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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. BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: SEPTEMBER 2025:
SEPTEMBER 2025:
Merit Badges collected and earned from "Earn the Badge 2025" ![Merit Badge in WdC Supportive Friend
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Thank you for participating in [Link To Item #2133333] . Congratulations on completing the September
2nd Daily Task.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/community-WdC_Supportive_Friend.gif) ![Merit Badge in Earn the Badge
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Thank you for your donation to [Link To Item #2133333] - from Purple Princess.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Earn_the_Badge-2093257_1.gif){kind=icon} ![Merit Badge in Music
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Thank you for participating in [Link To Item #2133333] . Congratulations on completing the September
3rd Daily Task.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif) ![Merit Badge in Contests
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Thank you for participating in [Link To Item #2133333] . Congratulations on completing the September 1st daily task.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Contests-235.gif) ![Merit Badge in Growth
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Good job earning the Growth Merit Badge in [Link To Item #2133333]](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Growth-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in Word Searches
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Great job participating in [Link To Item #2133333] and completing the September 5th task.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Word_Searches-19000.gif) SUMMER 2025:
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) ![Merit Badge in Blog Camping
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Thanks for completing [Link To User elusive4lyn] July 2025 blogging vacation!! Great job!!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Blog_Camping-1788309_13.gif) ![Merit Badge in Travel
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Woohoo! We’re halfway through!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Travel-1975.gif) ![Merit Badge in BCoF 2
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Thank you for your participation in BCoF's 50 States Virtual Blogging adventure.
*^*Heart*^* Lyn](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-BCoF_2-1901868_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Endurance
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51 days of blogging takes commitment, and you rocked it.
*^*Heart*^* Lyn](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Endurance.gif) 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 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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Bonus Task:
TASK: We want to learn about your writing journey and what led you to WDC? Poem, short story, blog entry, notebook post - your choice. My writing journey started when I was a kid. In the 1970's I would watch this show called "The Electric Company" and then after watching the Spiderman part, I'd try to make Spiderman comic books. As a Teen in the 1980's I started reading comic books. A LOT of them (and I'm a firm believer reading leads to writing). I wrote my own superhero comics. At first I was a sucky drawer but by the time I was a senior in high school, my drawing really got better. I also wrote a comedic series based on the Runaways (with Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Cherrie Currie). Once I got into into the Army, I wrote "Destination: Berlin." You can find it in my port. In the 1990's I wrote the "One Life To Live" satire with a pen name of "Dim Witt." In the early 2000's I started writing Fan Fiction. I wanted to write for publication but I wasn't quite there. My friend, Starr Phenix  found writing.com and said I should join. She told me about all the things Writing.com could offer a budding writer so I joined, and honestly I feel that being on Writing.com has really honed my writing skills. I joined WDC in April 2005. I believe I was made a moderator in NOV 2006. I've got a lot of stuff in my port from novels to short stories to poetry, exploring different genres and styles. I've also worked hard on my self-editing skills. During the aughts, I had several short stories place in the Writer's Digest Annual contest and you can find several of those stories here in my port. One of them is:
In 2010 I had my first contract for a small press with Desert Breeze, shortly there, I was contracted for short story anthologies with Victory Tales Press. They both went out of business in 2018, and I've been working on self-publishing my stories ever since. Big shout out to kudos for Writing.com. I couldn't have accomplished all I have in the writing world without you! |
Day 7 for 25th WDC Birthday Parth
Part 1:Go back to Day 6 and pick a favorite from the other contestant's static item they shared and tell us why you like it the best. The best static entry chosen by you will receive an 10,000 awardicon. I choose:
Honestly, the humor in this story really stuck out. Who hasn't been in this predicament? In an embarrassing situation and the only way to get out of it is with a little help from the person you least expect or least thought would help you out? Comedy always makes us laugh and uplifts our spirits and I really enjoyed this story for that reason. Also, the author did a great job using a good economy of words to paint the picture and land the humor. Part 2: if you were making a soundtrack for WDC's 25th Birthday what would be your number one (1) song. Here's my #1 song for WDC's Birthday Bash! A BIG thank you to Witchy Woman for hosting this blogging celebration! There were a lot of great activities here on WDC and I had a blast participating in all the ones I choose to do! Here's to you WDC on your 25th The StoryMaster  The StoryMistress  |
Day 6 for 25th WDC Birthday Parth
TASK: Blogging time-- Today, write an entry about yourself, not something we can see in your bio and what attracted you to WDC. Tell us how long you've been here and then choose your favorite static item from your portfolio and post the item number inside your entry for others to see in addition to the three paragraphs you write about yourself. Gosh, well, I had started writing for publication (seriously) in the late 1990's early 2000's. One of my earliest stories was Destination: Berlin. It's in my port and it was published, but it's down now. I hope to re-self-published it within a couple of years or two. You can find the first chapter here:
I was still in the Army when I started that story. In the early 2000's I got out and began my job with LAPD dispatching and had my first son, ah, but the urge to write was still strong and I knew I needed a little more polish. My writing friend, Starr Phenix had just joined and she encouraged me to join as well, so I did. Immediately, I saw the benefit. Writing.com could really help me polish off my writing. I've been here since April 2005 and I joined a day after Starr Phenix did. One of my first stories was:
About the 2004 Red Sox winning the World Series that year. It was a different style of a story for me so I was pleased with it. From there, I really started to vary my writing and my port grew pretty quickly with novels, chapters, short stories, and poetry. I learned different writing styles, how to self-edit (and that's something I still struggle with) descriptive writing, and really began to grow as a writer. Several of my stories were an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest annual contest to include:
Out of all these stories, The Peenemunde Secret is my favorite. I put a lot of research into the story and I've got a good action/adventure story that works.
Two of my stories both placed 8th place in the Writer's Digest contest:
and "Made in America" which I haven't put in my port. Honestly, it was in the 2000's that I really took my writing up a notch and it made me the writer I am today. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to grow as a writer and WDC gave me that, so I'm very happy to give back to WDC in any way I can. |
Day 5 for 25th WDC Birthday Party
The Task: There are different style blogging groups on WDC. Some are active all year, some host a specific month or just for WDC's birthday and some are on hiatus. Yup, more scavenger hunting, can you find at least five (5). There's more than that, I checked. Write about two of the different groups in your 3-paragraph entry. How do you feel about blogging in general? I am roughly aware there are several blogging groups on WDC so I went exploring. 1.
2.
I love the mission statement here - to promote the writing and efforts of all WDC bloggers. I participated in the more specific 50 State Travel blog this summer and I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot about the different states and made some good blogging friends. So, would that be two different blogging groups? 3.
This one looked to be an active bi-monthly blogging contest. 4.
I blogged for this contest last year during WDC's birthday. It was a lot of fun, but trying to shake things up and try different things this year. 5.
Does this one count? Another blogging contest for WDC's birthday.  6.
This blog city looked massive, but I loved the vibe and the community. The most recent blogging experience I had was with the 50 State Travel Blog. I love to travel and I've been to some of the states but not all of the states so I thought this would be a lot of fun and I'd learn a little bit along the way. I discovered it was A LOT of fun, but it was also a lot of work. It did require that I do a little bit of research for me to put together an informative and fun blog entry. I participated in the Blog Week Birthday Bastion last year and I found it challenging but in a different way. The entries required more of a personal introspection, but I was also challenged with time constraints. I wanted to enter everyday so I worked hard to do. I think that blogging contest taught me what I need to do to manage time if I want to blog on a consistent basis. How do I feel about blogging? Overall, I think if you do it consistently you can build up a "fan" base, which is something I would like to do, but finding the time to blog consistently is a challenge. Blog topics that interest me for sure including travel, every day life challenges, health topics. I find I do better with a prompt. I find I favor smaller entries. Honestly, blogs between 300-500 words are the best for me, but then I can get wordy, too.  Blogging is a great way to challenge myself, but before I commitment to a blogging challenge, I always try to see if I can balance the time commitment. If I can't, I generally don't do it. |
Day 4 for Earn the Badge - Growth
TASK: We all started somewhere. What's one of the first things you posted to your portfolio? How did you feel about it then? What would you change now or do differently? Is it hidden in your port? Showcase this gem on the newsfeed. This is one of the earliest items I put in my portfolio. It's diamante poem. I kinda dressed it up and made it pretty today, after digging it out of closet and getting rid of the mothballs. I gave it a picture and centered it, increased the font using WDC ML, so those were my changes. The words didn't change.
It was published in May 2005, when I was wee black case here on WDC. Back then, I was learning and experimenting with different styles of poems and poetry and this was my first diamante poem. I don't think I would change anything as I think the words used do a good job capturing the feelings the poem evokes. It is a bit on the "darker" side. For being one of my oldest items it only has 18 ratings and 4 stars. This item is not hidden in my port. |
This is an entry for Day 4
TASK: Write a flash fiction story about a scavenger hunt gone wrong in 300 words or less. Witchy Woman The 2 A.M. Follies Word Count: 299 It was Krush’s last day at work and part of the Retirement celebrations was to find little rubber duckies which had been strategically placed all throughout the dispatch center. Val had set up the duckie hunt. She passed out clue papers to everyone, but somehow her coffee list had gotten mixed up in the clues and Krush got that list. The first item on Krush’s list said empty coffee pot. That looked easy. She went down to the coffee supply area and emptied out a warm pot of coffee. She spied a yellow duckie on top of the microwave. Amanda came in and picked it up. Next item said tea bags. Easy. Vee came in fussed that the coffee was gone – and she desperately needed a cup at two a.m. Krush picked up a stir stick, a sugar packet, and vanilla creamer in short order. At 5 a.m. she reported to Val with all the things on the list. Imagine Krush’s shock when everyone but her turned in rubber duckies and she proudly displayed her stolen coffee supplies. “You were supposed to find Duckies,” said Val. Krush produced her coffee list. “I got this.” Val turned red. “I was wondering where my coffee supply list went.” Vee frowned. “I complained all night that there was no coffee!” Lilly glared at the creamer. “I was a zombie without it.” Navon crossed her arms. “I had to make a new pot there were so many complaints.” Krush felt bad. Val dug into her backpack of goodies, passed out $5.00 scratchers to everyone. Krush won $500.00 on her scratcher and Vee hauled in $250.00 for her inconvenience. Navon declared from now on she was in charge of all the future office scavenger hunts, and Krush walked out of the building happily retired. |
My entry is for Task #3 in:
The Task: Do you listen to music when you write? Do any groups/singers/songs inspire you to write? Share a YouTube video of your latest favorite song or artist. What is it about this song that speaks to you? For me, I think earlier in my writing, listening to songs did help to inspire me. I created a whole mixed CD for My novel, "Twilight Over Moldavia" which included songs like "Astronomy" from Blue Oyster Cult and "Night Ride Across the Caucasus" by Loreena McKinnett. In my more recent writing, I haven't relied so much on musical influences to set a tone or mood for the writing. Also, to answer another question, I generally don't listen to music while I write, as I'm more focused on listening to the characters in my head speak. Going back to Twilight Over Moldavia, it is Book 2 in my Moldavian moon, but it's not been re-released yet. It was published by Desert Breeze Publishing in the teens, but when the publisher went out of business, I got my rights back. Re-publishing my work as a self-publisher has been time consuming and I've been concentrating on my smaller work by Victory Tales Press first. This will be the cover to Twilight Over Moldavia when it is re-published:  As for Loreena McKinnett's song I can't seem to find an official version. But she has published the song on YouTube on her account. Here is a version I did find that intrigued me: Here is a video trailer I made of Twilight of Moldavia when it was initially released. |
This is an entry for Day 3
THE TASK: We have ten or more members who joined WDC during the years of 2002 and 2004. Pick any five and review something from their portfolio. Post your review numbers of the five in your blog entry and tell us what drew you to that work. (Remember a paragraph not one sentence) Just think this week reviews earn more gps. My Notes: I can honestly say finding WDC members from 2002-2004 were a lot easier to find this time around since I learned the "Authors" tricks. Thank goodness. Overall, I picked the ports because there's something about these authors/community members writing and expression that I enjoyed. Also, the items I choose to review (because there's A LOT in their Ports!) were mainly based on their titles. There was something about the title of that work that drew me in. Onto the reviews... My reviews:
Review of "Treasure"  The Title was Treasure and I knew treasure could be anything. I clicked on the item and immediately I liked the way it was presented, in a neat, orderly fashion and the WDC ML made it easy to read. The first couple of lines had me hooked - there's more to an action/adventure treasure maps and chests. This poem was about emotional treasure and I enjoyed reading it.
Review of "Rinse, repeat" The title here is "Rinse, Repeat," and it piqued my curiosity. Certaintly, this couldn't be about laundry, could it? Thankfully, no. It's about sticking to what we're used too, because in a way, we're bored and don't know any better. I liked the use of the video to establish a rhythmic beat for the poem as it was written. It was very catchy and engaging.
Review of "The Beatles, Abba Music Journal, Stories" The title had me right away. This is a blog and I'm always game to check out a blog. This blog was about musical influences with a focus on the Beatles and Abba. It was very entertaining, and engaging. The writing was concise and this blog just brought back good memories.
Review of "Waves" Again, the title intrigued me, especially when I opened the item up and discovered 8 lines of poetry/prose. The poet had a lot to pack into those eight lines so when I read them, I was blown away. There's a lot of raw, heartfelt and honest expression in those eight lines. Very poignant and moving.
Review of "Comma: Punctuation That Works Overtime" I think the thing that I liked about this item was just how succinct it was. We all struggle with commas. Who doesn't? It was compact and gave good examples of comma usage and it was just enough that it would hold a reader's attention span (considering our spans are rather short these) and pique enough curiosity that one might explore more. |
This entry is for Task # in:
The Task is: Which of your WDC friends deserves some recognition? How have they supported you over your time here? Post about it in the newsfeed, your notebook, or a blog. Without any hesitation, for me, it's WW is Monk! Cop Shop @ Bard's  One of the BIG ways she supported me was with the Bard's Hall. As the boys got older and needed a parent to take them places, my time on WDC grew limited and Webbie picked up a lot of the slack over there. She's a BIG reason why
Webbie has taught me a lot of stuff (and there's stuff I'm learning if you can believe that - thanks to Witchy Woman !! ) Webbie's a big support for my other forums and she's always upbeat and fun. Whenever I need a friendly ear, or I need to vent, Webbie is there for me. From me to you (((hugs))) Webbie! Now go play Angel-Witch BINGO!
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This entry is for Day 2
Tagging Witchy Woman There are multiple contests celebrating WDC's 25th year. Name at least five of them and participate in one of them.
Well, heck, I'm participating in all of them! Post your answers in a blog entry telling us what motivated you to do that contest. ( * no one sentence responses allowed) Do you like doing contests in general. What's your favorite one during the year? Gosh, for
For the Writer's Cramp I entered because I thought the prompt was interesting and the story just came to me. I  Angel-Witch Bingo. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Webbie runs a good BINGO game!I enjoy Anniversary Reviews so I just had to get on board and test my stamina when comes to reviewing. The format is a little different for this month, so I'm doing my best to switch my reviews to accommodate. I really like Habit Heroes and I'm wicked pleased with my progress with my steps and my writing. "Earn the Badge" is a lot of fun and I like how the daily tasks kind of switch things from the same ol' same ol'. I wish I could support more, but I'm kinda tapped out and I want to try to keep up with my favorites. Do I like doing contests? I don't mind. Depends on the contests. I do like the writing contests, but they can be challenging since time is not my friend. I need to be able to write short pieces that blogging and cramps and Daily Flash Fiction afford. I also like doing contests were I earn things so that's why I like Angel-Witch Bingo and "Earn the Badge." What's my favorite contest in the year? Gosh, that's a tough one. I always like to do Dear Me, just to frame my goals, but none of the judges score my "writing jungle" high enough. I try to do a 1 or 2 official contests throughout the year, depending on the prompt because I like to support. I always try to do any BINGO that WW is Monk!
Cop Shop @ Bard's has because BINGO is fun. I always try to support Raffles because I think they're fun. I do enjoy Habit Heroes. When it comes to hosting contests, I love the Cupid Slam on the Bard's. I also like the Bard's blogging challenge and the Cop Shop Mysteries. |
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