Podcasts about Completion

Fresh off Mary Kay Cabot's interview, Ken Carman pushes back on her read that Deshaun Watson faces less hostility from Browns fans than social media suggests, arguing her own comment about scheduling road games to shield Watson from home jeers actually proves his point. That spirals into a proposal to ban callers who cite training camp completion percentages and touchdown counts as evidence in the Sanders-Watson debate, with the crew mocking how meaningless "stats" from unpadded practices against non-tackling defenses really are. They debate whether the show's own audience has been conditioned to care about this shallow analysis anyway, trace the trend of charting practice throws back over a decade to Brian Hoyer and Baker Mayfield-era coverage, and wonder what directives Browns reporters like Daryl Ruiter are getting from their bosses. It closes with a plan to poll callers on both Watson's chances and whether stat-obsessed callers should get the boot.

What does Bears quarterback Caleb Williams have to do to increase his completion percentage in his second year with Ben Johnson? full 729 Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:44:06 +0000 riyjMZq13rY5NF2IZuiGjUnmoxDueK7m #chicagobears,sports Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show #chicagobears,sports What does Bears quarterback Caleb Williams have to do to increase his completion percentage in his second year with Ben Johnson? Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote bring a thoughtful, fast-moving approach to Chicago sports, pairing sharp insight with real personality. They break down the day's biggest stories across the NFL, MLB, NBA and college sports, with Chicago always leading the conversation — from the Bears and Cubs to the Bulls, White Sox and more. Known for smart analysis, honest takes and lively discussion, the show offers Chicago fans a well-rounded, informed perspective on everything happening in the city's sports landscape. Catch the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show live Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 104.3 The Score or on the Audacy app. © 2026 Audacy, Inc.

What does Bears quarterback Caleb Williams have to do to increase his completion percentage, plus Jamal Collier calls in to talk Bulls (HOUR 2) full 2538 Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:09:00 +0000 KdsD6SZpDzqsoYC65d3x4fv8c7sjSsoX sports Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show sports What does Bears quarterback Caleb Williams have to do to increase his completion percentage, plus Jamal Collier calls in to talk Bulls (HOUR 2) Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote bring a thoughtful, fast-moving approach to Chicago sports, pairing sharp insight with real personality. They break down the day's biggest stories across the NFL, MLB, NBA and college sports, with Chicago always leading the conversation — from the Bears and Cubs to the Bulls, White Sox and more. Known for smart analysis, honest takes and lively discussion, the show offers Chicago fans a well-rounded, informed perspective on everything happening in the city's sports landscape. Catch the Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show live Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 104.3 The Score or on the Audacy app. © 2026 Audacy, Inc.

Zoom became synonymous with video meetings, but its next chapter is about delivering business outcomes through AI. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Gary Sorrentino, Global CIO of Zoom, about the company’s evolution from a video conferencing platform to an enterprise AI platform designed to move organizations “from conversation to completion.” Drawing on nearly five decades in technology leadership, Gary explains why CIOs should prioritize integrated AI platforms over disconnected point solutions, how better data drives better AI outcomes, and why the future of work is about enabling effective collaboration wherever work happens. He also shares his perspective on AI agents, deepfake detection, usage-based AI, and the leadership skills technology executives will need as human and digital workforces increasingly operate together. This episode is presented by Mailtrap — Modern Email Delivery for developer & product teams. Learn more at mailtrap.io

Discover how many transfer credits you can apply toward finishing your bachelor's degree in Kansas - and how Credit for Prior Learning could turn your work experience into college credits, bringing you closer to graduation than you think. Newman University City: Wichita Address: 3100 McCormick Website: https://newmanu.edu/

Saint Lucia is one step closer to making more informed, evidence-based decisions on issues ranging from health and education to technology, mental health and gender equality. The country's latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, known as MICS 7, is now entering its final validation stage, with officials describing the data as one of the most comprehensive social datasets ever collected in Saint Lucia.

“… being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

“… being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

The Eternal Significance of Seven by Autumn Dickson There are many patterns in the Old Testament. The story of Naaman, the Syrian, falls right in line with one of these patterns. Naaman was a Syrian captain. The Lord utilized Naaman to deliver Syria. He was a good man, but he was also a leper. A captured Israelite girl resided as a servant in his home. She audibly wishes that Naaman could visit the prophet in Israel because the prophet could cleanse him of his leprosy. The testimony of the captured servant girl reaches Naaman and through a series of diplomatic relations, Naaman finds himself outside of Elisha's door. Elisha doesn't come out, but he does send instructions for Naaman. 2 Kings 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. Naaman is supposed to wash in Jordan seven times. He's annoyed about these instructions for a number of reasons: Elisha didn't come out to greet him, the river Jordan isn't as nice as the rivers in his homeland, and it seems like such a silly thing. Despite his annoyance, his servants are able to convince to wash seven times. He does so, and he is cured of his leprosy. I actually talked about this story four years ago when I went through Come Follow Me the first time. I talked about how arbitrary it was for Naaman to wash seven times in the river Jordan. I still stand by the principles I taught in that post. However, I am now four years older and wiser, and I have learned that washing in the river seven times is not arbitrary at all. Seven is a very symbolic number. In the bible, the number seven symbolizes completeness, so let's look at this story from that angle and let's also generalize the details just a tad so that they become relatable. A man wants to be clean (it specifically says that he was “cleansed” from leprosy). He has to go to a prophet to figure out how to be cleaned. The prophet instructs him to “be complete,” and he will be cleansed. He is cleansed. I think this is so cool. If we want to be clean in our day and age, the Lord still works through the same patterns. He works through His prophets to point us in the right direction. Through his prophet, we are given instructions. If we follow through on those instructions towards completion, we are cleansed. Naaman's story is a parallel for receiving salvation. I was definitely mistaken in thinking that seven was an arbitrary number. However, I actually love that I made the mistake because it led me to an important realization: bathing in the river seven times is not what healed Naaman. I don't think there was some odd organism in the river that year that ate away at his chronic bacterial infection. I think the Lord healed him for his obedience. And isn't that the key here?! As Latter-day Saints, we believe in salvation through grace. Naaman didn't actually wash off his leprosy in the river. He was healed by the Lord. It was a gift that was given to him. But the Lord didn't cleanse Naaman until after Naaman was obedient in washing seven times, in being “complete.” Latter-day Saints believe that salvation is a gift; we also believe we will be judged by our actions and whether we followed the Lord. The Lord judges us, cleanses us, and gives us that gift of salvation if He judges us worthy. We see this same pattern multiple times in the Old Testament. It was the same with the walls of Jericho. The Israelites were instructed by the prophet to circle the city seven times, and the Lord made the walls come down so that they could enter into the promised land. The Israelites didn't make the walls come down; they were obedient and the Lord judged them and enabled them to enter into the promised land. We work towards completion, and the Lord cleanses us so that we can enter into the Celestial Kingdom. So what does it mean to be complete? There are probably a lot of things to be said about reaching completion, but the first thing that came to mind in this particular moment was the captive Israelite girl. There were skirmishes along the border of Syria and Israel. Syria would perform raids into Israel, and they would steal women and children and turn them into slaves. This is likely how she came to be a slave in Naaman's household. She was young. Some biblical scholars believe she was anywhere from 8-14 years old. We know nothing of her family, whether they were killed or put into slavery elsewhere or whether she was simply taken away from them. What we do know is that she was in a pagan household, and despite her youth, she believed in a prophet in Israel. Belief will take us so far, and yet, she takes it beyond belief. That little servant girl held true compassion. She loved Naaman's household enough to want Naaman to be cured and okay. Despite the fact that Naaman might have been partially to blame for her slavery, she had compassion. Completion does not mean perfection. If we specifically strive towards perfection, we often end up discouraged. Instead, I would hope that we strive for completion. In my mind, completion means that we become beings that mirror Christ. We have faith. We have enough love in our hearts that our actions follow suit. That little servant girl reflected Christ. She loved the very people who betrayed her. Being betrayed enabled her to save Naaman. We don't know if she had to work through homesickness or anger or deep depression, but we do know she loved. I think that love helped her be complete in the sense that she turned outwards and was like Christ, but I also have the distinct impression that her love healed her. No matter what she went through, that love healed her enough that she could be compassionate. I testify that the Lord teaches us His gospel in patterns. He teaches His gospel again and again and again through His servants, the prophets. I testify that He is the one who gives salvation to us, and I also testify that doing our best to become the kind of person who reflects Him brings healing and joy and peace into our lives no matter what we've been through. Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR's 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 2 Kings 2–7 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Nick Gonios, VP of Learning Transformation and Company Ambassador at TalentLMS, to explore one of the biggest hidden challenges in corporate learning: the Completion Trap. As AI rapidly transforms the workplace and organizations race to reskill their workforces, traditional learning metrics are increasingly falling short. Completion percentages and attendance figures may look impressive on a dashboard, but they reveal very little about whether employees can apply what they've learned to improve business outcomes. In this conversation, Nick explains why organizations have become fixated on measuring learning activity instead of learning impact, how outdated KPIs continue to reinforce the problem, and why this disconnect is creating friction, reducing productivity, and slowing organizational transformation.Key topics covered include:Why course completion is a poor indicator of real learning and competence.What TalentLMS' latest research reveals about learning metrics, employee behavior, and business impact.How AI can move beyond content creation to deliver personalized, relevant learning experiences.Practical steps organizations can take to align learning initiatives with productivity and business outcomes.Next StepsIf you enjoyed this discussion, don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to UC Today for more conversations with industry leaders shaping the future of work, AI, learning, and enterprise technology.

Happy 250th! The bulls are bubbling up! Yentervention – it is a thing. Labor market predictions. PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? PayPal.Donation.Button({ env:'production', hosted_button_id:'JJJHP2GDEJC7J', image: { src:'https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif', alt:'Donate with PayPal button', title:'PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!', } }).render('#donate-button'); Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm-Up - 250 Years! - We have the scorecard - Bulls are on the loose! - Kevin Hassett - what a putz - RAM JOB! Markets - Google's first day in the DJIA - a good one - SpaceX bonds already losing -Yen slips to 1986 levels - Yentervention? WHAT A PUTZ! - Trump Accounts launch July 4, with the NYSE and Nasdaq set to ring the opening bell from the Oval Office. - Program gives a $1,000 Treasury-funded investment account to U.S. children born from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2028. - Kids under 18 can have accounts, but only newborns in that four-year window get the federal seed money. - Parents, family, employers, nonprofits, and governments can add money, with a general $5,000 annual contribution cap. - Money is invested in index funds and generally locked up until the child reaches adulthood. - Kevin Hassett pitched it as a way to teach kids about markets, ownership, saving, and compounding. His argument is that the more young people get exposed to investing early, and market ownership becomes less of an upper-income club. - However - > the government is handing out taxpayer-funded brokerage seed money while selling it as capitalism. - Also odd: the benefit may skew toward families who already know how to file forms, open accounts, and add more money. - So basically it is a forced financial-literacy experiment wrapped in a political brand name, with a socialist starter check to teach capitalism. First-Half Winners and Losers - S&P 500 finished the first half up roughly 7% to 8%, with the rally led by AI hardware, chips, memory, and data-center infrastructure. - Biggest winners were the shovel sellers: Sandisk up about 780%, Micron up about 296%, Western Digital up about 240%, Seagate up about 226%. - Overseas AI hardware ripped too: South Korea's Kospi up 123%, helped by Samsung up 169% and SK Hynix up 303%. - Semiconductor ETFs had a monster Q2: iShares Semiconductor ETF up 86.8%, VanEck Semiconductor ETF up 64.8%. - Japan's Nikkei rose about 38%; FTSE 100 gained about 5.8%. - Losers were the software/platform names that could not prove immediate AI payoff. - Microsoft was down about 24% despite being one of the biggest AI spenders. - Momentum stocks had one of their worst stretches in two decades as the Magnificent Seven slipped on capex worries. - Crypto and gold also lagged the AI-infrastructure trade. - Equity BULLS are running like it was San Fermin, Spain... MORE.... - Gold biggest quarterly loss since 2013 - Japan best quarter ever - Oil starts and ends - Kospi best quarter in 30 years - Stoxx 600 best Q in 5 years Something is going to break! - When Micro announced earnings, and we see that companies are panicking (News about existential threat to smaller tech players).. We said something is going to break - MU shares lifted to ATH on the news - big big beat - Micron's latest quarter showed a dramatic acceleration from the year-ago period, with revenue rising from $9,301 to $41,460 and EPS increasing from $1.91 to $25.11. - HUGE uptick in guidance - Apple increased pricing, Dell is increasing prices next week (17%), Microsoft raised price on XBox, HP across the board increase, Lenovo/Xiaomi increases, - NOW: Apple is lobbying the Trump administration for clearance to buy memory chips from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies Korea Goes All-In On AI Memory - Samsung and SK Hynix are backing a huge South Korea chip buildout tied to AI memory, HBM, advanced DRAM, packaging and data centers. - Samsung's plan includes hundreds of trillions of won for new fabs, including HBM facilities in Cheonan and Onyang. - SK Hynix is expanding Yongin and planning a major new chip base as it rides demand from Nvidia-linked HBM supply. - Government angle: Seoul wants domestic chip capacity treated like national infrastructure, not just corporate capex. - The state is trying to lock in supply-chain control before China, Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. pull more production into their own subsidy zones. - Market wrinkle: AI memory is hot now, but memory companies have a long history of overbuilding into strong pricing cycles. - Governments are no longer just subsidizing chips — they are helping plan semiconductor cities. RAM Job? - Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron were hit with a U.S. antitrust class-action lawsuit over alleged DRAM price fixing. - Allegation: the big three coordinated supply cuts while shifting capacity away from regular DDR3/DDR4 memory and into high-bandwidth memory for AI servers. - Plaintiffs say the three companies control roughly 90% of the DRAM market. - Conventional DRAM prices allegedly jumped about 700% over four years. - Complaint argues that in a normal commodity market, at least one supplier would usually increase production when prices spike. - Instead, the lawsuit says all three moved in the same direction at the same time. DRAM: We Have Seen This Movie Before - Yes, there was a similar DRAM price-fixing scandal in the 2000s. - DOJ investigation covered alleged DRAM price fixing from roughly 1998 through 2002. - Hynix pleaded guilty in 2005 and agreed to pay a $185 million criminal fine. - Samsung pleaded guilty in 2005 and agreed to pay a $300 million criminal fine. - Infineon pleaded guilty earlier, in 2004, and agreed to pay a $160 million fine. - Micron was involved in the investigation but received amnesty/cooperation treatment rather than the same criminal fine path. - Several executives were also charged or pleaded guilty. - State AGs and private plaintiffs later pursued civil cases tied to overpayment claims. - Difference now: the new case is not yet proven and appears focused on alleged coordinated supply restriction during the AI/HBM boom. Chevron and Microsoft - Chevron Corp signed 20-year deal with Microsoft for data center power. - Agreement supplies natural-gas fired generation for massive West Texas facility. - Project Kilby expected online 2028, ramping to 2.67 gigawatts. - Full output enough to power more than 530,000 Texas homes. - Chevron partnering Engine No. 1, final investment decision planned later. - Deal follows prior reports of exclusive long-term power negotiations. More Oil News - Drill baby Drill - Interior Department cutting federal drilling bonds by 95% to spur exploration. - Required bond drops from $500,000 to $25,000 for leases. - Bonds ensure cleanup costs don't fall on taxpayers if wells abandoned. - Policy change aims to encourage more oil and gas development. - Proposal subject to 60-day public comment after Federal Register publication. Dow 52,000 and the Tech Bounce - Dow closed above 52,000 for the first time Monday, finishing at 52,182.74. - S&P 500 gained 1.18%; Nasdaq jumped 2.07%. - S&P and Nasdaq snapped five-session losing streaks. - Alphabet rose 4.8% on its first day as a Dow component. - Tesla gained 8.5%; SpaceX rose more than 7%. - The bounce came after last week's tech selloff, with investors rotating back into mega-cap and AI names. Comcast Breaks Itself Up - Comcast plans to split media and connectivity into two separate companies. - NBCUniversal and Sky would be spun off in a tax-free deal; Comcast keeps broadband, wireless, and cable. - Completion expected within a year. - Shareholders would own both Comcast and the new NBCUniversal. - Comcast shares rose on the news; Charter also jumped as investors speculated Comcast could eventually pursue a broadband-scale deal. AI Trade Gets a Warning Label - Bank for International Settlements flagged the AI boom as a financial-stability risk. - The main concerns: elevated valuations, investor complacency, complex funding structures, and debt financing across the AI supply chain. - BIS also warned that record public debt and leveraged hedge-fund activity in sovereign bonds could amplify shocks. - Quote from BIS General Manager Pablo Hernandez de Cos: "Policy actions must reinforce each other." - The interesting part: central bankers are not saying AI is fake; they are saying the financing stack may be fragile. Inflation Back Above 4% - BEA's PCE price index rose 4.1% year over year in May. - April was 3.8%; March was 3.5%; February was 2.9%. - This keeps pressure on the Fed because PCE is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. - Core PCE may later be revised lower because of BEA methodology changes. - Goldman estimated May core PCE could be trimmed to 3.2% from 3.4%; JPMorgan expected 3.3%. - Funny-but-real detail: part of the potential revision comes from how BEA prices portfolio management, legal services, and computer software. Jobs Report Becomes Bad-News-Is-Bad-News - June payrolls are due Thursday because markets are closed Friday for Independence Day. - The setup is awkward: strong jobs could mean stronger economy, but also higher odds of Fed hikes. - Looking back - May payrolls were hot at 172,000 versus an 85,000 forecast, with unemployment steady at 4.3%. - Remember - after the June Fed meeting, policymakers were clearly focused on inflation, not rescue cuts. Oil, Iran, and the Market's New Weird Routine - Oil stayed volatile around renewed U.S.-Iran tensions and peace-talk headlines. - Brent rose 1.6% Monday to $73.15; WTI rose 2.2% to $70.75. - Markets rallied anyway, helped by signs talks would resume and shipping routes were stabilizing. - The odd market behavior: geopolitical escalation keeps getting followed by de-escalation headlines and risk-on rallies. - This is now part of the trading pattern: weekend war scare, Monday relief rally, repeat. --- New attacks by USA on Iran happened at approx 4:30PM on Friday (markets closed) and then a halt to the fighting on Sunday - before the futures opened. Odd : Wendy's Becomes a Meme Stock - Wendy's became the latest retail-trader short-squeeze target. - Stock surged 25% last Wednesday, then gained another 9% Thursday. - Barron's said the move followed a CFO shakeup and WallStreetBets attention. - New CFO Steve Cirulis came from Potbelly and is also taking the Chief Strategy Officer title. - Wendy's had fallen 47% over the past year before the rally. - Short interest was nearly 30% of the public float, making the stock easier to squeeze. - Trian, Nelson Peltz's firm, owned nearly 15 million shares valued around $93 million. SpaceX Bonds Slip After Big Debut - SpaceX sold $25 billion of investment-grade bonds, its first major public debt deal. - Demand was huge, with roughly $85 billion to $98 billion of orders. - The 10-year tranche priced about 1.4 percentage points over Treasurys. - Bonds weakened quickly after pricing. - The 10-year yield rose near 6%, with the spread moving above 1.6 percentage points. - Longer-dated 2046 and 2056 bonds took the most pressure. - The pushback: bond buyers want more yield for a company still funding rockets, Starlink, AI/data-center spending, and Mars ambitions. - Clean read: equity investors bought the story; bond investors immediately marked it down. Yentervention - Yen weakened again, pushing toward the 162-per-dollar zone and near its weakest level in about 40 years. - Japan keeps warning it is ready for "decisive action" or to respond "at any time." - Market does not seem scared for long. - Japan already spent heavily defending the yen, including a roughly $73 billion yen-buying operation after the currency broke past 160. - U.S. rates are still high, the Fed is not rushing to cut, and the Bank of Japan is still moving slowly. - That keeps the carry trade alive: borrow cheap yen, buy higher-yielding dollars. - Japan's foreign reserves fell 5.6% in May after intervention, showing the defense is expensive.   Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? PayPal.Donation.Button({ env: 'production', hosted_button_id: 'JJJHP2GDEJC7J', image: { src: 'https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif', alt: 'Donate with PayPal button', title: 'PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!' } }).render('#donate-button-2'); THE CLOSEST TO THE PIN for SpaceX (SPCX) Winners will be getting great stuff like the new "OFFICIAL" DHUnplugged Shirt!     FED AND CRYPTO LIMERICKS   See this week's stock picks HERE Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter

Hello friends, enemies, and AI spam robots. We did one of our first-ever live podcast events at The Lighthouse in Venice, California, a swanky campus for creators where extravagant secret handshakes surely exist. The podcast focused on how to write a book specifically, but could be applied to any creative project generally. I had a great time talking in front of a live audience (probably because I'm the youngest of five and crave attention), and I look forward to doing more. For the three percent who don't know, Adam Skolnick is an award-winning independent journalist and author covering adventure sports, environmental issues, travel and human rights for The New York Times, Outside, Playboy and Lonely Planet. He is the author of One Breath, the ghost writer and narrator of David Goggins' smash hit memoir and audiobook Can't Hurt Me, and most recently his debut novel, American Tiger, a story about an escaped tiger in the LA area. Adam and I do ocean swims together. Sometimes I let him win.This podcast is in partnership with The Waking Up App. Use this link for $30 bucks off the most profound meditation course I've ever come across.If you dig this podcast, will you please leave a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds and makes a difference when I drop to my knees and beg hard-to-get guests on the show. I read them all. You can watch this podcast on my YouTube channel and join my newsletter on Substack. It's glorious. My first book, ONE LAST QUESTION BEFORE YOU GO, is available to order today. Get full access to Kyle Thiermann at thiermann.substack.com/subscribe

Ever feel like you're carrying around a heaviness you can't quite explain? Maybe you're exhausted, distracted, or constantly thinking about something that happened months or even years ago. Maybe you can't figure out why it's so hard to move forward. This week's podcast might explain it. Coach K and I are talking about something we don't do very well as humans: completion. We rush from one thing to the next. We don't celebrate our wins. We avoid difficult endings. We leave conversations unfinished. We never fully process losses, transitions, or even really great moments. And then we wonder why we feel stuck. In this episode, we talk about: Why endings often feel like failures How unfinished experiences create emotional and mental clutter Why completion is essential for learning and growth Practical rituals and conversations that can help you let go and move forward The question to ask yourself if life feels heavy right now: What in my life remains incomplete? Listen to the episode and let me know what comes up for you. Love, Sari   Quote:  "If you're feeling heavy and if you're feeling stuck, you might look at what is left incomplete in your life. Because if you go back and start intentionally completing those things, you're going to start feeling lighter right away." Sari de la Motte Can't get enough of me? Connect with me here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saridelamotte/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SariSwears Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SariDLM  Free FB Group for Plaintiff & Criminal Defense Attorneys https://www.facebook.com/groups/fromhostagetohero/

Populous founder and global director, and Highmark Stadium project executive Scott Radecic on the completion of the new stadium in Orchard Park full 411 Wed, 24 Jun 2026 08:30:00 +0000 wry88quopWJhVqYGmUWsHqAtWnXQ2GuQ nfl,football,buffalo bills,news,wben,highmark stadium,populous,scott radecic WBEN Extras nfl,football,buffalo bills,news,wben,highmark stadium,populous,scott radecic Populous founder and global director, and Highmark Stadium project executive Scott Radecic on the completion of the new stadium in Orchard Park Archive of various reports and news events 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Managing director at Populous and lead designer of the Highmark Stadium project Jonathan Mallie on the completion of the new stadium in Orchard Park full 205 Wed, 24 Jun 2026 08:30:00 +0000 0iP2fCpLuI4jYi8abX6PvOcUZdHoQGGe nfl,football,buffalo bills,news,wben,highmark stadium,populous WBEN Extras nfl,football,buffalo bills,news,wben,highmark stadium,populous Managing director at Populous and lead designer of the Highmark Stadium project Jonathan Mallie on the completion of the new stadium in Orchard Park Archive of various reports and news events 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Locked On Heat podcast host Wes Goldberg joins the show to discuss the recent reports regarding a Heat - Bucks trade and the latest development regarding the Celtics now in the mix.

​Mayor Brandon Johnson and other local officials cut the ribbon on the Logan Square Redesign and Milwaukee Avenue Reconstruction project.

Construction is progressing well on what will be Clare's first publicly owned dog park, with the new facility in Shannon now expected to be completed by mid-July.   Ground preparation works are underway, and the project is being hailed as an important new amenity for local dog owners and the wider community.   With demand for dog parks growing and facilities becoming increasingly popular around the country, the question is whether Shannon could be the first of many such developments across Clare.   To discuss the project and what it could mean for the county, Alan Morrissey was joined by Shannon Fine Gael Councillor Tony Mulcahy. Photo (c) Helena Lopes from Pexels via Canva

Robby & Rexrode hour 1 kicks off with Titans mini-camp updates, specifically with Jeffery Simmons. Should we expect a high level of play from Simmons this season? Remarks from his presser released yesterday. How do QBs ' completion rates reflect on their overall skill and level of play? Robby, Joe, & Ian bring you the "Best & Worst In Sports"

The Rebbe writes about the completion of Tanya printing and a new Tehillim edition with commentaries and additions. He encourages continued active involvement in Chabad activities and extends blessings for Pesach and the ultimate redemption. https://www.torahrecordings.com/rebbe/igroskodesh/007/007/2074

Learn and practice with Guru Singh at ⁠https://kundaliniuniversity.com⁠

FRED MILSTEIN is CEO of Media Guarantors, a CAC Group Company, with over 30 years of independent film production, completion guarantee and financing experience. Fred was the prior Global Head of Production at Miramax and also held senior-level positions at Aon and ProSight, focusing on film. Career highlights include BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, directed by Sidney Lumet, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, directed by Terry Gilliam, SILENT NIGHT, from director John Woo and ROOFMAN, from director Derek Cianfrance. Host Jason E. Squire is Professor Emeritus, USC School of Cinematic Arts, and Editor of The Movie Business Book. Music: “The Day it All Began and it All Ended” by Pawel Feszczuk (License: CC by 4.0) 

We have a new player on the cover of #EASports #Madden27 Who is it? IT'S OUR GUY! CALEB WILLIAMS! Let the hate flow through your veins HATERS! But, but, but his COMPLETION %! Moving to Hammond? NOT so fast my friends! We will cover IT ALL! Grab a cold one, kick your feet up and LET'S GO! Get in the chat and let's talk #ChicagoBears The show with no blueprint that HAS IT ALL COVERED! ANYTHING goes! Haters? Aww, how adorable! LET'S GET IT!!!!!!!!!#CalebWilliams #DaBears #Bears #NFL #ChicagoBears #NFCNorth #TTNLNetworkFor expanded TTNL Network coverage, head over to https://www.TheTapeNeverLies.com to sign up and become a TTNL Network patron! You'll gain immediate access to shows like X's with the O's, Draft MOB, Master Class and ALL TTNL Network pop up shows! It's the best $10 a month you can spend for your Chicago football fix.To order Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio(RSP) head over to https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/Follow the crew: One stop shop for ALL TTNL Network social media! https://linktr.ee/TTNLNetwork TTNLNetwork (@TTNLNetwork) https://twitter.com/TTNLNetwork TTNL Network Patreon https://www.patreon.com/thetapeneverlies Phil Ottochian (@phil_ottochian) https://www.instagram.com/phil_ottochian/ Shayne Marsaw (@wasram) https://twitter.com/wasram Ivan Vargas (@IvanV_TTNL) https://twitter.com/IvanV_TTNL Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

The final tower at Barcelona's Sagrada Familia will be blessed by Pope Leo later on Wednesday. Mark Burry is a New Zealand architect who worked at the Sagrada Familia from 1979 until 2016.

What Is an Education Anyway — And Who Gets to Decide? Forget every notion you have been told about what an education is. I want to ask you something I ask every single woman I work with in coaching. What do you believe an education is? And the second question — the one that tends to stop people cold: What did you believe an education was before you started homeschooling? Most of us never actually chose our definition of education. We absorbed it. From school, from our parents, from the culture around us. And then we built an entire homeschool on top of it. And then we wondered why it felt so heavy. And if you’re just starting out and wondering where to begin — I made something for exactly that. The 7-Day Confident Homeschool Roadmap is a free guide that walks you through your first year with clarity rather than overwhelm. Grab it below. Get your free 7-Day Confident Homeschool Mom Roadmap What Is an Education Anyway? The Definition Most of Us Inherited If you grew up in a conventional school system, your working definition probably sounds something like this: Education is the successful delivery of academic content across subjects. Demonstrated through coverage, completion, and measurable progress. Coverage. Completion. No gaps. Not falling behind. Making sure it’s enough. Sound familiar? That definition is exhausting. And it’s not even working in schools. Teachers leave many pages of their curriculum undone at the end of every year. There are interruptions. Substitute teachers. Sick days. Stops and starts. There is no perfectly covered, hundred-percent-completed, no-gaps education happening in a classroom either. And the very academic kids who were force-fed information and tested weekly? How much of that actually stuck? How much of it translated into a purposeful, meaningful life? It is not possible to create a perfectly covered education. Not in a school. Not in your homeschool. The sooner you stop measuring yourself against that standard, the sooner you can build something that actually works. If this is landing for you and you want to hear me unpack it further — I’m also diving into this on my YouTube channel. Same episode, same conversation. Watch it here → https://youtu.be/1T8pINVSeXc Do You Need a Teaching Degree to Define Your Child’s Education? And if you question whether you have the intelligence to answer that question — don’t be in self-doubt. Of course you do. This is your child. Does it seem daunting? It likely does. But it doesn’t have to. I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve been asked if I’m a certified teacher. Nope. I’m not. Does being a certified teacher enable me to educate my children better at home? Nope. It doesn’t. In fact, statistically, being a certified teacher has no bearing on a child’s home education. Teachers have classroom management skills. They know standardized learning materials. They have years of experience that homeschooling parents might not have in the beginning — and I am not denying those skills for a moment. But it doesn’t mean I’m not more motivated to learn how to engage my children’s education than someone else. When I asked a kindergarten teacher about Grade 2 math, she didn’t know what to say. When I asked a high school English teacher how to approach a history discussion with an elementary-aged child, she was stumped too. Turns out, teachers don’t have the full breadth of knowledge either. And I’m certainly not claiming to either. Why do we think we need to? Google doesn’t have it all. Neither does YouTube. But both are pretty helpful. And when they aren’t, there are always books. Lots and lots and LOTS of books. You just need to know where to find the information. A little research and it’s findable.  So Where Do You Find What You Need? When I was in junior high, we bought our first computer: a Tandy EX 1000. The only computer training we had was a Logo program that did next to nothing for me. I attempted to wield x’s and o’s. I’m pretty sure they meant something, but I didn’t understand. Some thirty years later, anyone who wants to know how to use a computer knows. Anyone who wants to know how to Google, YouTube, Facebook, Tweet — they figured it out. Why? Because they found out, by themselves. Tada. The human mind is capable of figuring things out because it wants to. P.S. You might wonder how I went about structuring a thirteen-year-old’s academic education. Self-Education: The Heart of What an Education Really Is Why do we assume kids need everything taught to them? We assume something needs to be done to them. Before anyone sat them down and formally taught them anything, they had already learned animals, language, and how to navigate relationships. In their first year. Their second. Their fifth — long before they ever walked through a kindergarten door. Kids want to learn. It’s simply what they do. When we ask the question — what is an education anyway? — we’ve just begun to really consider who our children are and what they need. And that is exactly what Charlotte Mason was pointing to. What Is an Education Anyway? Here’s What Charlotte Mason Said. “Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.” — Charlotte Mason I have returned to this quote more times than I can count. Because it points to something we already know intuitively. We keep forgetting it when we sit down at the kitchen table and default to the curriculum, the workbooks, the boxes of books, the online programs everyone else is using. Your job is not to pour information into a vessel. Your job is to raise up the child right in front of you. So what does that actually look like in a real homeschool? Here’s one mom’s answer. What Does Real Home Education Actually Look Like? A mom I worked with had been homeschooling for six years, three kids, and had done a lot of the external work — curriculum, systems, showing up every day. And then she went deeper and found her own answer to the question of what an education really is: “Education is a process of exposure to knowledge while learning involves personal processing and growth. Character traits like discernment, self-confidence, and self-management are important outcomes that continue developing long beyond formal education years.” She also said something that stopped me: “Even if no one was watching or assessing my approach, I would maintain similar objectives and methods.” She has found her own answer — not borrowed from the school system, not borrowed from a curriculum company. Entirely hers. And that is what I want for you. For me, the answer starts in the same place it always has — in wanting to engage my child, teach them when necessary, and capture their little hearts. I am most definitely motivated to do that. And so are you. That’s why you’re here. Want to keep going? This conversation continues on my Rethinking Education YouTube channel. Find it here → https://youtu.be/lkFJglpaoqs What is an education anyway? What Is an Education Anyway? Questions to Sit With This Week As you move through your week, gently ask yourself: What definition of education am I actually operating from right now? Did I choose it — or did I absorb it? Where might I be able to trust what is already working in my child? If no one was watching or assessing my homeschool, would I do anything differently? You don’t need to answer all of it today. Just noticing is already meaningful work. Want to Go Deeper? If this post resonated, the podcast episode What Is an Education Anyway? goes much further — including the five shifts I see happen when a homeschool mom finally loosens the grip of a definition that was never really hers, and what it looks like when peace replaces pressure in a real homeschool home. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. When you’re ready to take the next step, here are three ways I can help: If you’re in your first year — start with the free 7-Day Confident Homeschool Roadmap. It will give you a clear, grounded foundation so you begin with confidence rather than overwhelm. If you’ve been homeschooling for a while and something feels off — take the quiz to identify the real root of your frustration. It’s free and takes five minutes. And if you’re ready for a real reset — book your free Aligned Homeschool Reset session. This is where we get clear on what’s actually going on in your homeschool and your life — and you walk away with a whole lot more peace than you arrived with. Teresa Wiedrick is a certified life coach and graduated homeschool mom who supports homeschool moms in building a life — not just a lesson plan. Her work focuses inward, because most homeschool overwhelm has nothing to do with curriculum. Book your free Aligned Homeschool Reset Session I help homeschool moms trust themselves, edit expectations, and make intentional choices that create a more confident, connected, and present homeschool life. Book your Reset Session with Teresa People also ask… Self-Directed Learning: the Art of Encouraging Independent Homeschooling Building Connection with Tamara Strijack of the Neufeld Institute Is there an art and a science to an education? Why Seasoned Homeschool Moms Still Struggle (And How to Break Free) How do I unschool my child: 5 ways to move toward it in your homeschool Can you homeschool without a homeschool room? “Should I Homeschool My Child?” Here's What You Need to Know Why You're Losing Confidence as a Homeschool Mom (and How to Get It Back) How I transitioned from homeschool to public high school 5 suggestions about buying a new curriculum How to Start Homeschooling Confidently in Year 1 What's the connection between self-directed learning & free play? Latest episodes What Is an Education Anyway? Your Answer Changes Your Homeschool June 8, 2026 5 Reasons Your Homeschool Child Won’t Do Work & How to Motivate Your Child June 2, 2026 Crush 1st-Year Homeschool Frustrations and Plan a Smooth Year 2 May 30, 2026 Encouragement for Homeschool Moms in the 1st Year May 30, 2026 Transitioning into Homeschool High School: What We're Really Talking About May 26, 2026 Registered Homeschooling vs Online Learning BC: What Really Matters May 19, 2026 Homeschool Year End Review: Celebrating your Success & Growth May 12, 2026 When You Buy New Homeschool Curriculum: 5 Clever Suggestions May 6, 2026 The Truth About Homeschooling the “Right Way” — But What Works May 5, 2026 9 Steps to Thrive: Confident Homeschool Mom in Year 1 April 28, 2026 What If Your Unrealistic Expectations Are Actually Your Greatest Asset? April 21, 2026 Overcome Imposter Syndrome: How to Build Confidence as a Homeschool Mom April 14, 2026 How to Get Started Homeschooling in 2026 April 11, 2026 9 Mistakes That Make Your 1st Homeschool Year Stressful (& How to Avoid Them) April 9, 2026 How to Make Confident Homeschool Decisions (Without Seeking Permission) April 7, 2026 How to Homeschool When Everyone Has ADHD (And You’re Exhausted) March 31, 2026 Exhausted Homeschool Mom? 8 Things That Will Give You Hope March 24, 2026 Stop Second-Guessing as a Homeschool Mom (& Use Your Magic) March 17, 2026 “You’re Not Falling Apart. You’re in the Winter Homeschool Slump.” March 10, 2026 The Lies Homeschool Moms Believe That Makes Everything Harder March 2, 2026 You’re Not Failing. You’re Caught In An Inner Critic Loop. Here’s How to Get Out February 24, 2026 How to Stop People-Pleasing as a Homeschool Mom (One Mom’s Story) February 17, 2026 How to Stop the Inner Critic as a Homeschool Mom: The Charmed Life I Was Chasing (& the Pattern I Didn’t Know I Was Living) February 10, 2026 The Most Important Way to Take Care of Yourself as an Overwhelmed Homeschool Mom February 2, 2026 How to Do Kindergarten in Your Homeschool: A Fun & Effective Guide January 29, 2026 The Real Reason You’re Overwhelmed (It’s Not the Curriculum) January 26, 2026 Unexpected Feelings When Your Homeschooler Gets Accepted to University January 22, 2026 How to Stop Being a Hostage to Homeschool Pressure (& What to Do Instead) January 19, 2026 The Truth About Finding Your Homeschool Rhythm January 13, 2026 The Confident Homeschool Mom Podcast: Introducing the 1% Pivot January 6, 2026 Purpose-Driven Homeschool Planning for 2026: How to Recalibrate the Year with Clarity December 23, 2025 1% Shift to a Calm Homeschool Life December 23, 2025 12 Things I've Learned About Homeschool Moms: Self-Care Tips for Overwhelmed Homeschool Moms December 10, 2025 12-Day Homeschool Mom Self-Care Challenge to Come Back to Yourself December 2, 2025 What is the Reimagine Your Homeschool Group Coaching? November 18, 2025 Not Just a Homeschool Mom — Why You’re Disappearing (And How to Come Back) November 11, 2025 Teaching World War to a Homeschooled Eight Year Old November 10, 2025 Reimagine Your Homeschool: Feel Free, Inspire Curiosity and Do What Works November 5, 2025 the role of imagination in a home education November 4, 2025 Helping Our Kids Live Their Lives on Purpose: A Practical Guide for Homeschool Moms October 28, 2025 How to Set Realistic High School Expectations? Learn Human Development October 20, 2025 How to Build Homeschool Routines that Support YOU October 14, 2025 Why Deschooling? To Feel Confident, Certain & Good Enough October 7, 2025 The Ultimate Guide to Building Boundaries and Healthy Relationships for Homeschool Moms September 23, 2025 Ultimate Homeschool Overwhelm Quiz That Reveals Your Hidden Stress Triggers in 5 Minutes September 15, 2025 Start Homeschooling in British Columbia: How to Decide September 9, 2025 How to Create an Effective Homeschool Routine that Works for You September 2, 2025 Interest-Led Homeschool for Confident Moms: An Enneagram 8 Mom's Story of Growth August 28, 2025 How Do I Unschool My Child? 5 Simple Steps to Set Them Free August 19, 2025 Top Tips for New Homeschool Moms in Season 3 August 11, 2025 Subscribe to the Confident Homeschool Mom podcast YouTube Apple Audible Spotify Call to Adventure by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3470-call-to-adventureLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (function(m,a,i,l,e,r){ m['MailerLiteObject']=e;function f(){ var c={ a:arguments,q:[]};var r=this.push(c);return "number"!=typeof r?r:f.bind(c.q);} f.q=f.q||[];m[e]=m[e]||f.bind(f.q);m[e].q=m[e].q||f.q;r=a.createElement(i); var _=a.getElementsByTagName(i)[0];r.async=1;r.src=l+'?v'+(~~(new Date().getTime()/1000000)); _.parentNode.insertBefore(r,_);})(window, document, 'script', 'https://static.mailerlite.com/js/universal.js', 'ml'); var ml_account = ml('accounts', '1815912', 'p9n9c0c7s5', 'load');

A brief note. These episodes are being released during a five-week period when I am away and not tracking current events in real time. The archetypal patterns I offer are reliable. What is expressing them in the world right now is yours to hold alongside what I offer.___Completion, Crossing, and New BeginningSomething is completing and something is beginning this week. Venus, who has been moving through Cancer since mid-May, turning the relational field toward nurturing and genuine care, is preparing to leave. Before she goes, she has significant work to do.Key Cycles This Week:Tuesday, June 9: Venus conjuncts Jupiter in Cancer. Mercury in Cancer squares Saturn in Aries. Two movements pulling in different directions. Venus meeting Jupiter in Cancer amplifies what nourishes — warmth, generosity, the sense of genuine belonging. This is one of the more beautiful transits of recent weeks. Let it land. Let what is good be felt fully rather than held at arm's length by the urgency of everything else.At the same time, Mercury squares Saturn. The feeling mind meets hard reality. Difficult conversations may be necessary. The gap between what is longed for and what is currently possible becomes harder to ignore. Hold both. Expansion and honest reckoning are not contradictions in a genuine threshold time.Friday, June 12: Venus in Cancer squares Chiron in Aries. Before Venus leaves Cancer, she meets the Wounded Healer. This square touches old relational wounds — places where the longing for genuine belonging has met disappointment or the pain of being too much or not enough within systems never designed to hold the fullness of who you are. For many, this wound is not only personal. It is ancestral and collective.Venus square Chiron does not offer easy resolution. But the Shamanic tradition has always known that when a wound is brought into honest awareness and witnessed rather than managed, something in it begins to metabolize. What surfaces this week around old relational pain may be less a sign that something is wrong and more an invitation to witness what has long needed witnessing.Saturday, June 13: Venus enters Leo, remaining until July 9. The register shifts. Where Cancer sought quiet belonging and nourishment, Leo seeks expression, visibility, and the joy of being fully seen in one's vitality. This is not vanity. It is the soul's genuine need to be witnessed in its radiance, not only its tenderness. In a collective moment asking so much gravity and endurance, Venus in Leo is not a distraction. It is replenishment.Sunday, June 14: New Moon at 24 degrees of Gemini. The lunation cycle renews in the sign of the Communicator. In a field still charged by Uranus in Gemini, what wants to begin here is not a return to familiar patterns of thought but genuinely new perception. In a time when the information field is saturated and often deliberately disorienting, this lunation asks: what new way of knowing is trying to emerge in you, from your own direct experience rather than what you have been told?Plant that.Larger FrameThis week holds the full arc of Venus in Cancer — her expansion, her reckoning with old wounds, and her departure into Leo. What have you learned since mid-May about what genuinely nourishes you? Where has old relational pain asked to be witnessed? Venus carries what she has learned in Cancer into Leo. The nourishment becomes fuel for expression. The tenderness becomes the ground of genuine visibility.And the New Moon in Gemini opens a new chapter in how we think and communicate, with ourselves, with each other, with the larger world trying to find its new form.Reflection QuestionsWhere am I being invited to let genuine goodness or expansion actually land rather than holding it at arm's length?What old relational wound is asking to be witnessed rather than managed right now?As Venus moves into Leo and the New Moon plants new seeds, what wants to be expressed that has not yet had enough room?Let what is good be felt. Let what is wounded be witnessed. Let what is new have the quiet attention of this lunation.The web of life is always reorganizing toward something, even when we cannot yet see its full shape.Podcast poem: Wisdom of the Deer by Kent OsbourneIf this transmission has been useful, share it with someone who might need orientation in these times.Support the showGo to Sheila's website for information for transformational resources: https://www.ontheedgesofchange.comThis episode was co-created with generative AI, engaged as a soul-aligned ally in service of transformation. At the edge where technology meets myth, I choose insight over noise, and alchemy over automation. Thank you for dreaming the future with me.

Pastor Nicoletti continues in Philippians, this time preaching on “True Completion” from Philippians 3:12-16.

In this episode, Jo shares the June 2026 Flying Stars Feng Shui forecast, beginning from 5 June 2026 at 11:50pm, becoming more noticeable from 6 June onwards. June arrives with exceptionally strong Fire energy. We are already in Period 9, a 20-year Fire period, and 2026 is the Yang Fire Horse year. As we move towards the summer solstice on 21 June, the Fire element becomes even more pronounced. Fire is associated with: Visibility Reputation Fame Recognition Marketing Branding Performance Illumination Exposure Expansion This makes June a powerful month for anyone working with public presence, creativity, performance, media, communication, reputation-building or personal visibility. At the centre of the chart, the Flying Star 4 arrives, bringing themes of popularity, creativity, study, romance, writing, learning and communication. Because the centre influences the whole chart, these themes ripple through the entire month. Jo also revisits the Trilogy of Luck: Heaven Luck — the stars, timing, BaZi and cycles we cannot change, but can read and understand. Earth Luck — the Feng Shui of our homes, rooms, sectors, furniture and physical environment. Man Luck — the choices we make, the actions we take, and how consciously we work with the energy available. The episode then moves through each sector of the home for June 2026. The South contains wealth potential, but also pressure. This sector can support prosperity, especially for those who benefit from Fire energy, but it should be kept peaceful and quiet due to the annual misfortune star. The Southwest brings auspicious energy for new beginnings and longer-term wealth. Spending time here, or sitting with your back to the southwest, can help draw in supportive energy. The West supports success, authority and helpful opportunities. It is a useful sector for increasing recognition and results. The Northwest needs care, as a difficult monthly star brings potential challenges. Avoid renovations, loud noise or heated arguments in this area. The North holds surprising prosperity potential, including unexpected opportunities or windfalls. However, because the annual Six Killings energy is also present, this sector should be used calmly rather than aggressively activated. The Northeast is creative and supportive for study or writing, but may also carry a risk of misunderstanding, gossip, betrayal or unclear intentions. Use this area gently and avoid mean-spirited dynamics. The East is one of the more supportive sectors for completion. This is a strong area for finishing projects, meeting deadlines, wrapping things up and seeing earlier work come to fruition. The Southeast brings movement, growth and momentum, but also conflict or impatience. It can help with procrastination, but needs to be handled carefully to avoid arguments or impulsive reactions. Jo then looks at how June 2026 may affect the Chinese zodiac animals. The Rat clashes with the Horse, making June busy, stimulating and potentially demanding — but also lucky for wealth and opportunity. The Ox should be mindful of communication and misunderstandings. The Tiger combines with the Horse, increasing Fire energy, motivation and momentum, but also impatience. The Rabbit benefits from completion energy and may see results from earlier efforts. The Dragon and Snake should avoid drama, politics and unnecessary conflict. The Horse experiences amplified energy and should be mindful of self-penalty, overdoing things or becoming its own obstacle. The Goat is well-supported by the Horse and may enjoy cooperation, visibility and relationship growth. The Monkey benefits from new beginnings and a lift in energy. The Rooster may find June successful, with helpful people and problem-solving opportunities. The Dog combines with the Horse but may face complications, delays or unexpected challenges. The Pig has generally steady energy but should avoid unnecessary risks and protect health and energy levels. Jo closes the episode by inviting listeners to get in touch for Feng Shui, BaZi or Qi Men consultations, and to join the Patreon family for daily Qi updates.

EPISODE 722 - Andrey Medina - Screenwriter and Author - Sci-Fi storyteller who's fascinated by the questions that don't have easy answersIn this episode, Dave sits down with author and screenwriter Andrey Medina to explore how imagination, movement, and instability as a child sparked a lifelong inner world that eventually led him to science fiction. Andrey explains that he was not so much “called” to authorship as he was found by science fiction itself, discovering in it a way to imagine alternatives to reality. Influences like Tolkien and Asimov did more than shape his taste; they fundamentally shaped how he thinks about worlds, systems, and psychohistory-level questions of how reality can be simulated and reimagined.Andrey shares honest, practical advice for aspiring writers: finish something. Even a three to five page story matters, because reaching the end delivers pride and a deeper sense of catharsis as both writer and reader of your own work. He describes how completing a story can move you to tears or leave you breathless, and why that emotional climax is the best encouragement to keep going. From there, the second crucial step is to show your work to someone. Even if the reader does not fully connect, the simple fact that they speak your character's name out loud proves that someone else now carries a piece of your imagination in their mind. He also talks about setting himself a week-long challenge during Covid to write a short story every day, emphasizing that even “crappy” stories hold fragments of gold worth revisiting later.The conversation turns to craft and career. Andrey talks about mining small but powerful ideas from imperfect drafts, like a story of a boy who believes he is a robot and a father forced to deconstruct life into tiny, teachable truths. He discusses writing both for himself and for readers, consciously merging the stories he loves with clear commercial awareness, particularly in his young adult speculative dystopian thrillers. Drawing on his screenwriting background, he explains how thinking in scenes, locations, conflict, and emotional reaction shapes his novels, and how good dialogue functions as action rooted in motivation and emotional baggage.Andrey introduces his series, beginning with The Conduit Trials, featuring Ren, a sixteen year old rebel in a totalitarian regime whose botched mission leads to a death sentence and a shocking offer to become a fighter pilot for the very system she opposes. He teases themes of moral ambiguity, propaganda, and critical thinking in a world where nothing is fully right or fully wrong, and shares how recent chaotic global events helped fuel the emotional “lava” behind the story. He wants readers to be fully immersed in Ren's world while constantly asking themselves, “What would I do in her place?”He also explains how listeners can currently read The Conduit Trials as a free ARC through BookSprout, join his mailing list via a link at the end of the book, and stay updated on future installments and launches.Key takeaway: Finish something, no matter how small, and let it be seen. Completion gives you emotional proof that you are a storyteller, and every shared story, even an imperfect one, plants your imagined world in another person's mind.https://www.facebook.com/andreymedina84Send us Fan MailSupport the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca

Olivia Allery shares the historical and systemic factors contributing to violence in Indigenous communities. By exploring the impacts of colonial history, intergenerational trauma, and legal frameworks, we look at why certain cycles persist and what changes are necessary for progress. This episode is eligible for a Certificate of Completion. (27 mins) June 2, 2026 Resources from Olivia Allery The post Understanding Violence in Indigenous Communities appeared first on Foster Adopt Minnesota.

A number of criticial water and wastewater infrastructure projects in Clare are a step closer to coming to fruition. The Commission for Regulator of Utilities' has made a determination which provides for €13.6 million in in capital investment and operational expenditure for Uisce Éireann. It means several Clare projects will be progressed, including those already underway such as the new wastewater treatment plant in Ballyvaughan and the upgrade to the plant in Newmarket-on-Fergus, along with planned developments in Kilkee, Lahinch and Ennistymon. Uisce Éireann Director of Asset Management Sean Laffey says it ensures capacity for growth within communities while also protecting the environment.

In this episode of the Can We Talk? R&B Podcast, Ian Von reconnects with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Eric Roberson to discuss his 18th studio album and companion book, Beautifully All Over the Place. Eric shares insights into his creative process, the importance of completion and consistency, balancing music with family responsibilities, and finding joy through life's challenges. He also discusses collaborations with Avery*Sunshine, the stories behind standout tracks, and what's next—including Beautifully All Over the Place 2 and a unique musical audiobook.

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed how the Bears aren't shying away from challenging quarterback Caleb Williams to complete 70% of his passes in 2026.

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed how the Bears aren't shying away from challenging quarterback Caleb Williams to complete 70% of his passes in 2026. After that, they listened and reacted to Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett's comments about his underwhelming 2025 season and how he needs to step up in 2026. Later, they held the Halftime segment.

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed how the Bears are focused on helping quarterback Caleb Williams improve his completion percentage.

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Score reporter Chris Emma to share a Bears report from Halas Hall as organized team activities continue.

The Atlanta Beltline continues its steady progression toward full completion of its 22-mile corridor, with major milestones approaching for trail development, long-term housing and transit objectives.  Dennis Richards, vice president of housing policy and development with the Atlanta Beltline, joins Host Carol Morgan on Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio to discuss the Atlanta Beltline's current status, housing strategy and future priorities.  Atlanta Beltline Nears Major Completion Milestones Ahead of 2030 Target  The Atlanta Beltline is on track to reach approximately 85% completion by June 2026, with full buildout targeted for 2030.  Described as one of the nation's most significant redevelopment efforts, the project continues to transform former rail corridors into a connected 22-mile trail system with future transit capacity.  “It's a large-scale urban redevelopment project. It's one of the largest in the nation,” Richards said. “It's an economic development engine for the city of Atlanta that's transforming 22 miles of abandoned railroad corridor into a multi-use trail system.”  The initiative also reconnects 45 Atlanta neighborhoods that were historically divided by transportation infrastructure, restoring connectivity across the city's core.  Housing Strategy Focused on Production, Preservation & Land Acquisition  Housing policy along the Atlanta Beltline is driven by a combination of strategic land acquisition, development partnerships and affordability requirements embedded into new projects.  The organization has acquired more than 90 acres of land adjacent to the corridor, creating opportunities to guide future development and support mission-aligned housing projects.  A key focus remains on ensuring that growth includes both affordability and community-serving commercial space, particularly for small, local businesses.  Developers working within the Atlanta Beltline tax allocation district are also encouraged and incentivized to incorporate affordability into project design, helping to bridge financing gaps while advancing housing goals.  More Than 7,000 Affordable Units Created or Preserved  Affordable housing outcomes remain one of the most closely tracked indicators of the Atlanta Beltline's progress.  More than 4,400 units have been created or preserved within the tax allocation district, with an additional 2,600 units located in surrounding Atlanta Beltline communities—bringing the total to more than 7,000 affordable units in the broader area.  The long-term mandate calls for at least 5,600 affordable housing units within the TAD by 2030, with additional pipeline development expected to accelerate progress over the next several years.  Progress is tracking ahead of expectations, with approximately 88% of the goal expected to be reached by year-end based on current pipeline activity.  Inclusionary Zoning & Incentives Support Affordability Goals  Policy tools such as inclusionary zoning and targeted development incentives have played a central role in advancing affordability along the corridor.  The inclusionary zoning ordinance, launched in 2018, has helped produce nearly 950 affordable housing units within the Atlanta Beltline TAD and an additional 250 units just outside its boundaries.  Developers receive incentives to offset financing gaps in exchange for incorporating affordable housing and, in some cases, affordable commercial space within their projects.  The approach is designed to balance private investment with long-term affordability and community stability.  Economic Impact & Regional Growth Continue to Shape Demand  The Atlanta Beltline's economic impact has exceeded early expectations. Originally projected at a 10:1 return on investment, the project has now reached approximately a 14:1 return.  At the same time, regional growth continues to place pressure on Atlanta's housing market. The Atlanta Regional Commission projects nearly 2 million additional residents by 2050, reinforcing demand for housing in intown neighborhoods and along transit-connected corridors.  These dynamics continue to elevate the Atlanta Beltline's role as both a housing catalyst and a long-term infrastructure investment.  Legacy Resident Program Supports Long-Term Housing Stability  The Legacy Resident Retention Program, administered through the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, is designed to help long-term residents remain in place as property values rise.  The program offsets property tax increases for qualifying homeowners in designated neighborhoods. Eligibility generally includes residents who have lived in their homes since March 2017 and meet income thresholds at or below 100% of area median income.  “It will fix essentially the amount of property taxes that a resident pays, and it'll pay the difference,” Richards said, describing how the program helps reduce displacement pressure.  Trail Expansion & Transit Planning Define Next Phase of Growth  Recent progress includes the opening of Southside Trail segments four and five, marking another step toward a fully connected corridor.  The expansion enables continuous movement across key Atlanta destinations, linking areas from the northwest corridor through Southside neighborhoods and onward toward Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.  Future phases will continue extending connectivity, with additional trail segments scheduled for completion.  An Atlanta Beltline transit study is also underway to evaluate long-term mobility options, with ongoing community engagement expected as planning evolves.  Looking Ahead to 2030: Full Buildout and Integrated Mobility  By 2030, the Atlanta Beltline is expected to reach full trail completion while continuing to expand housing production and advance transit planning.  The long-term vision includes a fully connected corridor supporting multimodal transportation, increased housing density and continued equitable development across Atlanta neighborhoods.  Through strategic land acquisition, policy-driven affordability tools and coordinated partnerships with public and private stakeholders, the Atlanta Beltline is working to align long-term housing production with sustained community growth across Atlanta's core. To learn more about the Atlanta Beltline and its ongoing initiatives, visit www.beltline.org.  About the Atlanta Beltline  The Atlanta Beltline is a 22-mile urban redevelopment initiative transforming former railway corridors into a connected system of multi-use trails, parks and future transit infrastructure. The project is designed to improve mobility, expand housing opportunities and support equitable economic development across Atlanta.  Podcast Thanks       Thank you to Denim Marketing for sponsoring Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Known as a trendsetter, Denim Marketing has been blogging since 2006 and podcasting since 2011. Contact them when you need quality, original content for social media, public relations, blogging, email marketing and promotions. A comfortable fit for companies of all shapes and sizes, Denim Marketing understands marketing strategies are not one-size-fits-all. The agency works with your company to create a perfectly tailored marketing strategy that will suit your needs and niche. Try Denim Marketing on for size by calling 770-383-3360 or by visiting www.DenimMarketing.com.        About Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio       Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio, presented by Denim Marketing, highlights the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry – the home builders, developers, Realtors and suppliers working to provide the American dream for Atlantans. For more information on how you can be featured as a guest, contact Denim Marketing at 770-383-3360 or fill out the Atlanta Real Estate Forum contact form. Subscribe to the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast on iTunes, and if you like this week's show, be sure to rate it. Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio was recently honored on FeedSpot's Top 100 Atlanta Podcasts, ranking 16th overall and number one out of all ranked real estate podcasts.  The post Atlanta Beltline Targets 2030 Completion While Expanding Affordable Housing Impact appeared first on Atlanta Real Estate Forum.

What is completion as a concept, and why is it so magical? More importantly, Laura has met a magical new friend whose entire career so far has spanned working in a very near-and-dear theme park. Why are theme parks so transformational? Why are Bay and Laura so obsessed with immersive storytelling? Are you coming to The Most Magical Retreat?!?! https://westofwonderlandconsulting.com/the-most-magical-business-retreat-on-earth/ 

The primary focus of this podcast episode is the imperative of fulfilling the Great Commission within our generation, a mission passionately championed by our guest, Doug Cobb. Throughout our discourse, we delve into Doug's remarkable journey, highlighting his transformative experiences in global missions and his entrepreneurial background that has equipped him for this calling. Doug shares insights from his book, "Sprint to the Finish," highlighting the necessity of engaging unreached and unengaged people groups with the message of Jesus Christ. We explore various methodologies, including the innovative concept of church-centered Bible translation, which empowers local communities to take ownership of the Scriptures. As we engage in this enlightening conversation, we invite our listeners to reflect on their roles in this vital mission, emphasizing that each of us has a part to play in this significant endeavor.Takeaways: The podcast emphasizes the importance of clarity, insight, and encouragement in pursuing life and mission. Doug Cobb shares his transformative experiences in Nigeria that ignited his passion for global missions. The discussion outlines the significance of church-centric Bible translation in reaching unengaged people groups. Cobb highlights the critical role of the Great Commission in mobilizing efforts to spread the Christian message worldwide. The concept of 'reached', 'unreached', and 'unengaged' groups is crucial in understanding global mission strategies. A powerful emphasis is placed on the necessity of prayer, giving, and going in the Great Commission effort.

Send us Fan MailThis is a fun one, first of all I roped in Jeff to join me for a Pod :-) That was good talking with him again like this. But we mostly discuss the "Path to Completion" document we use for our divers at all levels. As per normal for us, we go on several tangents and go off topic every once in a while. Hope you enjoy this one with Jeff.Also check out our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/UnifiedTeamDiving

After a long renovation, Boise State's observatory is preparing to once again open a window to the stars for students and scientists alike. 

Season 9 kicks off with a discussion about 90 credit degrees and how the University of Maine System is moving forward with three Applied Baccalaureate degrees as a way of bringing learners with some college but no degree back to the university system. Chancellor Dan Malloy and Vice Chancellor Jeff St. John join to talk about their process for developing the Applied Baccalaureates, the surprisingly little pushback from faculty, the enthusiastic response from employers, and their hopes for continued growth and engagement with these innovative credentials in the future.    Key Takeaways:The 90-credit credential is an academic innovation designed to bring “some college no degree” learners back to school. The reduced credit threshold for awarding the degree may support easier access into the workforce in less time with less money spent by the learner.The University of Maine System will launch three “Applied Baccalaureates” in fall 2026, having worked with their accreditors, their trustees, and faculty at each of the system member institutions to identify and develop these programs. Accrediting bodies may provide guidance for institutions about what must be included as part of a 90-credit credential, and may have requirements for how to name the degree and how to differentiate them from the full baccalaureate degree. Host:Doug McKenna, Ph.D.University Registrar, George Mason Universitycmckenn@gmu.edu   Guests:Daniel Malloy, J.D.Chancellor, University of Maine Systemhttps://www.maine.edu/chancellors-office/dannel-p-malloy-chancellor/ Jeffrey St. John, Ph.D.Vice Chancellor, University of Maine SystemReferences and Additional Information:Core Competencies: Leadership and Management

Do you collect what you like?Or do you like what the hobby already taught you to collect?In this flagship episode of Stacking Slabs, Brett explores one of the hardest questions in the hobby:Can collectors truly separate personal taste from social influence in a world built around visibility, market validation, and public scoreboards?This conversation digs into the forces shaping collector behavior every day. The crowd. The market. The stage. Social media reward loops. Completion chasing. Ownership bias. The pressure to conform. The desire to feel safe.Brett breaks down how modern collecting environments influence taste without collectors even realizing it and why true independence in collecting is less about rejecting the market and more about building awareness, discipline, and honest reflection.If you've ever questioned why you wanted a card, why urgency suddenly appeared, or whether your collection reflects your taste or the room's approval, this episode is for you.This is a conversation about collector psychology, authorship, conviction, and learning how to hear your own judgment again.Check out the awesome software that InfernoRed Technology can build for you.Sign up for Hobby Jobs and The Weekly Rip for freeGet your free copy of Collecting For Keeps: Finding Meaning In A Hobby Built On HypeStart your 7 day free trial of Stacking Slabs Patreon Today[Distributed on Sunday] Sign up for the Stacking Slabs Weekly Rip Newsletter using this linkFollow Stacking Slabs: | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tiktok ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode of The Fitness League Podcast, we dive into the psychology behind consistency, effort, and long-term behavior change in health and fitness. We explore why so many people lose momentum, how broken feedback loops sabotage progress, and why celebrating small wins may be one of the most powerful tools for sustainable change. This conversation breaks down the science of motivation in practical, real-world terms—from behavioral activation and competence building to the importance of autonomy, relatedness, and visible progress signals. We also discuss the psychology behind "open loops" and how the Zeigarnik effect can either keep you engaged… or mentally drained. L5 Health Score Quiz https://score.lvltnhealth.com/ The Fitness League app https://www.fitnessleagueapp.com/ Join the Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lvltncoaching Alessandra's Instagram: http://instagram.com/alessandrascutnik Joelle's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joellesamantha?igsh=ZnVhZjFjczN0OTdn Josh's Instagram: http://instagram.com/joshscutnik Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Fitness League Podcast 01:00 The Importance of Completing Tasks 05:32 Psychological Insights on Progress and Completion 10:44 Understanding the Self-Determination Theory 14:40 The Impact of Unfinished Tasks on Mental Health 15:31 Decluttering and Open Loops 19:41 The Psychology of Commitment 22:20 Taking Action and Building Motivation 23:46 Redefining Progress and Feedback Loops 29:54 Maximizing ROI on Efforts 32:06 Building Consistency and Trusting the Process

Software delivery clarity has become one of the most important competitive advantages for engineering organizations. Teams are shipping faster, AI-assisted development is compressing implementation timelines, and traditional project management systems are struggling to keep pace with modern software delivery realities. During the conversation with Alex Polyakov, one idea surfaced repeatedly: most project management systems promise visibility but fail to provide actual operational clarity. Teams still discover delays too late. Executives still receive bad news at the last possible moment. Developers still spend excessive time updating systems rather than building software. That disconnect is exactly what inspired Alex to rethink how engineering organizations manage software delivery. About Alex Polyakov Alex Polyakov is the founder of Project Simple AI, a platform focused on improving transparency and discipline across software delivery workflows. With more than 25 years of experience spanning software engineering, architecture, product management, entrepreneurship, and startup leadership, Alex brings a deeply practical perspective to modern development operations. He has worked as an Application Developer, Senior Engineer, Tech Lead, Software Architect, Solutions Architect, Product Manager, Entrepreneur, and Startup Founder. Today, his focus is helping engineering teams gain visibility and operational discipline without adding unnecessary complexity. Alex also hosts the "Let's Talk Agile" podcast on YouTube, where he discusses modern software development challenges and Agile transformation realities. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpolyakov/ Why Software Delivery Clarity Still Doesn't Exist Most organizations believe they have visibility because they use Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar tools. In reality, they have tracking systems, not visibility systems. Alex described modern project management tools as "glorified Excel sheets." That description lands because many engineering teams recognize the pattern immediately. Endless ticket hierarchies, fields, statuses, and sprint rituals often create administrative complexity without improving confidence. The core issue is simple: status updates depend on human behavior. Developers forget to update tickets. Teams delay reporting problems. Managers discover schedule risks only when deadlines are already compromised. The tooling creates an illusion of control while actual delivery risk remains hidden. That creates a dangerous operating environment for leadership. A founder or executive can solve a delivery problem early. They can reduce scope, renegotiate timelines, allocate additional staff, or re-sequence priorities. But once a team waits until the final week to communicate delays, most strategic options disappear. Visibility is not the same thing as documentation. Visibility means understanding delivery risk early enough to respond. Software Delivery Clarity Requires Behavioral Design One of the most interesting concepts from the discussion was the idea that project management is partly behavioral science. Most tools allow teams to skip critical disciplines. Teams can start work before decomposition. They can mark tasks complete without validating outcomes. They can carry partially defined requirements into implementation. Alex's approach flips that model entirely. Instead of giving teams unlimited flexibility, the system enforces operational readiness. Work cannot begin without decomposition. Timelines cannot exist without estimates. Completion cannot happen without verifying a definition of done. This is important because software organizations often assume process problems are communication problems. In reality, many are workflow design problems. If a system permits ambiguity, ambiguity becomes normalized. If a system requires clarity, clarity becomes operational behavior. Why AI Makes Software Delivery Clarity More Important AI-assisted development changes the economics of software delivery. Implementation cycles are shrinking dramatically. Tasks that previously required days may now take hours. Boilerplate code generation, scaffolding, testing support, and architectural suggestions accelerate execution speed. That acceleration creates a new challenge. If implementation becomes faster, bottlenecks move upstream and downstream. Requirements gathering, coordination, prioritization, testing, and validation suddenly become the limiting factors. This means organizations can no longer rely on heavyweight process management structures built for slower delivery cycles. When implementation speeds increase but operational visibility stays static, delivery chaos accelerates instead of improving. The transcript discussion highlighted a critical reality many organizations are only beginning to recognize: AI amplifies existing operational weaknesses. A disorganized engineering team using AI becomes a faster disorganized engineering team. That is why delivery clarity matters more now than it did during earlier Agile transformations. The Simplicity Principle Behind Better Delivery Alex outlined several operational principles that simplify software execution dramatically. Software Delivery Clarity Starts with Prioritization Teams should know exactly what matters most. Priority order should not be vague or political. If only one item can ship, teams must know which item wins. That sounds obvious, but many organizations operate with dozens of simultaneous "critical" initiatives. Clear sequencing eliminates organizational confusion. Software Delivery Clarity Depends on Finishable Work Teams should not start work that they cannot complete. This principle directly attacks excessive work in progress — one of the most common hidden inefficiencies in software organizations. Partially completed work creates coordination overhead, testing delays, context switching, and reporting confusion. Smaller, decomposed work creates measurable progress. Software Delivery Clarity Improves Team Accountability Alex also challenged pre-assigned work structures. When work is individually distributed too early, collaboration weakens. Teams lose shared ownership. Visibility becomes fragmented across individuals instead of remaining centralized around delivery goals. That perspective aligns closely with modern product-oriented engineering cultures where collaboration and flow matter more than rigid task ownership. Before adding new process layers, evaluate whether your current workflow already contains unnecessary coordination overhead. Why Simpler Engineering Systems Scale Better Many organizations assume maturity means adding process. The conversation suggested the opposite. Mature engineering organizations often remove unnecessary friction instead of introducing more operational complexity. Simplicity improves adoption, consistency, and decision-making speed. This becomes especially important in high-growth environments. As teams scale, communication overhead compounds rapidly. Every unnecessary workflow step multiplies across developers, product managers, QA engineers, architects, and leadership stakeholders. Simple systems reduce cognitive load. That reduction creates operational focus. The goal of project management is not to track work forever. The goal is to deliver valuable software predictably. Conclusion Software delivery clarity is not about more dashboards, more ceremonies, or more ticket customization. It is about creating operational confidence. Alex Polyakov's perspective challenges many assumptions that modern engineering organizations accept as normal. Teams do not necessarily need more process. They need better behavioral systems, clearer visibility, stronger prioritization, and simpler operational structures. As AI continues accelerating implementation speed, organizations that simplify coordination and improve transparency will gain a meaningful competitive advantage. The future of software delivery may not belong to the teams with the most process sophistication. It may belong to the teams with the clearest operational discipline. Stay Connected: Join the Developreneur Community

It's YOUR time to #EdUp with ⁠Ethan Pollack, Senior Director of Financing the Future Initiative, Jobs For the Future (JFF)In this episode, sponsored by EdUp Leadership, the ​HigherEd PodCon​ II happening July 16 & 17, & the 2026 AcOps Conference July 29-31 by CoursedogYOUR host is Dr. Joe SallustioHow does outcomes based financing shift risk away from students by basing payments on earnings rather than fixed dollar amounts? Why did Purdue's Back a Boiler ISA increase completion by 12 points overall & 17 points for Hispanic students while 2/3 paid less than Parent Plus? What makes federal loan limits frozen since 2008 leave students with $20,000 to $50,000 gaps requiring new financing models? Listen in to #EdUpThank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to EdUp!Connect with YOUR EdUp Team - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Elvin Freytes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dr. Joe Sallustio⁠⁠⁠⁠● Join YOUR EdUp community at The EdUp ExperienceWe make education YOUR business!P.S. Want to access to EdUp Leadership, the only intelligence platform built exclusively from presidential conversations in higher ed?

Andrew returns with his latest blueprint for a gothic mystery, and the coaching quickly zeroes in on what will make it work: a clear, compelling villain and twists that truly land. With help from thriller coach and Thrillerfest executive director Samantha Skal, the discussion unpacks the hidden layer of the story—what the villain is actually doing—and how that contrasts with the protagonist's assumptions.As they dig in, it becomes clear that strengthening the mystery means making the murders more personal, introducing a convincing false suspect, and mapping both the visible story and the truth underneath it. By the end, Andrew has a sharper path forward: deepen the villain's motive, raise the stakes earlier, and build each twist so it feels both surprising and inevitable.#AmWriting is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.About Book Coach Sam SkalA fan of the scary, mysterious, and suspenseful, Samantha Skal is the Executive Director of ThrillerFest, the co-founder of Shadows & Secrets writing retreats, and an Author Accelerator-certified book coach who specializes in coaching mystery, thriller, horror, and suspense authors. Sam writes stories that keep her up at night, is a breast cancer survivor, and lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Learn more at www.samanthaskal.com and www.shadowsandsecrets.com. Catch Up on Andrew's Hot Seat Coaching JourneyTranscriptHi, I'm Jennie Nash, and you're listening to the #amwriting podcast, the place where we help writers of all kinds play big in your writing life, love the process, and stick with it long enough to finish what matters most.This is a hot seat coaching episode where we work through a real challenge in real time.And today we're back talking with Andrew Perella, the hashtag am writing podcast producer who has stepped out from behind the mic to work on a novel. And where we left Andrew last time was you'd worked through the whole blueprint and you were tasked with completing. Inside outline. So before we get into our guest and, um, what we're gonna do today, how was that, what was it like for you?Um, I mean, it was, it was, uh, really hard. Uh, but it was, it was, uh, it was really gratifying and it was, it was a lot of fun to do as well. Um. Because I think, um, part of, part of the assignment, you, you, you left for me, [00:01:00] Jenny, was to also beef out certain elements of certain, certain, the presence of certain characters, um, and certain and certain elements of the book.And so I was trying to do that as well as. As, as crafting the outline. Um, and so yeah, it was, it was a long, it was a struggle. It was a struggle, especially to get it to three, to keep it to three, to get it down to three pages. I know, and I'm very strict about that for reasons you are. Um, and. Did you feel a sense of accomplishment when you did it though?Like, oh, this is a book and I'm writing it, or how did that land? Yeah, I mean, like at first I just started writing. I started writing the scene bullets and the, and the points, and just started like, okay, what are all the, what are all the elements that that. I have in my head that I need to get down onto paper and it was like 6, 7, 8 pages.And I was like, okay, now I gotta get this down to three pages. Um, and, and, and I was like, okay, I can combine these two scenes or maybe I don't need this. So I just ended up cutting a lot and cutting a lot [00:02:00] and getting it down. So like, yes, there was a sense of like. Completion. Um, that was certainly gratifying, uh, to get that.And, uh, I had a couple of late nights, um, getting that, getting that squared away, but yeah, it also feels, feels more real now. Um, and it's like, yeah, there's, there's, there's a, there's a there here, which I'm pretty excited about. I'm excited about too, and I'm also excited because we're doing something really cool today.Um, and we have with us Samantha Skull, who I will introduce in a hot second. But hi Samantha. Hi. Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Well, I'm excited too because, um. Sam, as I call her, um, I've known for quite some time. She's one of the OG author, accelerator certified coaches. And Sam, you actually don't know this, but I use you.Probably every day.Oh my God, I'm so flattered as an example of [00:03:00] what a great book coach should do, which is to focus and choose who you're gonna serve and how you're gonna serve them, and to really go deep into what you love and what you wanna do all day. Right? The read books all day and get paid for it thing like do what you love and you.Do that. You've done that just so powerfully and it's so visible on your website, which we'll link to in the show notes so folks can go see, but. Sam loves all the dark and suspenseful and scary mystery, twisty things, which always just cracked me up because I don't, and that's what's so beautiful about book coaching and writing for that matters.Everybody has their own thing and, and that's part of the work of writing Big is. What is your thing? You know? So the reason that I wanted Sam to come is she's built a whole business on this type of work and with, um, another author, [00:04:00] accelerator coach, she runs a really cool, uh, writing retreat that is, um, it's always in Salem.Right. It is in a haunted hotel, which, um, Carrie Savage, who is my co-founder in shadows and secrets, uh, loves being haunted. I do not choose to be haunted, so I choose the non haunted floor. So they have that retreat and they, um, have just started taking it virtual and just all kinds of tools and resources and things for people writing this kind of work.And in addition to that, I. I just am always impressed by your trajectory of having gone from. A volunteer at the Thriller Fest. Well, for a participant at the Thriller Fest conference to being a volunteer, to running the Pitch Fest piece of the thing. And now you're, well then you were co-director, now you're running the whole thing.You're, you're, yes, I am. You're running the entire [00:05:00] Thriller Fest conference, which is how many writers every year. Oh, we have around a thousand and I have a team behind me. Just to be clear. This would not happen without a village, but uh, yes, we have around a thousand thriller authors who come to New York and we, uh, we talk about the dark stuff all week.It's absolutely the, the best time. And it's in two weeks. I can't, I mean, when this comes out, it may have already passed, but yeah, can't wait. No, this is coming out right before, so if anybody wants a quick getaway to New York, they should go. But also just the programming, watch the programming coming out of it and we're so excited.Yeah, it's really good. So, um, I just, I love the career you've built for yourself. It's always just really inspiring to me. And, um, also a recent breast cancer survivor, so we're, uh, always wanna shout out to that. Yes. Get your scans. That's my PSA. Always love it. Same. Love it. Love it. So I wanted Sam to come look at Andrew's inside [00:06:00] outline because I knew that the thing he has to work on is this, what I call in my not totally expertise in this area.I call the twisties of it. That there's a, you know, it's a mystery. It's a murder, it's a gothic, it's horror. It's all the things. And it, those twists have to land. And this is so much Sam's expertise that the whole time I was talking to Andrew about it and guiding him and coaching him, I just kept thinking, we need Sam in here.So, so we got Sam in here. And so, um, Andrew completed his inside outline and Sam very graciously, um, agreed to look through it and to look through his whole blueprint. So before we get into what you saw and what you found, Sam. I just love to hear, I mean, this is so self-serving. I just like nothing more than reading a blueprint.I think it's so fun. Um, just to like, [00:07:00] kind of peel back the, the cover and see what's in there. Did, did you have fun with that? Oh my gosh. So much fun. Andrew. This story is, is so cool. And I love the historical elements and the rethinking of, you know, vampires are running around London and everyone's just like, that's fine.You know, and then how does, how does this all go down? And we have this very agency filled, moxie filled main character who's just a delight and yeah, I loved it. I have, I have so many fun questions to ask you. So Andrew, how does that feel? I mean, it feels great and I, I was reading through, uh, through both of your notes, um, in the, in the, in the outline and like you're asking all of these questions.Um. Some of them that I have not thought of before and like, so I'm, so I'm really excited to kind of dig into these and talk through them. But I'm, I'm, it's really gratifying to hear that this, that this idea is, is, is, is an interesting one. Yeah. I loved it. I a hundred [00:08:00] percent read this book. I'd, I'd see it and be like, yes, I want, I want to be in that world.Cool. Well that's why you're here. Because I would be like, no, too scary. Too scary for me. So, um, I'm gonna let. Sam sort of take it away and, uh, we could talk for days, I'm sure about this, but one of the, the things I love about book coaches who are well trained is they'll hone in on the most important, the most important things.So. What do you think, Sam? What's the most important thing Andrew should be thinking about in his next iteration of this outline? Yeah, so my favorite thing to talk about outta the gate with Mr. Thriller and suspense and gothic horror, depending on how dark you wanna make this, um, is who is the person who's really behind all these murders and why are they committing them?Right? I like to think of MTS mystery full or suspense as the villain's journey as experienced by the [00:09:00] protagonist. Mm-hmm. Right. So we, we must know what's going on beneath the surface in order for those twists to land, because twists are just assumptions about what's going on that the protagonist makes.And when the truth, you know, what's really going on with the villain is revealed, it's twisty because it's unexpected. Mm-hmm. So if we don't, therefore if we don't know who's. Who's behind, who's doing all these villainous things. Um, we struggle to make those twists land and we struggle to get a blueprint that we can actually follow.So tell me your thoughts on who this mastermind murderer is and why they're doing what they're doing. Um, so. So Jack Seward is the, is the, is the Mastermind behind this. And I've been, I've been thinking a lot about it this week since I, since I finished the, since I finished the outline. And a lot of other things have occurred to me about who this gentleman is and how he's doing what he's doing.But I think the why is, um, he is committed to the status quo. He is committed [00:10:00] to, uh, uh, uh, uh, a, you know, uh. He is committed to the manosphere. He is committed to the patriarchy. He has committed to, um, the previous way of doing things. Um. In, in, in society, in politics, in medicine. And so like he's seeing this sea change, um, in all of those areas.Um, with the advent of this, of this, um, medical school for women, uh, with the, with this vote, um, vote, uh, that is happening. Um, and he disapproves and so his goal is to disrupt all of those, um. Disruptions di uh, by pitting them against each other. Got it. So if he can, if he can. Create this illusion that vampires are preying on Suffr jets.They will be too busy fighting each other to try and find any sort of, uh, agency for [00:11:00] themselves. Aha. Very, very well thought out. I love that. As a, as a mastermind villain goal. So here's the other thing, is that mm-hmm. In the genre expectation for any sort of modern mystery, full or suspense, is that we have three twists.We have one at the mid and we can have more. Right. But we have one at the midpoint, which is just the midpoint turn. Like it's, it's a classic story thing, which you already have. You have a great midpoint currently. Mm-hmm. Um, and the climactic twist is the reveal of, uh, as, as Carrie, my co-founder and shadows and secrets likes to say, um, the climactic.Confrontation answers the story question, which is presented in the inciting incident and typically in mysteries, the inciting incident is who's doing the killing? Right? Like, who's behind this dead body that we have early on? And we'll talk about that in just a second. Um, so the climactic answers that question, and then we have a final twist, which is typically the reveal of this gentleman who wants to keep things as is.And he [00:12:00] meanwhile. During the course of the story is going to be taking action to stop, uh, our plucky protagonist from stopping him, right? Mm-hmm. So he's a full antagonist to our protagonist. And in that way we need a fake villain, right? We need someone that he can have set up so that she thinks this is the person behind everything in the climactic scene.And then she gets to the end and is like, oh my gosh, I've. You know, I've conquered, I've brought chaos to order, I've solved this thing, and now, oh my God, now there's somebody else who's actually behind everything. And actually we're still in grave danger and we didn't even know to be worried about this.And that's how you get that like, you know, 85 to 98% just ripping through the pages readers, you know, being so hooked to figure out what happened. Right. Um, so. Tell me a little bit more about who Seward could have set up or manipulated or something [00:13:00] else to commit these murders so that he gets done what he wants to get done, but he also protects himself.And if you don't know the answer, that's okay. We can brainstorm. But if you do, then that's great. So this is, this is kind of part of the, the, the thought, the idea that I've had since I, since I finished the, the, the, uh, the outline is. Because the, the syringe idea mm-hmm. The double-headed syringe idea always felt a little tenuous.Uh, like I, I wasn't quite sure that that was gonna hold, but, so my new thought about this is, is. Because he is, uh, he is the, uh, director of a mental institution. Um, and so, and so, like, that's a whole other politic where he has people who are, uh, who are in his thra essentially. And so is there a way that he can coerce, um, a vampire who needs him to commit these murders on his behalf, thereby kind of insulating himself from the actions.Perfect. And [00:14:00] so I think that could, so the climactic twist would then be. It's a vampire I disco discovering that the, the, this is the vampires committing the murders. But then the, the, the final twist is, oh s**t, he's been doing this at the behest of, of Seward, who's her, you know, kind of Yes, yes. As it were in quotation.Okay. Yes. That sounds amazing. And it also, you know, when we step into this story, um, in your initial scene, we have. Vampires feeding on people and Abby's just like, uh, okay, that's, that's normal. Right? And so is that, did I read that right? Is that the world that we're in? Is that We have vampires existing and Van Helsing, you know, was the one who kept them in check.And we have all that like lore that we're dealing with that the reader brings in. So tell me more about the world I'm walking into here. So, yeah, I think I'm still developing this world. So we're 20 years. Around 20 years after the events of Dracula. Okay. The, the, the novel. And so, and I think, I think people are now aware that [00:15:00] vampires exist.And I think, you know, at this, at the same time, they're being used as like this bogey man or, or, or straw man of like, everything that is wrong with, with British society. Um, but they're also. Not the monsters, right? They're, they're just another, another, um, community that is trying to, uh, eke out, eke out some sort of existence.Um, I love that so much. It's just such a fun, sort of new twist on. Know a story that's so well known and has been in our collective conscience for a hundred years. You know, I don't know when, when Dracula came out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a long time, right? A little over a hundred years. Yeah. It's been a minute.It's been a minute. Um, and so I, so it's still very much a period of transition as, as you know, London and the world are still trying to figure out what that means, that these things actually exist and live among us. Um, and, uh, and so. There were [00:16:00] some things that didn't make it into the outline like I had.There was this one scene where they're walking down the street and there's someone on the soapbox at speaker's Corner at Hyde Park who's railing against, who's railing against, uh, um, vampires as like a sturge on society and things of that nature. And, and there'll be things in the newspaper. I think that kind of addressed this new, this new politic, um, that, that the characters interact with.And so I'm still feeling out what exactly it means. That vampires exist and are part of the public consciousness. Yeah. So one sort of logical question that comes up for me there is, you know, if we're in society and there's just like monsters living among us who occasionally pick people off on the street, that would create a level of, um, extreme tension.Okay. Right. One might say, right, like, yeah, if I'm wandering down the street and I see a vampire eating somebody that's not just like a, you know, we would be taking steps to protect ourselves because humans are always going to protect themselves, and so yes. You [00:17:00] know what, if you change it where the vampires are only allowed to feed on like livestock or something.Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, something that's like the, nobody's happy, right? Yeah. Like, like most, uh, um, situations where we, we agree on something and we're, we're all giving something up. Yeah. But that allows them to exist in society and live among us. Right? Like the, the veil has been lifted. Vampires are here.But they've agreed to only eat livestock, and then the fact that they're murdering people by eating them then becomes. A huge deal. Right? Because this Deante that we've had with them is now broken. Mm-hmm. Um, something like that, because I think if we, if we have it just being casual that they're, they're eating people in alleys or whatever, it reduces, I mean, that's a fun story, don't get me wrong.Yeah, yeah. But that reduces the impact of the murders that we are seeking to solve with this and Right. You know, you said this was, this was a mystery. And so currently [00:18:00] we don't have a ton of mystery on the page like we have. The midpoint is where, um, she discovers that things might not be what they seem, which I love.But in order for that to have impact, we need something earlier. And that could be, you know, these murders have been happening for a few days. That could be the last year. It could be she sees the first murder. Um. Something along those lines, but we need something early. So we, we understand the tension and we understand the mystery story question because you have a ton of other story questions in here, but if this is mystery first, the mystery story question needs to be who committed, who is committing these murders and why?Yep. Yeah. Does that kind of, that makes sense? Land? Yes. No, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Now as a, as as I was, I was rereading the outline, the other, the other, the, the other night. And I was like, I feel, I feel like there needs to be another murder scene. Yeah. Earlier we gotta up the body count in the, the book.Yeah. You know, it's a, it's a, it's a conversation I have every day. [00:19:00] Yeah. Not, not enough dead bodies. Not enough dead. Not enough dead bodies. Yeah. So, you know, and so if she is, if she's really worried about, you know, that's their question is why, why is she so involved in solving these murders? How do we make it personal to her?Mm-hmm. And so could this be a friend? Could this be. You know, um, a sister, could this be an aunt, like some something that's related to her so that this person is taken out. And then that becomes Seward has targeted her because she's the, she's, you know, van sing's niece, right? Yep. Yeah. So she's a public figure that if he takes out by having a vampire.Quote, you know, kill her. Then he will have achieved his goal of disrupting this whole thing and be like, look how dangerous it's for women to be out in the world and you know. Mm-hmm. We should put a stop to this. Like that achieves his goal, but she won't know. Right. Obviously that [00:20:00] that's his goal. Right.But he also needs to create the unrest, so it's not just, you know, she's the one who's murdered. That's going to be the climactic plan and he will have killed other people in the meantime. Right. Okay. Something like that. Like we need to make, yeah. Whatever it is that needs to be personal to her. And if she paint, if she paints a target on her back later on by being a ksky, amateur sleuth, which is classic.Um. That works well as well. But I like, you know, one of the questions I love to ask is, what was your villain doing on the day that their prote, the pro protagonist, decided to ruin their life by deciding to go after and stop them from villain. And so maybe she had nothing to do with any of this and she's researching and becomes a problem.That's the other way you could play it. Mm-hmm. Um. But, you know, if he has this grand plan and he's like, Ooh, Abby would make a great sort of like, figurehead to the end of all these murders, and that's the one that I'm gonna point at it and be like, [00:21:00] look, we can't, you know, I, we can't have these women out here.Right? Something like that could work well. Um, what do you think? What, what's, what's your brain do when I say all those things? Um, it's interesting. I hadn't considered, I hadn't considered that her uncle would be targeting her. One of the things I've been grappling with was like. One of the reasons he targets people around her is to scare her away from med school to scare her away from the cause, okay.Um, and kind of pin her in further to the existing, to the existing, um, um, status quo. Um, and so I hadn't considered him using her. Sacrificing her for his, uh, for his ultimate goals. Yeah. Um, and that's an in, that's an interesting idea. And, and if she were to discover that would certainly up to stakes, um, that would certainly up to stakes for her.It would. And so if you want him to be a little more [00:22:00] empathetic Right. We don't need to go like full dark if you don't want to. Right. Um, he could be trying to protect her. By killing other people, which is misguided. Yeah. But, uh, fun. Right? And then that would make sense. So when she figures out it's actually him, he could be like, I was doing all of this to protect you because I love you.You're in my family. Right? Yeah. That also works. But we need to have whatever his, his plan is for causing, you know, using these murders to achieve his goal. If she's, she needs to be the target of it so that it's very personal to her as she moves through this story. Um, and upping the stakes is always great.It amps the tension, right? Yeah. And again, she's not gonna know any of this until she gets to that final twist. And so one of like the most fine chilling, you know, tingly things that you can do with mysteries is that reveal at the very end. We as through the protagonist, understand how much danger we were in [00:23:00] this entire story, and we had no idea.Right? And that moment is the one that we're seeking with readers and for ourselves, right? It's like, how do we have that moment that reveal have the biggest impact possible? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something like that. Yeah. I, I see Andrew just grinning, like, what are you, whatcha feeling? He's just like, got his giant grin on his face.I mean, like, and like I said, I've been trying to figure out how, because it, because as I was reading, as I was reading through the outline, it did feel like, like abriana was just kind of like adjacent to mm-hmm. All of the murders. Um, and, and Jenny, you and I had talked about whether there was an active investigation and, and, and Sam, I think you kind of alluded to that in, in the notes, is there, is there an active investigation and like, is she, is, is Abriana being.Is, uh, uh, coroner does a suspect by the, by the investigators. Um, is that, why, is that why she is doing her own investigation? Um, [00:24:00] which is another, which is another way to to, to up the stakes. Mm-hmm. Also, um, I, yeah, I'm, I'm, that's an interest, that's an interesting way though to, that's an interesting take on Seward, who's, um, an avuncular figure.He's not, like, he's not a blood relation. To Abriana, but like he is, he is determined in his goal and like, you know, he would, he probably would stop at nothing to get that done, even if it meant, even if it meant, uh, the daughter of a friend of his got killed. Yeah, I mean, just thinking through, and this is your homework, really, is to think through how dark do you want to make him, right?Because you can have a villain who starts off with. A, uh, a goal and decides to achieve it through very ill-advised means, but still wants to protect the people around them, right? Like they can be both. We don't have to have it be a hundred percent. [00:25:00] This person is so evil and willing to burn it all down, right?And so, but that can also be a series of bad decisions. It's like bad decision one leads to, oh my God, like people are finding out that these aren't really vampires. Now I have to really like double down to make it really seem like vampires, so I don't get caught. Because guess what, if I get caught, my life is ruined.Right? And you know, as Abby gets closer, he realizes. I have to kill her. Right? Yeah. She's, she's gonna ruin everything. Yeah. And that sort of angst and that, you know, that would be very painful for him. That could be the thing that when she confronts him at the end, and there will be a de Ma, right? We're gonna have something where he's like, I did all these things for this reason.And it doesn't have to be Yeah. Pages, but we do have a, that's a classic mystery thing. Mm-hmm. She'll understand if you like this, that you know, he was trying to protect her and then. He'll be like, you did this to yourself. You know, like, right. Yeah. You're the one who got in the way. Um, something like [00:26:00] that.And he's like, mm-hmm. My only choice now is to kill you. And then of course she will not allow that because she's our lucky protagonist and will survive because chaos will be brought to order. That's the other big thing is we wanna wrap this up unless you're going who, in which case. It gets worse at the very end.Um, is, is that, is that, is that allowed? Yeah, we, yeah. Well, to keep chaos on the chaos, absolutely. We just need it genre bending is. So hot right now, right? Um, and it's really fun, right? So you can have both, you can have the main mystery wrapped up, like she can, Abby can figure out, okay, this wasn't actually vampires and someone is posing as a vampire.And so that actually changes your midpoint, by the way. We'll talk about that in a second. But if that's the arc, right? She thinks it's vampires. She is, when she does the climactic confrontation, she's like, it's vampires like someone, you know, what are they doing? Why are they doing this? And then realizes [00:27:00] in that, that it wasn't vampires and it's actually someone else.Um, the chaos will be brought to order in that way, right? Like we have, we have a right, we have figured out that someone was posing as a vampire. But what if you have a final, final twist where you know, there actually are vampires. Killing people as well. Like seaward only admits to three of these murders and then there's someone else doing, you know, and it's just like we end it with like, oh no.You know? Right. Yeah. Or by, maybe there's something mystical with like by imitating a vampire or that, you know, the vampires have been gathering their energy for the last 20 years by feeding on goats and you know, they're ready to, we need a new van Helsing to, to keep them under control or something. And Abby takes up that mantle and, you know.You can, you can totally play it where there's an unanswered. Okay. Oh no, it's worse at the end, but we do need some sort of wrap up of the story. Gotcha. But there does seem to be some cover resolution. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I see what you're saying. That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. So it strikes [00:28:00] me, I'm not sure that you picked this up, Sam, and you might not have, but that there's a.Uh, um, Mina the Vampire. Mina, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is is her mother. Right. I did pick up on that, and that's a question I have. Okay. Yeah. Great. Because it seems like what you're all talking about that could play a really important role in any of these twists and arcs. Right. I. Yes. Yes. Plus one. Yeah. Everything you just said.Um, yeah. So Mina being her mother, fantastic. One of your final twists, right? And particularly if you have Seward being like the final confrontation, final twist person, and then, you know, you have this lovely final scene where she's like, oh my God, it's my mother. Um, yeah. But the logical question there is why would Mina Hyde, what's she after?Why would she not have tried to help Abby? Right? Because you're dealing with reader expectations that mothers will do anything to protect their children. Right? And so you can, we can twist that. Maybe she is trying to protect her from what's coming, right? [00:29:00] Like what's actually going on. Maybe she's the one who's been protecting her the whole time by warding off the vampires that have been attacking her, her friends at medical school.Um. And that's why there's so many mistaken identity things, right? Because you have two where, where Abby's like, whoops. I think that was supposed to be for me. Yeah. Um, and so the reader's gonna wonder why are they so bad at killing her, right? Like, if these were assassin attempts, like why wouldn't what, what's going on?And so that answers that question. If it's Mina stepping in, but you know, we need to understand what Mina's really after and why she didn't step forward sooner. That's a huge question that, you know, yeah. Everyone will have. Yeah, it is a huge question. Like, like where has she been for the last 18 years?Mm-hmm. Why has Aubrianna not seen her since, since, since her birth? Um, and I haven't quite nailed that down yet. Like, is there some sort of like vampire code? I don't like, I don't know. Is it, is it that she's, is that she, that Mina. Knows [00:30:00] Jonathan, her husband too well, and knows that, that he would not allow a vampire, uh, to interact with his children.Like. And so I think there, I think there are a couple of answers to that, but I haven't like, landed on one yet. Um, but I, like, I, I like the idea of Mina working kind of behind the scenes to protect, to actively protect, um. Abriana, which is what that, that opening that, that, that scene in the alley earlier on is about, is like she comes to her aid at that point.Um, and, uh, and, and and physically puts herself between, between Abri and Abriana and the violence, which Abriana misunderstands, uh, and runs away terrified. But I think, I, I think there are ways to incorporate that, as you say. Elsewhere in the, elsewhere in the story. Yeah. Well, I mean she, to make to a fantastic twist would be, she assumes Mina is the one after her, right?Right. Yeah. Like she recalls in this opening scene that Mina was coming at her and is like, Ooh, that's the vampire that wants to kill me. Yeah, yeah. And [00:31:00] you know, sees her around. And so that's her assumption. And this is how you create twists, right? Her assumption is that Nina is the person behind all of this, and why, but.You run the risk of when she starts investigating Mina and figuring out who she is? It would be, we'd figure out we need some very good reason that she couldn't figure out that was that Mina was her mother, right? Yeah. Yes. So in that case, I would suggest having some other vampire be the one that she thinks is behind everything.Um, which leads me to the midpoint. So currently this is where she discovers that these bite marks are not bite marks at all. They are. Other Marks syringes. Right, right. Like the, yeah. Yeah. Um, so if that's the midpoint, which I like, again, that means that she's going to assume that there is a human or a vampire who's lost her teeth.I don't know, um, behind all of this. And the climactic confrontation will be with that, [00:32:00] with that knowledge that this is not a vampire doing these villainous things. Um. So how does that feel? Like do if, do we, is there someone in the cast that we can sort of have her assume is that person that's not Seward.Not, not someone that I've identified yet. Um, okay. But I, I, I, I agree with you. We need, we need someone that she, that she's pursuing and, uh, in, at, in, in that sense. Um, and, and she believed, I, I, I see, I see. Now I see what you're saying. That the, the importance of her making that, that, that incorrect assumption that this is the person who's, who's doing, who's doing the, the killings.And I don't know who that is yet. I don't know if there's someone actively in the, in the cha in the cast that we have, or if I need, if I need a new character. Okay. I mean, you can also play with, you know, so this is the thing about mysteries, it gets very quickly complicated, is on the surface we have all the assumptions which are incorrect.[00:33:00] Right? Right. And so we have to build up that, those plots and make it plausible. Yeah. Because we need, you know, the example I like to give is like, let's say you, you come home and you're expecting that no one else is there and there's an open window and there is a earring back on the counter and a bloody footprint on your.You know, nice white carpet and you know, um, a knocked over plant and then you recall, oh yes, you know the nab I've been babysitting the neighbor's cat, they knocked over the plant. So that's solved. But this bloody footprint is really freaking me out because clearly somebody came in here and made a bloody footprint and that's terrifying.You're focusing on the bloody footprint because that's the most obvious thing, but the earring back is the thing that is the villain clue. Right, and that, that's the person that came in and misled you by putting the bloody footprint on the carpet for reasons, capital R, whatever it is in this story, right?But we have clocked on screen, on the page what the clue is and ignored it. And so yeah, [00:34:00] this is how you can go back in on a revision and you know, you maybe we don't know who this other person is that's actually doing this, but they will have a vested interest in not being caught. Right? Mm-hmm. And so these little clues that we put on the page later are ignored, and then we're following the story that we've already created.Mm-hmm. Um, but keeping track of all these layers feels complicated, which is why Jenny's outline with three pages is so, so useful. Um, right. Because what the, what's on the page is the, is the story that you already, that we're focusing on, right? Mm-hmm. And then what really happened? Mm-hmm. Is the thing beneath the surface that we don't learn until the truth is revealed in one of these twists.Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. No, that absolutely makes sense. That Absolutely. That also feels like a lot to think about. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't have, I don't have enough red earrings. I don't have enough mis, I don't have enough misdirecting. Misdirecting clues, as it were. Right. Well, those are fun to brainstorm, right?Because we start thinking [00:35:00] about who really, it comes back to Seward. Like what would he be doing to misdirect Abby away from this? Right. To keep her safe, if you like that as a goal. Yeah. And also to make the, make society freak out about how vampires are killing again. Mm-hmm. Um, what would he plant, who would he manipulate?Who would he pay off? You know? Mm-hmm. Maybe there's a vampire who knows about all of this, and. Is trying to kill the person that Seward is hired to do the syringes because Seward's not going around and doing this. Abby would've seen him or you know mm-hmm. Recognized him or something. So he will have paid someone to, or it has someone in his organization who also believes in the cause.Yeah. And is doing this, and maybe that person's a vampire. I don't know. I do love the double syringe. I mean, I hope that stays. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's good. Is it? Yeah. I heard you say, I heard you kind of dismiss it, Andrew, but it, to me, that would be a perfect misdirection if [00:36:00] somebody finds that and now there's this whole thread of assumptions about what that means and Yeah, but that it's not really what it is or it's not being used the way we think, or so.Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Sam, you mentioned something because I was, I was getting close to like throwing that overboard. No, it's good. No. Okay. Okay. I think it is good. So, so, so, so, but that could still be, that could still be used as a, that could still, I could still use it as a red herring potentially, uh, because it could still be a vampire at Seward's behest committing the murders.But maybe they're doing it with the syringe or maybe they're, and or maybe they're doing it a little bit with their own or Right. Or not. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to Jenny's point, this could be a total, maybe. Maybe it's not used for what we think. Maybe the double syringe is something completely unrelated and it's like the best way to draw out the.I don't know. I mean, depending on, maybe he is drugging the people in the [00:37:00] asylum, like giving them more drugs than they're supposed to have. Right, right. And, and he devised, I mean, you know, devised a double syringe to deliver it and doesn't want anybody to know that that's what he is doing, you know? Yeah, yeah.Okay. Yeah, yeah. But if you wanna play with the idea that there's also a vampire involved who believes in Seward's? Cause then that, you know. That's very interesting because it's like, well, why? What do they want? You know? Yeah, yeah. Or even just someone who is, is being coerced by him, who does, doesn't necessarily Yes.Believe in the cause, but is perhaps is, has perhaps been assigned to his asylum. Mm-hmm. And he's taking advantage of, I love. Which I think, I think really makes sewer to a, a pretty despicable individual on a number of levels, which I, which I can like, well, I mean, he's already killing people, so, right. You know, slippery slope.But that's what, you know, it's, that's the, [00:38:00] that's the thing is that his, his goals. We need to make logical sense when we get to the end and Right. You know, Abby figures out what's going on, but he, he can also be empathetic. Right? Yeah. Like, why is he so scared of women? Yeah. Being in society, what is, what is that deep fear about?And that's definitely something to explore as well. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, so we could, like I said, talk for days, for days about these things, but, um, it feels like this is a good place to leave Andrew with a whole bunch of work to do. And I'm just laughing because, um, this is such a perfect example of.Why we do a blueprint, right? There's so much to work out. There's so much to think about. There's so many layers and levels to every story. And, uh, you know, we, we heard you today, Andrew, sort of going, well, I don't know. I haven't thought about it. I don't know. I, I'll have to see, you know, that's, that's the work and being in that.[00:39:00] Discomfort and that not knowing mm-hmm. And the, all the possibilities and making your choices. That's, that's a work, right Sam? Like that's, it is, it's so fun. But yeah, it's mysteries are puzzles, right? Yeah. And we wanna guide the reader through the puzzle in a way that gives them maximum impact and maximum joy.For every reveal that we decide to put out there, right? We, we, we don't want to casually have a reveal. Everything is on purpose. Um, and so I was gonna say on, on the inside outline that you have, um, a parallel one, or, you know, if you make it even tighter just to flow the flow of events, you can have a, what really happened?Um, line which tracks what the villain is actually doing. And I do find that that can be really helpful because it does get overwhelming with figuring out, okay, we have assumptions. Yeah. And those assumptions are, you know, lead to action and this is how we get a repulsive plot. But those assumptions are.Not going to be the [00:40:00] actual thing that is the truth. And so we need to track what the truth is and what our villain is doing to stop our protagonist from stopping them because Yeah, forces of opposition, you know, so just for our listeners to clarify that makes sense. What Sam's talking about is a parallel inside outline is, is to literally do.An a three page outline for the, the villain? Yes, yes. Or to put a bullet point or a, a subpoint on the protagonists inside. Outline that. Tracks that, um, sometimes people color code that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, but the, that's why we keep this so tight because if you start making it nine pages or 15 pages and then you layer these things, all of a sudden you have a 30 page outline, and now you've just got one of those giant story grid things that I find to be impossible to, to manipulate.Like we still want this to be manipulatable, right. So that you [00:41:00] can. Hold it in your hands and see it and, and then get to a place where you say, I can write that story. I love this story. I can write this story. That's, so that's what we're going for. So, yeah. Um, Sam, could you maybe just summarize, um, Andrew will take some time to work on this next iteration to show me.Can you give him direction on key thing to think about and me direction on the key thing to look for? Yeah, of course. So the biggest thing is figure out what Seward's really, why he's really doing what he's doing and how it relates directly to Abby. Right. What is, what action can he take that is about her, and that's either protecting her or, you know.Um, killing someone close to her to scare her away, but then why, right? Mm-hmm. So figure out the, figure out what he's really doing, and then look and see what actions, what other actions would he take about who this other person [00:42:00] is that he's framing or manipulating, or blackmailing or whatever. And if that's a vampire, then.You know, why does that work when we, when it's revealed? Like, what else could be going on? That makes sense. Perhaps the vampires don't want women and suffragettes to have this power because it threatens the power that they have in society currently, or something like that, or mm-hmm. Whatever it is. But figure out what, what's really going on.That's your homework, that's your big homework. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, for the next iteration. More murder on the page, right? We need the attention to rise and we need to understand why Abby, as she takes her steps based on assumptions, what are those assumptions? Why is she so personally invested in this?Why doesn't she just give up, right? Because that's the big logical question that I always ask is for both the antagonist and your protagonist, why don't they just walk away? Why do they keep doing this when it gets hard, right? Because when someone's actively trying to [00:43:00] stop you as the protagonist is. For the antagonist, why would the antagonist not just be like, okay, this is too tough, right?Like, I'm, I'm out, uh, this is, my goal isn't going to be achieved. So why do they both keep going? And the answer is usually we're in too deep, right? We can't, the only way out is through, um, which is what the midpoint establishes. Usually. It's like, well, shoot, you know, I can't leave this story. I have to keep going.Right? So the three twists, right? We want the assumptions to be present on the inside outline. So we have a midpoint twist. We have an inciting incident that presents the mystery story question, murder usually. Mm-hmm. And then climactic twist, who is this fake villain? And then final villain, Seward. And then final, final twist.Mina is actually involved, right? And has been protecting her the whole time or whatever, right? Yeah. Okay. So on the page, assumptions is second part of that homework, but you have to figure out what really happened in order to have the assumptions, which are Yeah, not [00:44:00] right. Yeah. So drawing, drawing out those two timelines of the, what, what actually happened, timeline, and then the assumptions, timeline and how they, well, the assumptions are gonna be on the page, right?Those will be on your protagonist inside outline, right? Because it, it informs her actions. And so everything you have about her fighting to go to med school and like all these things, all that works. All we're doing is just tweaking it a little bit so that the mystery is more. Front and center, and she's taking action based on, okay, I have this clue, what do I do?Now I have this clue. What do I do now? What stands in the way of each time I do this? Oops, I'm wrong about that. So what now? You know? Okay. And in the meantime it's clear that her personal stakes are rising and she is becoming a target. There's more attempts on her life and, and you know, then what? Right.Once you have a target on your back, you can't run. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. Make it scarier. That's your homework. Yeah, I do. I do. I have to put her in [00:45:00] peril. I have to put her in peril. Right? You do. Yeah. Yeah. And the final thing I'll mention about this is when you actually get to writing the way that you, even if it's, even if the actions are a little less intense, right?We don't actually have an assassin coming at her every page because we'd get bored with that. So through interiority, through inner thought, she's going to think about what she's scared of throughout the entire book. Mm-hmm. It's not just gonna be, oh, I assume this thing. It's like I assume this thing. And also I'm terrified because you know what, if this is about that, and that's how you create those red herrings too, is because she's going to make assumptions about what's happening, and those assumptions will be based in fear.Right. Love it. Right. That makes sense. Love it. That makes sense. Thank you. My God. You're so welcome. Love this story. Can't wait to read it. Are you still with us, Andrew? You're not. You're not walking away. Right. You're not like, I'm in too deep now. No. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Just past the midpoint. Yeah, I was gonna say good.Good. No, that's why, that's why I'm, that's why I'm grinning so [00:46:00] much. It's like, it's like, ‘cause we're talking about this as if it's an actual, real thing. It's not just, it's not just an idea that I've, I've, I've had and been, I've been telling my wife about this is an actual, this is an actual thing I'm talking with people about.Um, and so this is, this is real. This is. It is real. It's exciting. Um, we will, uh, see how this unfolds for Andrew and Sam, I just wanna thank you so much for joining us and talking about all this. Um, and I'm gonna tell our listeners that if you want this kind of twisty help, um, that's Samantha's website, which is samantha skull.com and that's SKAL.She has a really cool, um, very inexpensive twist. Course, which you can, um, take. It's just awesome. And it's, um, she got some blueprint stuff on there, all kinds of things. And you can learn also about the retreat that she runs with carrieSavage@shadowsandsecrets.com. And you can go to Thriller [00:47:00] Fest and see all of the big work she's doing for this community of writers out in the world.So Sam, thank you for coming on. Oh, thank you so much for having me. And I just wanna say, Jenny, the reason that I focused, I mean, yes, I love this stuff and I have, I've loved it my whole life, but I listened to you. This was your. To focus in on what I love and I did. And it's just the best I get to wake up every day and talk about murder, which sounds like a terrible hobby, but I love it.So here we are. I know. That's why I talk about you all the time. Maybe that's it. ‘cause you listen toI, I, uh, I push people a lot harder now, let's put it that way. Um. Amazing. That's, that is my craft. But thank you Andrew, again, for being so willing to be doing this in public. It's not easy for those listening just to be on the hot seat like this for so long, so often really hard. So, um, you, [00:48:00] huge, huge shout out to Andrew and shout.Um, just for our listeners, thanks for tuning in and let's get back to work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe