Waiting for Morning Icons

It's got rare that I recommend fanfics but I want to recommend this one:

The Bends by lifeasacloud

It's AU, Sasuke suffers from some incurable, potentially fatal disease that he has inherited from his father, who has died from it, his mother and Itachi, who has not inherited the illness, are still alive. He falls in love with Naruto, who has the ability to foretell when someone is dying.

Sasuke's illness is kept in check by medication, but more and more often they fail now, or he cannot deal with the side effects, so Kakashi, who is a doctor in this fic, suggests surgery to him. The surgery is "experimental", however, and Naruto senses that Sasuke is not going to survive it. At the present point of the story, it is not clear whether Sasuke is going to listen to the advice of his doctors, or to Naruto's advice.

( rather an interpretation than a review of the story )

The latest volume of the American Shonen Jump, didn't have much Naruto stuff, but I've scanned one page anyway.
This issue contained chapter 454, 455 and 456, in which we learn about a new jutsu...

( Who's Your Kage? - Centerfold jutsu )

The non-Naruto stuff was much more interesting I have to admit;
- One Piece has made an enormous time skip; they've started the 'Impel Down' arc, which is chapter 525 of volume 54.
- This issue has the last chapters of YuYu Hakusho; the manga has ended.
- This issue also published the last chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX; the story will continue in volume 5, which will be on sale in October.
- Next month we will get Toriko, a '3 Issue Preview' of a new series.
(That also leaves room for the start of another new series, but I wouldn't mind if Tegami Bachi would get more pages in the Shonen Jump; I was squeeing for the - hopefully - upcoming return of Gauche Suede :)

Slightly belated congratulations to Heidi Cullinan (aka amazoniowan) on the publication of her first novel, Hero which was officially released today.

From the Dreamspinner Press website:

Hal Porter is no man’s hero; he’s just another Los Angeles construction worker. So when he sees a building appear on what the day before was an empty plot of weeds—a site where people have been found dead—Hal knows a guy like him should steer clear of whatever is going on. But a vision at the building's window draws him inside, and there Hal finds Morgan, a magical shapeshifter held captive by a rival clan... and Hal’s the only one who can save him.

It doesn’t take Hal long to realize he’s in over his head, not only because the clan has powers beyond his imagination but also because he’s fallen in love with Morgan. There’s no escape for them now without a hero to break the curse, and Hal knows it can’t be him. But as Hal and Morgan work together, they discover gifts far more powerful than magic and that heroes aren’t always in shapes they expect.

I have my shiny eBook copy and am thrilled. I'll also need a paperback copy for bragging-and-autograph purposes, but I'll be getting that after my next paycheck.

So one more time: YAY HEIDI!!!

Cate

Since NaNoWriMo went so exceedingly well this year, I started wondering about having another go at Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I've tried it several times and made great progress with each attempt, but have not yet kept steady until the end.

I was wondering if anyone is game to get up a community and do The Artist's Way together. I'm thinking posts where we can report completing Morning Pages, the Artist's Dates, etc., as well as (optional) posts of each week's activities and what we're getting out of them.

I volunteer to do the organizing and, where necessary, the gentle poking. I'm currently thinking of good community names and will give another invitation in a week or so.

I'm thinking of a start in the new year, which should give those who don't already have a copy of Cameron a chance to get one.

Anyone game to join?

Cate

3 posts in 3 days! Who-hoo!! It's been just a day over 2 years since I last posted one of my Fabulous Quotes sets and people have requested more.

This set focuses on Beauty, Language, Love, Imagination, Music, Books, and Reading. With quotes from Lauren Bacall, Muhammed Ali, St. Thomas Aquinas, Willam Blake and the Romantics, Thomas Jefferson, Carl Sandburg, Steve Martin and many others!

[65] Fabulous Quotes

Teaser:


( When I am dead, I hope it may be said: his sins were scarlet, but his books were read... )

I had a request from kcscribbler a while ago for a FO banner from Blue Carbuncle, and I bet she thought I'd forgotten! Here they are - 88 glorious, Christmasy Sherlock icons and banners!

[84] Blue Carbuncle icons
[04] Blue Carbuncle Friends Only Banners

Teaser:


( My name is Sherlock Holmes, it is my business to know what other people don't... )

There were so many scenes in this chapter I wanted to highlight in my summary, but I refrained and limited myself to what I thought were the most important. Sometimes I use Photobucket, this time I used Gimp to edit and saved them on my hard drive. It seems I never use the same technique twice in a row to insert photos.

I had a whole paragraph on the prospect of Sakura getting any where near Sasuke, but deleted it as I ventured into a pairing discussion/mine field. Will leave this for another single topic post. Anyway, check out the handy dandy lj-cut below for the rest.

( Read all about it . . .  )

Quick post to let non-Twitters know that I have finally found names for my mermaid.

Her underwater name is Ghita. When she is on land, the humans decide they need something to call her and she selects Jette from their offerings.

Cate

Finally! After a horrible episode 135-136 again we have nice and crisp animation. So I couldn't help myself and started to take screencaps. Behind the cut, 10x Itachi, Sasuke and two of the omake at the end, in which Tsunade and Shizune promote the new data/character book.
The episode spans the manga chapters 338-390. I have a feeling that the episode tomorrow will be the end of the Itachi vs Sasuke fight.

( screencaps of episode 137 - enjoy! )

To kick off this holiday season, I bring you a large batch from my favorite childhood Christmas movie. The Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of Nutcracker with sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's not available on dvd, but you can catch it over on hulu - here


[184] Nutcracker icons
[004] Nutcracker Friends Only Banners

Teaser:


( Christmas long ago was the memory of a dream that seemed never to end... )

In most of the stories I write, I have a certain moment, usually near the end, toward which I'm writing,

This was the one for my NaNoWriMo project.

( Read more... )

In other NaNoWriMo news, I'm finding that the decompression is an odd sensation. Part of me is tempted to ship the rough draft off to some beta readers, but the rest of me screams continually about everything that I already need to change. Not to mention a belated inner prude that worries about certain *ahem* types of scenes, despite the fact that they've sent me more more graphic ones...

I think I need to take another day. After that we'll see.

Cate

I'm exhausted, and I think I'm headed to bed pretty early tonight.

But I got to the end! The whole thing clocked out at just over 58,000 words. There are dropped subplots and contradictions and researchless facts galore. But as Kat and I were saying yesterday. A novel's like a garden, it needs a little manure in order to grow.

And I have a plan for December. I'm going to use Scrivener split this draft into sections, as per Scott Westerfeld's advice and see exactly what it is I have, then start working on the changes I already know are needed, such as those two characters who became the same person in the last 10,000 words, and the stuff I glossed over, like the love interest's entire backstory.

I also really, really need to find a name for my mermaid. I love that I've written an entire draft with placeholder names for all but two characters.

In the meantime, I am in possession of a lovely beta-read of a friend's NaNo novel.

Oh, and there's this patient little sweetheart, who's rather happy to be back. We'll be going back to have another look at that outline of Twenty Years After that was giving us so much trouble.

Cate

I really, really, really want to finish this book before I validate. It's a strange idea, but it seems right to me. I know finishing the story is not a requirement in the NaNo rules, but it would be a satisfaction well worth striving for.

So as of now, I have slightly more than twenty-four hours to finish -- and here's the situation.

( Read more... )

I'm still going to try. But I am going to be realistic. If it gets to 10pm tomorrow night and I'm still not finished, I reserve the right to switch to point-form.

For tonight, I'm watching Star Trek IV (which my DVD player suddenly likes again) and then going to bed.

Love,
Cate

Margaret's Museum will always be one of my favourite films because it has the best punchline ever.

If you haven't seen it, please do.

Cate

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Looks like I had it easy last night. I'm reading the news and weather reports to see if I'll be able to get my car or whether I should risk a parking ticket. Commutes twice as long as mine were common, and there was at least one fatality: a young man (21) was in a multiple-vehicle pile-up. As he was trying to get to the side ditch he was struck by another car. All my sympathy to his family, and to the poor person who hit him.

On another note, it's interesting how everyone becomes an expert in city planning each time we get a storm like this. People have ridiculous expectations, suggest measures that would be impossible to implement, and immediately call for the mayor's blood, or at least his impeachment. I'm just glad I don't work in municiple government.

Cate

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Cate. You're making a blog post about your drive home? Really?

Yes, because what is normally a 10-12 minute trip took two and a half hours!!

We got our first official dump of snow this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was that horrible Chinooky kind of snow that melts on impact and then refreezes.

I nearly rear-ended someone on the first hill, but managed to swerve/stop in time and got myself onto the main road that would take me downtown. Then I proceeded to sit with my foot nearly constantly on the brake for two hours until I got that far.

By this time, I decided I would rather not try to attempt the flyover out of downtown (over the river), or the final hill up to my neighbourhood, especially since I don't have snow tires yet. I thought I knew where I could find a parking spot and luckily I found one free. I locked up up the car, loaded myself up with my junk and started to walk.

Crossing the river on the pedestrian bridge, I noticed that the flyover was empty but for on lonely transit bus with its hazard lights blinking. I could only feel bad for the passengers that had to walk down off of it.

Got into my neighbourhood and at the foot of that final hill found that it was also closed, again with one lonely, abandoned transit bus. So even if I had managed to a avoid the flyover, I still wouldn't have made it home by car.

I do have to get up in the morning and moved the car (parking downtown is not free on Saturdays), so I'm only hoping that the weather improves a bit.

The one upside was that I passed the liquor store on my way and they had one bottle left of my favourite Shiraz, of which I will now proceed to partake.

Cate

My street...

I've download a scanlation from Mangainternalstream (via Mangahelpers.com), but it wasn't a very good one; the last page of the chapter was page #9 in the .rar file. Several other pages were mixed up, though the scanlation itself seemed to be ok. So I had to read SleepyFans' scanlation too :)
I'll use the pictures of the Mangainternalstream scanlation though.

( A quick chapter review with spoilers and pictures )

I haven't actually validated, as I want to finish the story before I do that. (It'll be more satisfying.) But nevertheless, I currently stand at 50,187 words.

Boo - yah!

Cate

x-posted to amazon_lj_nano

It's time for another picture of ( Naruto from the second artbook )

As the time until end of the November approaches zero, the craziness of Cate's Tuesday Teasers approaches infinity.

( How does one return across a burnt bridge? )

Cate