One of my favorite musicals is Les Miserables, and I enjoyed the segment from last night's Oscar ceremony. Did you see it? What did you think? I'll confess, Eponine was always my favorite character.

Eponine is a wonderful character and the actress they chose for the movie has a lovely, rich voice. But Anne Hathaway blew me away--I had no idea she could pull off such a heartrending role.

I love the play and was hesitant to see the movie, not a fan of most film versions of live theatricals. We went the day after Christmas and I loved it. The director's decision to have the actors sing live in the moment made all the difference. Anne Hathaway tears your heart out and it's so cool that she got to perform the same role as her mom did before her.

Taking Flight
by Adrian R. Magnuson
Still free? Click Here to find out! Jeremy Walsh’s parents assume he’s been abducted by the elderly man he met on a cross-country flight, but it’s the other way around.

Share in the journey of two unlikely companions who meet in midair: 13-year-old Jeremy, sent against his will by his career-absorbed father to spend the summer with his bipolar mother in New York, and Harry Herndon, elderly, one-legged and afflicted with mid-stage Alzheimer’s, who escapes the confinement of home for what may be his last adventure.

Outcasts of sorts, they begin their cross-country getaway, trailed by Harry’s wife and Jeremy’s parents, each of whom threaten to cut their journey short. The story that follows is a race against time and circumstance as the two quickly bond over their mutual love of birding while experiencing the joys and growing pains of Taking Flight in their own, very different, ways.

Both gold and silver are too soft in their natural form, to be moulded into jewellery, so these are usually blended with zinc, copper and nickel to render them hard enough to work and withstand wear. Zinc and copper do not cause contact dermatitis, nickel does. The higher the carat value of gold, the less nickel in it and the less likely it is to cause a nickel allergy. Stainless steel has higher amounts of nickel and I am unable to wear it and that’s why I love my Polar sports watch, there is no metal on the back where it is in contact with my skin, so no allergies.

Eczema from contact allergy runs in my family and as I have just begun to wear a Pandora bracelet I thought I would refresh my memory about how likely it would be that I will develop an eczema type allergy to this and if there is anything I can do to minimise the risk.

I found out that there are things I can do, to help stop my bracelet irritating me.

1/I can avoid wearing it when showering to avoid soap residue or dampness remaining on the jewellery as this helps the nickel to leach on to the skin.

2/ I can remove my jewellery, before exercising as sweat and salt can leach out the nickel on to the skin.

3/ If the worst happened and I did become allergic to the Nickel in the beads, I could coat then in clear nail polish to prevent them coming in contact with my skin. There is a more permanent solution and that is to have them coated in palladium, that sounds a bit to costly for me to consider, I'll use the prevention ideas 1, 2 and 4 and see where that takes me.

4/ Avoid allowing your jewellery to come in contact with bore water and spa water as these may contain traces of sulphur which is corrosive on silver allowing the nickel to leach out faster. 

Allen & Unwin Books are holding their next round of writing courses next week  and it isn't too late to sign up.

And if you want a taste of last year's novelists from the course, you can download a free copy of their 'Writing a Novel Anthology' for the Kindle.
Our Writing a Novel courses in Sydney & Melbourne are practical 6 month courses for writers ready to make the leap into creating a full length work of fiction.

Do you read or write erotic romance fiction?

Here is a sample of a new novel being published free in flash fiction sized portions with an EBook to follow. The author is eager for comments and suggestions as to how readers would like the work to proceed. The idea is to involve the reader in the work.

Don't look if you are easily offended, this i adult rated material on  the Sensual Quill web site.

Sensual Quill's serialized in flash fiction size chunks, novel, Rose Blume.

The novel is set in an art studio in Paris near the end of the 1900's.
My interest in the work, is that I've allowed my name to be used for the heroine.

He loves me...he loves me not?

The ups and downs of a plot make the story interesting.

I found the classic Hero's Journey' plot for someone who asked for a plot guide. This is easily adapted to suit our own needs.

I think the main thing with a plot, is not to drag the story, avoid wordiness, keep it moving forward not waffling off with side stories.

Keep the pace up all the way though.  Maintain  a variable tension, like with music, rise and fall, fast and slow, soft and hard, melody and rhythm.

Have tension in the plot, and if it becomes too tense, lighten it with a feel good moment and some humour, then increase the tension again, building to the climax.


I'm plotting a novel. One of the first things I do is write down all my plot ideas. Then I call up a copy of the Hero's Journey the hero's journey : summary of the steps This page summarizes the...The Hero's Journey
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