The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner INTRODUCTION

No two writers go about things in exactly the same way. We al are inspired and motivated in different ways; we have our own reasons why some characters stay with us while others disappear into a backlog of neglected files. Personal y, I've never figured out why some of my characters take on strong lives of their own, but I'm always happy when they do. Those characters are the most effortless to write, and so their stories are usual y the ones that get finished. Bree is one of those characters, and she's the chief reason why this story is now in your hands, rather than lost in the maze of forgotten folders inside my computer. (The two other reasons are named Diego and Fred.) I started thinking about Bree while I was editing Eclipse. Editing, not writing – when I was writing the first draft of Eclipse, I had first-person-perspective blinders on; anything that Bel a couldn't see or hear or feel or taste or touch was irrelevant. That story was her experience only. The next step in the editing process was to step away from Bel a and see how the story flowed. My editor, Rebecca Davis, was a huge part of that process, and she had a lot of questions for me about the things Bel a didn't know and how we could make the right parts of that story clearer. Because Bree is the only newborn Bel a sees, Bree's was the perspective that I first gravitated toward as I considered what was going on behind the scenes. I started thinking about living in the basement with the newborns and hunting traditional vampire-style. I imagined the world as Bree understood it. And it was easy to do that. From the start Bree was very clear as a character, and some of her friends also sprang to life effortlessly. This is the way it usual y works for me: I try to write a short synopsis of what is happening in some other part of the story, and I end up jotting down dialogue. In this case, instead of a synopsis, I found myself writing a day in Bree's life. Writing Bree was the first time I'd stepped into the shoes of a narrator who was a â€Å"real† vampire – a hunter, a monster. I got to look through her red eyes at us humans; suddenly we were pathetic and weak, easy prey, of no importance whatsoever except as a tasty snack. I felt what it was like to be alone while surrounded by enemies, always on guard, never sure of anything except that her life was always in danger. I got to submerge myself in a total y different breed of vampires: newborns. The newborn life was something I hadn't ever gotten to explore – even when Bel a final y became a vampire. Bel a was never a newborn like Bree was a newborn. It was exciting and dark and, ultimately, tragic. The closer I got to the inevitable end, the more I wished I'd concluded Eclipse just slightly differently. I wonder how you wil feel about Bree. She's such a smal, seemingly trivial character in Eclipse. She lives for only five minutes of Bel a's perspective. And yet her story is so important to an understanding of the novel. When you read the Eclipse scene in which Bel a stares at Bree, assessing her as a possible future, did you ever think about what has brought Bree to that point in time? As Bree glares back, did you wonder what Bel a and the Cul ens look like to her? Probably not. But even if you did, I'l bet you never guessed her secrets. I hope you end up caring about Bree as much as I do, though that's kind of a cruel wish. You know this: it doesn't end wel for her. But at least you wil know the whole story. And that no perspective is ever real y trivial. Enjoy, Stephenie

How to Assemble a Cardboard Chair

Assembly Instructions 1. Retrieve a refrigerator box. Cut it open so that the box can lay flat on the floor. On one side of the box draw the hockey stick shape to the right big enough to fit your measurements and cut it out using a box cutter, kitchen knife or scissors (whichever you would prefer). 2. Use the hockey stick shape you cut out and trace it 4 more times on the other sides of the refrigerator box. Then, cut them out. You should have 5 of the shapes now. 3. Draw 3 inch lines 2 inches away from each other ll-around along the edges of 3 out of the 5 hockey stick shapes. Use your cutting utensil to slice the 3 inch lines creating slots along the edges.4. Count the amount of slots you have. Get a cardboard box and cut it open so that the box can lay flat on the floor. Then use a ruler or straight edge to draw 2 by 26 inch strips to cut out. Cut out as many strips of cardboard needed to fill each slot that was cut along the edges of the hockey stick shapes. 5. Line up the 3 hock ey stick shapes with the edges cut side by side 11 inches away from one another. . Place each strip in each slot. 7. Cut off the excess cardboard on the outside of the chair to make the sides smooth/flat. 8. Take the other two remaining hockey stick shapes and glue one to each side of the chair. 9. Retrieve another refrigerator box and cut it open so that the box can lay flat on the floor. On one side of the box draw the flower to the left big enough to fit your measurements and cut it out using the cutting utensil of your choice. 10. Take the cut out flower, place it onto another side of the refrigerator box, trace ONLY THETOP HALF of the flower and then cut that out. 11. Take the top half of the flower, place it onto another side of the refrigerator box, trace it, and cut it out. 12. Glue the big full flower to the back of the chair 13. Glue one of the half flowers to the seat of the chair and the other to the area where a person’s back would rest. Tip: If chair is being de corated, painted, or accessorized, please decorate, paint, and accessorize everything before gluing anything together. Otherwise, just follow each step exactly.

PDA Slim 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PDA Slim 4 - Essay Example I decrease the price of X5 item 10%, increased the X6 by 10% and decreased the X7 price by 20%. During this simulation run I accelerated the X7 results and was able for the first time to obtain positive profits for X7 in the first round for the first time. I was able to do by lowering the price in the initial run by 20% for an overall price of $136. The market saturation growth doubled from 4% to 8%. My cumulative profits after the first round were $341 million. After completing the first round I studied the behavior of the X5 marketplace. I noticed by analyzing the historical data that the last two times I ran the simulation after the second round the results for the X5 product were negative. Independent of the price movement upwards or backwards the product became unprofitable and saturated. Based on this information I learned that this was a clear indicator that the best course of action was to eliminate the product out of the market since its existence was detrimental to the cumulative profits of the company. The profits I achieved during this round amounted to $194 million of which the X6 contributed $107 million, while the X5 provided $87 million. In the third round of this simulation I noticed that the internal information provided by the advisors of handheld became more useful and insightful. I would imagine the reason the information became more useful is that the management of the company now had more time to concentrate of their efforts in a more simplified strategy since more time could be spend in analyzing each product now. For example for the X6 the advisor told me that the customers pay more the X6 product than other comparable products. This originally made me raise the price of the item. Along with this comment another advice came in saying that the competition for the X6 has comparable products with more features. The added information was an indicator that a small decrease in price would provide greater value for the customers. I

Unit 3 Taxation and Representation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 3 Taxation and Representation - Assignment Example ight by a considerable extent, which was evident by having a close look on their respective approaches towards fulfilling such rights effectively (Ward, â€Å"History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years†). According to Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, the right of taxation was referred to an option, which has been provided to the willing Englishmen by the British government. However, this provision changed with time. The political rights belonged exclusively to the colonists included the right to vote, order or proceed whereas, the power and authority over the British parliament remained confined to the concerning authorities. The above stated rights regarding the power to vote, order and proceed were only agreed upon by the legislation and the Parliament in terms of sharing with the colonists (Hanover, â€Å"Samuel Adams, and The Rights of the Colonists†). The existence of unrealistic expectations about the relationship prevailed between the mother country and its colonies can be duly considered as a major cause for the revolt brought upon by the colonists over Great Britain. For instance, the unrealistic and the ineffective mandates set up by the Parliament gradually resulted in raising several debates about taxation in the 1700s (GMW, â€Å"Soame Jenyns the Objections to the taxation considerd

Drinking Water and Sanitation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Drinking Water and Sanitation - Research Paper Example The lack of safe drinking water has led to a number of diseases and deaths, especially among infants. A number of goals have been set over the years with various ten year milestones. These milestones have been beset with various challenges. However, there has been some amount of success. Various strategies including the promotion of breast-feeding to reduce mortality in infants have been used as a means of dealing with the effects of the problem. Introduction Drinking water and sanitation are two important factors in the lives of human beings. Water is required not only to drink but also for personal hygiene, the preparation of meals and to ensure that our surroundings are clean. Some people do not have access to piped water and therefore depend on other sources such as rivers and streams. This water is not treated and in a number of cases is exposed to various factors in the environment. Among these factors are the way we carry out various activities including disposal of industrial and household wastes. In addition to that, there is the problem of inadequate and improper sanitary conveniences which also have implications for the supply of safe water. Over the years a number of goals have been set. However, they have not been fully realized due to various challenges that affect these efforts. Previous Goals and Achievements The period 1981 – 1990 was designated as ‘The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade’ by the United Nations (Cairncross 1992). During that period the aim was to increase the supply of water and hygienic toilets so that more people especially the poor could have access to these necessities (Cairncross 1992). A number of organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank were involved in this effort. Since then the drive for the improvement in the quality of life has continued as some of the targets were not achieved. In fact, Cairncross (1992) points out that a lot more needs to be done in order to facilitate efforts to make safe water and proper sanitation available to all people. Risk of Inadequate Drinking Water and Sanitation The problems that arise from inadequate drinking water and poor sanitation are far greater than the problems of war, terrorist attack and weapons of mass destruction but they receive less attention (Bartram et al, p. 810). The lack of proper sanitation and waste disposal facilities can lead to waterborne diseases including malaria, schistosomiasis and legionellosis (WHO). This is a serious problem as it results in the death of approximately 3900 children everyday and therefore threatens the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) (Bartram et al 2005). The developing countries are more at risk as microbial organisms which cause diseases are normally found in drinking water in these areas (Ashbolt 2004). The situation is worst in places like Africa and Asia where a substantial portion of their people live in condit ions of extreme poverty. Sequelae and mortality are the result as the body becomes less capable of providing immunity against diseases that are endemic (Pond 2005). Diseases associated with the intestines are generally more severe because of the high levels of mal-nutrition as well as the non-existence of strategies in these countries to deal with these types of problems. The traditional methods of filtration and chlorination continue to be used. However, these are not 100% effective as there are some chlorine resistant pathogens (Ashbolt 2004). The Millennium Development Goals According to Bartram et al (2005) 40% of the world population does not have access to a pit latrine and almost 20% do not have access to

MGMT438 Unit 1DB Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGMT438 Unit 1DB - Research Paper Example Communication is a performance-based issue in a group activity. Communication influences the coordination of work within a group that intends to undertake a project. Communication is among the factors that elaborate the mission and objectives of a given group. Lack of effective communication strategies would limit the levels of bond and cohesiveness within a group (Lee, Kim, & Shin, 2012). Actions of the groups in relation to performance always rely on the levels of information available within the group activities. Communication limits the levels of performance and group cohesiveness since the members if the group cannot contribute to the issues of concern in relation to the activities of a particular project being solved (Lee, Kim, & Shin, 2012). As a human resource specialist involved, I would identify the barriers to communication that exist within the groups. Identifying the barriers would imply that there would be a starting point for the scrutiny of different factors that hamper communication within the system. This analysis would also identify the points of communication breakdown as reflected within the group activities. After such identifications, researching on central methods of enhancing communication would be an additional step towards solving the problem. This would entail finding communication methods that would be consistent within the group. This involves continuity of effective communication. In order to achieve this strategy, incorporating technology is another factor that would enhance the improvements in communication. Introducing diversified communication platforms such as computer for mails and other fax machines would enhance faster spread of information within the group. This fact implies that the tec hnological innovations would increase concerns towards effective information spread. Computer based systems would enhance smooth flow of exchange of ideas. Lee, J.-S., Kim, T.-H., & Shin, Y.-J. (2012).

Diabetes type 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diabetes type 2 - Essay Example inactivity, fat distribution (excess fat in the abdomen), age (above 45 years), race (African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos among other natives), pregnancy and prediabetes (higher than normal blood sugar level). This paper will discuss two treatment methods of diabetes type 2 and the professionals involved in these treatments. With over 2.9 million of UK population being diagnosed with diabetes, and there being no cure for diabetes, an effective treatment plan is necessary and which should be followed. The two common methods of treatment of this disease are monitoring the blood sugar level and using medication. The first treatment method is the use of medication. This treatment method is mainly for those who cannot maintain a reduced blood sugar level or their condition has advanced. Some of the diabetes medications prescribed includes metformin (which is aimed at lowering production of glucose in the liver), glipizide (aimed at stimulating the pancreas to release more insulin) or acarbose (that prevents enzymes from breaking down carbohydrates in the intestines). Other than these medications, there is also insulin therapy which is administered through injection and its advantages is that it works rapidly and lasts longer (Spencer and Hughes, 2005). Monitoring of the blood sugar level requires a change in the lifestyle (as some of the risk factors are associated with lifestyle). This will require the diabetes patient to constantly exercise to burn off excessive weight around the abdomen area and in order to also reduce weight generally for those considered obese when a BMI (body mass index) is conducted. Healthy eating is also required which means eating foods high in fibre like whole grains, plenty of fruits and vegetables. A reduction in the intake of carbohydrates, sweets and animal products in general is also one of the treatment plans. It is also important to lay off stress or factors causing or perpetuating stress as well as reducing alcohol