Content: suicide

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I am very hesitant to post this one. When it comes to older pieces, when you used to vomit up, as a younger self, everything that marks you, and then you begin re-visiting them, choosing pieces of merit can be hard. Harder still when they expose something so grossly painful and personal that relating it in a way that is meaningful, or that has value as far as sharing meaning with the world, can be extremely difficult. Some stink of tawdry melodrama, or schmaltz in a fashion that resists excavation and apt expression. Pretty tough judging which pieces deserve or require the light of day (as it were). I am really uncertain about this one, so please let me know if you think it inappropriate for public venue, if you would. Thank you

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Tis my book pitch for the contest. Never wrote one of these before so... Be harsh if you must. I am trying to win after all, so if you see something you think should be fixed, moved, or obliterated don't hesitate to let me know. Also good feedback is always welcome. Let me know what you liked about it as much as what you hated. Thanks to those of you that commented already you've helped me a lot :)

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I posted this a few months ago, it being my first attempt at a short story. I received some very honest, very helpful reviews but I felt stuck on what exactly to do with this. I completely revised this so let me know if this is too long for a short story and if the characters are believable this time around. I feel like my revisions to this are either hit or miss. Thanks for all the help and would love any feedback. **Revised 8/21/2011**

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2:46 P.M. is the local time an earthquake struck Japan. As the days wear on men and woman confront realities of their personal calamities. One man I read about lost everything and then volunteered to enter the reactor....

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I once had an acquaintence whose sister committed suicide and murder by taking her life and the lives of her children. In her suicide note, she stated she couldn't stand the thought of them living without her. What causes seemingly rational people to do monstrous things? And why do other people manage to surmount and survive monstrous circumstances? Perhaps the answer lies in interpretation - both personal and societal.

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This suicide poem of a Samurai is an attempt to underscore the cultural differences between western culture and eastern culture. The west is largely Christian. In Japan Christians amount to less than 3%. The culture is largely agnostic--Buddhism and Shintoism are the primary 'religions' although they are more philosophies than religions.//Imagine not believing in a supreme being and contemplating the end of your life as an absolute ending, by your own hand?//This poem is the creation of the author's imagination and is not at all authentic. I'm not Japanese but I've lived in Japan for nineteen years over a thirty five year period from the mid fifties to the late eighties. I graduated from a Japanese grade school in 1964.//The Japanese have a deep sense of honor. They are particularly sensitive to anything that reflects negatively on themselves, their family or their company. Most suicides in Japan are over issues of honor.//Personally, I'll never forget receiving a hand delivered wedding invitation on Monday, only to have it have it retrieved the following Monday, because the father of the bride opposed the marriage, and executed his wife, son and daughter with a Samurai sword, and then took his own life. The groom was the President of a large Japanese distribution company.//This poem, and many other cultural differences and nuances, are what inspired me to write the novel Executive Samurai.

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In Search of Mr. Wonderful, The Journey from Myth to Madness Romance / Adult To Invite Love, You Must Love Yourself First Syvanna Lee knows what she wants—an everlasting love, her own “Mr. Wonderful.� Yet in her precarious quest to find such a man, she refuses to listen to the truth of her inner voice and ends up disappointed time and again. Each “Mr. Somebody� Syvanna becomes involved with opens a new chapter in her life. Each new relationship causes her to look at herself from a different perspective. Each new lover unveils previously unexplored facets of her own personality. She is ready for love, but will she ever realize that to give love, receive love, or even demand love, she must love herself first? And if Syvanna would only take a moment to listen to her inner voice, she might learn an important truth. As the tale unfolds, an ominous secret from Syvanna’s childhood rises to the surface, a secret that may ultimately kill her. In Search of Mr. Wonderful is a tale of heartbreak, self-destruction, desperation, and, ultimately, of transformation and discovery. Ms. Bouvier has written a novel of intense beauty and introspection that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. REVIEWERS PLEASE NOTE: I will be adding chapters daily until the whole manuscript has been submitted. There are a lot!!! Stay tuned!!

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Correne Johnson, 18, is all the things most women never want to be: Overweight, illiterate and unloved. And she is being molested by her Aunts fiance. She uses her addiction to the Oprah Winfrey show and Oprah's TV wisdom's to challenge her Oppressor. These actions could either end her life or save her.

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This novel takes place in the mid to late 1970's in the US and Japan. Bill Sanford is a young CPA working for the Tennessee Fried Chicken Corporation. He was brought up as a Foreign Service brat and had spent three years in Japan and four years in Europe. He had dreams of an international career but, his wife would have no part of it.// Ray Easton, TFC's Regional VP, Far East, is a cunning scoundrel and consummate liar. Ray is a master of insider trading of stock, and spreads the wealth to gain favors. He has always stayed one step ahead of the law.// Inoue San is an executive with one of Japan's major trading companies. He was a war hero who had been captured on Saipan and learned English from a U.S. Marine Officer. He launches a plot to bring a major U.S. fast food company into the Japanese market, relying on a high school chum who runs the Osaka Yakuza (mafia) to establish a chain of industrial espionage.// Strategic Planning is taking corporate America by storm. TFC'S CEO has caught the bug. He brings in a hot shot to produce and lead a corporate-wide strategic planning initiative. Resistance to strategic planning and the new hot shot builds, and the corporate politics accelerate, with battle lines being drawn.// Japan has been through post war reconstruction and is becoming a world class economic power. Some of its former military leaders are determined to achieve economically, what they failed to accomplish militarily.// Two trading company giants, Mitsugawa and Sawamura, become embroiled in a struggle for dominance of the exploding, western style, fast food market.// The cultural differences between Japan and the U.S. complicate matters for both sides. The inner workings of Corporate America and Japan are revealed in all their successes, but also, their corruption and greed.// Personal conflicts and deep seated vendettas, some originating during World War II, unfold.// Seduction and love affairs are an integral part of the plot. They illustrate the differences in social views of sexuality between the East and West.// Industrial espionage involving two highly competitive U.S. fast food companies, two Japanese Zaibatsu and the Japanese underworld unfolds.// Many of the key characters were involved in WWII and their individual experiences influence their business behavior.// Cultural differences subtly emerge, and the exploitation of others to achieve one's ends is front and center.// Personal ethics, or the lack there of, and the constant tug between good and evil are interspersed throughout.

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***Updated on 4-22-2009 with edits. Thanks for all the feedback so far!** 19-year-old Diane Macauliffe's dreams are haunted by a walking, talking skeleton--and that's the least of her worries! First, she must survive basic training at Fort Devon's Army Base. With an inspection looming, she and fellow med-tech trainees Jack and Susie have been assigned clean-up duty in Devon's hospital morgue, which is rumored to be haunted. Jack comes up with a plan to smuggle in beer so that they can drink while they work, risking expulsion from the Army if they are caught. The three friends meet Edgar, a creepy janitor with a dark past who often lurks nearby. Edgar becomes trouble when he discovers what the young trainees--who have dubbed themselves "the morgue drinking club"--are up to. Is the morgue really haunted by ghosts, or merely by someone of flesh and blood who wants to keep them away? Diane must also face the thing she is most afraid of--the repressed memory of the way her father died. Along the way, she learns that she is not alone. After all, everyone's afraid of something; some of us are just better at hiding it than others. This is a young adult novel for readers ages 14 and up. I would like feedback on what works in this story and what doesn't, and how it could be made better. I think the characters are solid and I'm happy with the dialogue (however, please feel free to disagree--one agent commented that he thought the female characters sounded too old for 19, but I think their dialogue rings true. I'd be interested to learn what other writers think). I think the plot needs tightening, and I'm concerned that there may be too many times in the book where the characters are just talking--are these scenes boring? Also, I suspect that the plot may need more tension to drive it forward--maybe more creepy scenes with Edgar and Diane? Finally, does the plot go off on too many tangents? Any suggestions and feedback on these and other aspects of the book would be welcome.

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A tale of eccentrics in a hospital for similar reasons, albeit different stories and paths of pain. I want to iron out any errors or awkward/non-flowing sections. My version has an indent before each start of dialogue or new paragraph, but this thing formatted it all wrong. So try to ignore that. (Revised 4/20/09)

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Warning: this is a little on the messed up side. This is another poem that one of my "characters" wrote. He is deeply traumatized, 22 years old and has pychotic breaks/flashbacks. I don't want to give too much away because this is from book 3. The character has constant suicidal thoughts, but is unable to act on them. I'm really trying to work on refining the poetry style, becasue I've never written poems before.

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I am not a poet at all, but one of my characters is. He has a large role in book 2 and book 3. At the time in his life where he writes this poem, he is an abolute mess. His family was murdered, and he was beaten nearly to death. Before the tragedym he was a quiet gentle hearted artist, who wrote and sang songs for children in his spare time. Now he's unstable and a ittle psychotic.------------------- Feel free to rewrite the poem if you'd like, as long as all his thoughts stay in it. I'm not talented enough to pull off poetry, and I want him to sound talented.

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This a piece that I have had for a long time and hope to find a home for it so others can give me feedback. It is about a very sad man that has been a very bad man and needs to find closure.

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CONCLUDING PART - (Note to potential reviewers - it's important that you read this short story in sequence) Nursery Crimes - Alan Grant intercepts a call from his troublesome wife who sounds as though she is about to take her own life. He arrives at the motel to find her almost dead and watches as her life slips away. A happy ending?

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(Note to potential reviewers - it's important that you read the parts of this short story in sequence) Nursery Crimes - Alan Grant intercepts a call from his troublesome wife who sounds as though she is about to take her own life. He arrives at the motel to find her almost dead and watches as her life slips away. A happy ending?

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The working title of this novel is Corporate Samurai "love begets hate, trust begets betrayal, lust leads to death"// This novel takes place in the mid to late 1970's in the US and Japan. Bill Sanford is a young CPA working for the Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation. He was brought up as a Foreign Service brat and had spent three years in Japan. He had dreams of an international career but, his wife would have no part of it.// Ray Easton, KFC's Regional VP, Far East, is a cunning scoundrel and consummate liar. Ray is a master of insider trading of stock, and spreads the wealth to gain favors. He has always stayed one step ahead of the law.// Mike Adachi is an executive with one of Japan's major trading companies. He was raised in San Francisco and speaks English as a native. He launches a plot to bring a major US fast food company into the Japanese market, relying on a complex chain of industrial espionage.// Strategic Planning is taking corporate America by storm. KFC'S CEO has caught the bug. He brings in two hot shots to produce and lead a corporate-wide Strategic Planning initiative. Resistance to strategic planning and the new hot shots builds, and the corporate politics accelerate, with battle lines being drawn.// Japan has been through post war reconstruction and is becoming a world class economic power. Some of its former military leaders are determined to achieve economically, what they failed to accomplish militarily.// Two trading company giants, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, become embroiled in a struggle for dominance of the exploding, western style, fast food market.// The cultural differences between Japan and the US complicate matters for both sides. The inner workings of Corporate America and Japan are revealed in all their successes, but also, their corruption and greed.// Personal conflicts and deep seated vendettas, some originating during World War II, unfold.// Seduction and love affairs are an integral part of the plot. They illustrate the differences in social views of sexuality between the East and West.// Industrial espionage involving two highly competitive US fast food companies, two Japanese Zaibatsu and the Japanese and Mexican underworld unfolds.//The head of the Yakuza (Japanese mafia)is an effective eliminator of problem people.// Many of the key characters were involved in WWII and their individual experiences influence their business behavior.// Cultural differences subtly emerge, and the exploitation of others to achieve one's ends is front and center.// Personal ethics, or the lack there of, and the constant tug between good and evil are interspersed throughout. View table of contents..

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The Golden Gate Bridge has about one suicide jumper a month - that we know of. It is 435 feet to the water and, 99.9% of the time, will do the job. The fire department and Coast Guard hear of most. The call goes out as a "Bay Rescue". About five to ten minutes later the call is cancelled announcing the Coast Guard doing a body recovery. It is never "billed" as a suicide. I do not make light of this subject. I understand it. Posting this makes me nervous as it acknowledges parts within me which are frightening.

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A woman about to commit a savage act of war in the name of religion....a dark comparison to the seamingly routine dressing of a woman.

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