her earliest book was published in 2009. Is a proud of supporter of diversity in the work place. WHO IS KATHRYN LYNN DAVIS She is an author who wrote "Somewhere Lies the Moon" in 1999. As mentioned above, Milan said one of the characters in the book is a racial ".... mess." The RWA has over 10,000 members and over 150 chapters so it is very big. The mission is to advance the business interest of career focused romance writers through networking and advocacy. Boy, does this get complicated! Here's a good blog post about what happened and when it happened. https://www.claireryanauthor.com/blog/2019/12/27/the-implosion-of-the-rwa In a "simpler" world -- Milan has spoken out supporting diversity in romance writing, HOWEVER, how she "attacks" peers regarding diversity is what generated her ethics complaints. (Name calling in tweets) NOV 19 2019, the RWA ethics committee decided to recommend a punishment of suspension of membership for a year and a lifetime band against holding a leadership for Milan. 17 DEC 2019, the RWA accepts the ethics committee recommendation. When Milan's "discipline" has been announced, romance writers go crazy. The RWA takes it on the chin as writers leave the organization and criticize how the RWA handled Milan's issues. RWA Leadership may resign -- judges for the RITA have pulled out. It's madness. I don't know what will happen with the RWA, it's leadership, or the organization. Here's a post by NBC that puts a lot of the controversy in perspective. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/romance-writers-america-racism-row-matters... Milan has a right to criticize others -- not bully them. Diversity should be explored and in the romance genre. Readers are African-American, Asian, Hispanic and White and have the right to read romance with characters they identify with. So here's the food for thought: Did Milan draw attention to racist writing in the romance genre or did she draw attention to poor writing? Can authors handle criticism of their writing? Will successful authors loose money because of Milan's criticism? I am a writer. I've been writing since I was six. I've grown as a writer over the years. The challenge, I've found, when writing a historical or writing about different cultures is to pay history/different cultures respect. Write a quality product and people will read. Write about characters who are different and write about them with respect. ****** Back to my personal prelude --- I'm a writer. I'm not a financially well off author, but I enjoy writing. I always aspired to be a member of the RWA when I was "younger" but honestly, I just want to be a part of a supportive network of writers who give constructive critiques, not criticism. I want to write a good story with interesting characters who are rich in diversity and culture. I want to have fun writing. The drama is too much for me. I believe in treating all people with respect. I may be one person, but hopefully, a better way starts with one. I'm very sad and disheartened to see this happening in the "bigger" writing community around me, and I ultimately, I just wanted to share and vent. Thanks for letting me. |
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