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	<title>Ben L. J. Brooks</title>
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		<title>Ben L. J. Brooks</title>
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		<title>A Brief Update</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/05/29/a-brief-update/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/05/29/a-brief-update/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 May 2012 22:41:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Outside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=357</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just busy. Busy going to a writing conference. Busy finishing up edits. Busy going for long bicycle rides in the beautiful weather we&#8217;ve had lately. I&#8217;ll be back soon enough now that the Dreaded Querying Process is beginning, but for now, I leave you with this. If you ever needed a motivational pep talk to [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=357&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Eureka</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/04/27/eureka/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/04/27/eureka/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:09:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=347</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve never blogged about the art of writing. I&#8217;ve talked about self-publishing and about progress on my own current novel, but never about the craft itself. I never felt like I had much to add to the conversation. I&#8217;m just this guy who&#8217;s sole publishing accomplishment is some bad junior high poetry, and I&#8217;ve got [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=347&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Finding Your Voice In A Foreign Land</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/04/15/finding-your-voice-in-a-foreign-land/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/04/15/finding-your-voice-in-a-foreign-land/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:01:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Outside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My knowledge of the Japanese language is entirely functional. In fact, I&#8217;d go so far as to say I&#8217;m functionally fluent. If I need to find a bathroom, I can do that. If I need to make special adjustments to a restaurant order, I can do that. If I need to tell my kids to [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=334&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Family at the Wedding</media:title>
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		<title>Chain Letters, Japanese Ghosts, and the WIP</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/29/chain-letters-japanese-ghosts-and-the-wip/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/29/chain-letters-japanese-ghosts-and-the-wip/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:15:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=327</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love getting those internet chain letters that ask you to do X, Y, or Z. I&#8217;ll read them with great fervor and occasionally drag myself away from whatever other mindless pursuit I&#8217;m undertaking at the moment to do whatever they&#8217;re asking me to do. Except I never pass them on. I&#8217;ll do the requisite [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=327&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Death from Overwork is Forbidden</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/28/death-from-overwork-is-forbidden/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/28/death-from-overwork-is-forbidden/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video Games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=74</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I noted on Twitter the other day that the chrysanthemum is obviously more important to the Japanese than it is to us Americans because their word for it is simply kiku (菊). I followed this with an observation that they also have a word for &#8220;death from overwork&#8221;: karoushi (過労死). That word really stuck with me. Here [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=74&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>There.</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/10/there/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/10/there/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:20:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=291</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At 7:01PM Pacific Standard Time, March 10th, 2012, I completed the draft of A PETAL OF CHRYSANTHEMUM. My third completed novel. Weighs in at 70,110 words, 240 pages. It is finished.I&#8217;m going to take a week or three off from writing altogether. Catch up on some books, some games, some TV, and then come back and [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=291&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">The end of the beginning of the end.</media:title>
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		<title>Where&#8217;s Ben?</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/02/wheres-ben-3/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/03/02/wheres-ben-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:56:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=277</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If I only had some glasses, I&#8217;d look a lot like Waldo. So where have I been lately? Buried. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I&#8217;m neck-deep in writing at the moment. The novel is coming along nicely, just past the 60k mark, and should be wrapped up in another 15k words. Then after [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=277&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Dude I&#039;m right here!</media:title>
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		<title>The Glorious Expedition</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/02/02/the-glorious-expedition/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/02/02/the-glorious-expedition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:51:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.wordpress.com/?p=255</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been quiet for a while on the blog because I&#8217;m really buckling down on the WIP. I&#8217;m at the 40k word mark out of a projected 75k words, so I&#8217;m past halfway. I&#8217;ve got a hard deadline: finished, edited, and ready by May for the LDStoryMakers conference. I&#8217;ll be pitching to Michelle Wolfson of [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=255&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">The Creature</media:title>
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		<title>Joys of Childhood</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/01/23/joys-of-childhood/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/01/23/joys-of-childhood/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:08:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[darth vader]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[star wars action figures]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://benljbrooks.com/?p=250</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I took my oldest son to Target the other day where he bought his first Star Wars action figures. Yoda, Darth Vader, and Darth Maul. He&#8217;s got good taste, this kid. I thought I remembered how wonderful childhood was. I was wrong. I realized how much I&#8217;d forgotten when I witnessed the joy on his [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=250&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Maul and Yoda hug it out.</media:title>
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		<title>2012</title>
		<link>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/01/03/2012/</link>
		<comments>http://benljbrooks.com/2012/01/03/2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:11:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ben L. J. Brooks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://benljbrooks.wordpress.com/?p=240</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Four simple resolutions for the new year. 1 &#8211; Finish writing three drafts. That includes the current work-in-progress, A PETAL OF CHRYSANTHEMUM, and two more, one an MG boy Asian-themed fantasyesque idea I&#8217;ve been kicking around for years. Oh, and have PETAL out on query by April. 2 &#8211; Cook something new every month. I [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=benljbrooks.com&#038;blog=24408458&#038;post=240&#038;subd=benljbrooks&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
	
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