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Category: Writing/publishing

Mission impossible (Tuesday, 30 October 2007 12:21 PM ): Sammy is not still Originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey November begins Thursday, and thousands of people will begin intensive efforts to do incredible stuff in 30 days. Write 50,000 word novels, draw 30 drawings, write 30 blog posts.... It's a...

Spoiler-free notes on "HP and the Deathly Hallows" (Sunday, 22 July 2007 11:30 AM ): Not that it was a race, but I finished the Potter book yesterday in about 12 hours, taking a couple of breaks to eat and run errands. I usually plan to spread such books over at least a couple of...

The long goodbye (Tuesday, 10 July 2007 02:28 PM ): Stephen King says goodbye to Harry Potter: When it comes to Harry, part of me — a fairly large part, actually — can hardly bear to say goodbye. I'd guess that J.K. Rowling feels the same, although I'd also guess...

My various geeky obsessions will do battle in the coming weeks (Tuesday, 26 June 2007 12:15 AM ): Upcoming dates of importance to me: June 26 (today!): New Beastie Boys album released. Supposed to be as good as Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head! Must download before heading out of office. July 10: New They Might Be Giants...

McSweeney's update (Friday, 22 June 2007 01:57 PM ): Happy news from McSweeney's: Previously I'd noted that they were having a sale of very good things. I didn't mention it, but the occasion of the sale was that they had had a distributor declare bankruptcy, which suddenly took from...

Prices so low, they're practically giving them away! (Sunday, 17 June 2007 02:31 PM ): There's a big sale at McSweeney's, including some items I highly recommend: Baby, Be of Use Bundle: Four small picture-style books, Baby Mix Me A Drink, Baby Make Me Breakfast, Baby Do My Banking, and Baby Fix My Car. I...

Xtreme Critique Weekend (Saturday, 16 June 2007 12:25 PM ): Coming in two weeks, it's Fat Plum's Xtreme Critique Weekend in Greensburg, PA. It's the perfect writing get-away: a full weekend to focus on your writing and to connect with other writers. You'll participate in five 3-hour critiquing sessions (each...

My name in print (Wednesday, 30 May 2007 11:55 PM ): May is nearly over, which means Short Story Month is almost over. And so it's high time that I tell you that a short story of mine has been published in a brand new book. The book is The Red...

So it goes. (Thursday, 12 April 2007 12:27 AM ): Kurt Vonnegut died last night. It's time I reread Slaughterhouse-Five, I think....

Write vs. draw (Thursday, 09 November 2006 08:46 AM ): Nearly a third of the way through November. How am I doing on the various NaSiUFToMuMo* projects? I'm just over 6,000 words into the NaNoWriMo novel. This being the 9th day of the month I "should" have 15,000 by the...

Tiny bubbles (Saturday, 04 November 2006 10:14 PM ): This is My Brilliant Mistakes post for NaDruWriNi. In direct violation of blog protocol, most recent updates are at the bottom -- because it's easier to read things top to bottom. But I'll summarize the most recent update here at...

NaSiUFToMuMo (Friday, 03 November 2006 09:38 AM ): It's the third day of NaNoWriMo: I wrote 1,037 words the first day (well under the 1,667 words/day target), and none yesterday. So that project is well behind. It's also the third day of DrawMo! I sketched a red onion...

Hugo Chavez: the new Oprah Winfrey (Friday, 22 September 2006 08:53 AM ): From today's Los Angeles Times: At the start of his talk Wednesday, during which Chavez referred to President Bush as "the devil," Chavez held up a book by Noam Chomsky, "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance," and recommended...

Pittsburgh writers, take note: Coconut Writers' Group forming (Monday, 17 July 2006 05:06 PM ): David V. Matthews (not the jam-band musician but the Pittsburgh-based writer) is starting a writers' group and looking for like-minded writers to come along. David has written for City Paper, Unicorn Mountain, the New Yinzer, and other fine publications, and...

Gladwell online (Monday, 13 March 2006 09:26 AM ): Recently Pittsblog pointed out that ESPN's Page 2 had published a two-part email interview by Bill "The Sport Guy" Simmons of Malcolm Gladwell, an interview which mentioned Pittsburgh sports a few times but ranged from baseball to writing to the...

An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do. (Saturday, 29 October 2005 01:01 PM ): Whether you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year or not, please know that November 4, next Saturday, is NaDruWriNi, National Drunken Writing Night. In other words, it's your yearly chance to crack open your favorite beverage, type away madly and lushly,...

Love in the Time of Caller-ID: NaNoWriMo 2005 (Monday, 24 October 2005 08:00 PM ): Are you signed up for NaNoWriMo this year? Of course you are. NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is an annual celebration of writing fiction, although around the second week it feels more like a punishment. Here's the official definition:...

Writing getaway (Tuesday, 04 October 2005 11:10 AM ): No, I don't mean getting away from your writing, but rather getting away to it. Or for it. Or maybe with it. How to word a phrase best is only one of the many elements of writing that will come...

Additive (Wednesday, 09 February 2005 03:05 PM ): "We are attending some function. Something sharp-dressed and dark and held in a crowded hall of unclear dimensions, full of humming silhouetted small talk. With a lilting social languor we lift chilly wineglasses and move through many people. A white-jacketed,...

Life gets in the way (Tuesday, 16 November 2004 10:59 PM ): I have so many things to tell you about, but I've been too busy doing and then recovering that I haven't had time to write. In brief: 1. The 412 Creative Nonfiction Festival was great fun. (Here's a little press...

The Faders -- and you! -- on the BBC (Wednesday, 10 November 2004 10:39 PM ): Want to be on British television? You can be -- we got the hookup for you. The Faders, our favorite local alt-country-and-more hipsters, are about to have a close encounter with the BBC, and they want you to be there....

What am I bid? (Monday, 08 November 2004 06:34 PM ): The Paris Review Foundation is holding an auction to raise money for itself. The auction runs from November 9 at 10:00 A.M., EST, through November 17. Among the offerings are a bunch of unique, mostly writerly or readerly goodies --...

Not-so-lost weekend (Saturday, 06 November 2004 11:12 PM ): Hang on a minute: It's National Drunken Writing Night (NaDruWriNi) tonight and no-one told me. Hrmph. I had planned to keep to an easy night tonight, due to having had one or perhaps three too many intemperance beverages last night....

I'm your other mother (Friday, 29 October 2004 07:25 PM ): Three Italian film students have, as a class project, created a "trailer" for Neil Gaiman's wonderful book Coraline. You can view it online....

Gripping stories that happen to be true (Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:55 PM ): An event you won't want to miss: 412: The Pittsburgh Creative Nonfiction Literary Festival. I'll be part of a panel discussion Sunday morning, talking about online publications. Both Inkburns and Fat Plum will have items available in the Media Fair...

Wheels within wheels (Sunday, 24 October 2004 04:25 PM ): If for some reason you choose not to attend the Pittsburgh BlogFest, you can instead see Jonathan Lethem read American Shorts Reading Series. According to the website, "Although Lethem’s latest foray into the literary world, a short story collection entitled...

Gist Street Reading, October 1 (Monday, 27 September 2004 10:08 PM ): The skinny on this month's reading, from Gist Street's Sherrie: Toi "Guggenheim" Derricotte and Cathy "Coming in from New York City" McKinley. Poetry and Non-fiction. A power-duo of literary accomplishment. 305 Gist Street. James Simon's Sculpture Studio. Readings begin at...

Ready for my closeup, part 2 (Monday, 13 September 2004 10:42 AM ): Tomorrow, at the bright and chipper hour of 9am, I'm going to be in a TV studio smiling nervously, sweating, and shaking ever so slightly. This will be because I'll be backstage at KDKA's Pittsburgh TODAY Live with Jennifer Antkowiak,...

Nuclear (Saturday, 11 September 2004 12:55 PM ): I've a print of this poem, signed by the poet. It was first published on Failbetter.com and then in Hayes's Hip Logic. I recall that when he read it at a Gist Street reading, he said it was inspired by...

A perfect short story (Thursday, 02 September 2004 11:43 AM ): On Pindeldyboz, "Their Country House" by Dennis De Claudio: The force of her wings, as she flaps down from the fence, pushes over a nearly empty cup of beer. I've never seen a duck this close. In the city, we...

Good words elsewhere: "Synchronized Diving" (Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:28 AM ): Olympic-themed writing on the indescribable (parenthetical note): "Synchronized Diving" by Karen Ashburner: There are books around my desk written by people with impressive sounding names and the insides of these books are filled with substantial words like Cataclysmic and Calamitous,...

Old reliable (Thursday, 12 August 2004 07:53 PM ): Others are discussing their favorite re-reads, and I'd like to chime in. I used to re-read books more often than I do now -- I've accumulated a stack of waiting-to-be-reads. Plus, there are so many movies in my NetFlix queue....

Trouble Is My Business (Monday, 09 August 2004 11:54 PM ): Continuing to be occupied with other projects -- generating income or immediately and vexingly spending what little capital I can acquire -- I point the hopeful site visitor to the sites listed to the right. In particular, please visit Syntax...

I'll take "Quiz Show Phenoms" for $1000, Alex (Thursday, 08 July 2004 09:54 AM ): Not being a dinner-hour TV viewer I've missed the controversy surrounding Ken Jennings, the current 'Jeopardy' champion, who is on a 26-show winning streak. Jennings, who in last night's airing admitted that "being a nerd really pays off sometimes," is...

Bite me (Thursday, 01 July 2004 10:49 AM ): Over on McSweeney's, a timely and Pittsburgh-originated open letter to an entity that is unlikely to respond: An Open Letter to the Radioactive Spider That Never Bit Me. Dear radioactive spider, I'm already twenty-seven years old, and I still don't...

I tried to say (Tuesday, 22 June 2004 11:43 AM ): Expert parodist The Minor Fall, The Major Lift sees similarities between the writings of AS I LAY LYING" href="http://www.popfactor.com/tmftml/archives/001707.html#001707">William Jefferson Clinton and William Faulkner: I could hear them talking. I went out the door and I couldn't hear them, and...

Learn to handle chaw and spit through your teeth (Tuesday, 22 June 2004 10:06 AM ): Robert Coover, distinguished author and Brown University professor, is is interviewed in McSweeney's Internet Tendency: [C]reative-writing workshops have absolutely nothing to do with our nation's literature, though writers sometimes, more or less by chance, turn up in them, looking for...

Hello, I must be going (Thursday, 17 June 2004 11:04 PM ): I apologize for posting so little this week. Workload and other life demands have occupied me, and will continue to do so for a few days more. May I suggest a bit of diverting reading while I'm away? The winners...

Where are your papers? (Wednesday, 09 June 2004 11:39 AM ): I commented over at Sticky Notes about the controversy surrounding The Paris Review and its attitudes toward new and "emerging" writers, and Maud Newton's interview with the magazine's editor, Bridget Hughes. But I'm still ruffled enough about it to need...

...and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. (Tuesday, 08 June 2004 10:39 AM ): How to celebrate Bloomsday (June 16) in Pittsburgh: The James Joyce Society of Pittsburgh is presenting a reading (in three concurrent sessions) of Ulysses: Join us for a reading of James Joyce's Ulysses the most famous novel of the 20th...

Sour grapes (Monday, 07 June 2004 11:18 AM ): David Sedaris's reading last night at the Benedum Theater was as entertaining as one could hope. He read two essays -- both from his latest book, Dress Your Family in Courduroy and Denim -- and selections from hiw diary, then...

That passed the time (Monday, 31 May 2004 12:24 PM ): A call for photographs of toddlers in action (or in inaction) for Stephany Aulenback's book project, Beckett for Babies: [W]e're still looking for the perfect photograph (preferably two or three perfect photographs, actually) to go with this text: First baby:...

McSweeney's Twenty-Minute Stories Grand-Prize Winner (Tuesday, 25 May 2004 03:04 PM ): The winning story has been published online: "Untitled," by David Kennerly. It is so short and tied together that it seems a shame to excerpt any of it, but I post the first sentence to help draw you in. He...

Too pretty to touch (Monday, 24 May 2004 10:06 PM ): My copy of McSweeney's Issue 13 arrived while I was out of town, and this evening I did something unusual and special: I unwrapped it, and read a few pages. My key beef with the McSweeney's publications, the Quarterly in...

"Written from 12:26 to 12:47 (I got a phone call for one minute) in my awesome windowless office." (Friday, 07 May 2004 10:15 AM ): The third-place winner in McSweeney's Twenty-Minute Stories Contest has been published: Goodbye Ernie Flynn by Wendy Molyneux. For three days now I have been followed by an ambulance. I first noticed it while I was driving home from a lecture...

This Friday: Gist Street Reading Series (Wednesday, 05 May 2004 10:25 PM ): From the mailbag: announcing this month's Gist Street Reading Series Hello Gist Street! Spring is here even though the furnace just kicked on. Things are blooming, and it's time to get out of the house. So come on over to...

Drink of the week: Dirty Shirley (Thursday, 29 April 2004 11:27 PM ): From the short story "Too Smart" by Emily Chenoweth, published in Tin House issue 19 ("Lies!"), Spring 2004: It is clear to me when I arrive at the hotel that I should have chosen something else to wear. That's because...

A change in service (Monday, 26 April 2004 01:51 PM ): Over at Fat Plum, my colleagues and I have been running a new blog, Sticky Notes. In keeping with Fat Plum's mission of providing "juicy solutions for today's writer," we're posting information and links related to writing and publishing. Sticky...

Twenty-Minute Stories (Wednesday, 21 April 2004 10:57 AM ): The third place winner of McSweeney's Twenty-Minute Stories Contest has been published: "Untitled" by Mickey Hess. You become used to most things in the world, and you bring in somebody new so it all seems surprising again. Our friend Genny...

The sad state of chick lit (Saturday, 17 April 2004 02:50 PM ): Choire Sicha tears apart Books > Sunday Book Review > 'Bergdorf Blondes': Plum's Tarts" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/books/review/18SICHAT.html"> Plum Sykes's 'Bergdorf Blondes.' In all seriousness: we must build a tiny apocalypse-proof time capsule. If we can resist the temptation to burn Plum Sykes's...

Make a good first impression (Wednesday, 14 April 2004 11:22 PM ): Five openings I adore, chosen randomly: "They put the behemoths in the hold along with the rhinos, the hippos and the elephants. It was a sensible decision to use them as ballast; but you can imagine the stench. And there...

"It's not going to work" (Tuesday, 13 April 2004 11:08 AM ): Ad Age reports that "a growing number of marketers want to persuade the nation's print magazines to open the text of their editorial pages to product placements." I'm not particularly swayed by the moral arguemnts on either side of the...

Blogging is the new black (Tuesday, 06 April 2004 10:06 AM ): Rick E. Bruner reviews the latest research on bloggers and blog readers and wonders why more advertisers have not jumped on the opportunities presented by weblogs: Super-popular blogger Glen Reynolds, of Instapundit.com, leaves his traffic logs open, where we can...

The only writer constantly discouraged from writing novels (Sunday, 04 April 2004 12:24 PM ): Nathalie Chicha shares notes from Lorrie Moore's Q&A with her writing workshop: -She almost always has a story's ending in mind before starting it. Then, one-third into the story, the ending becomes clearer, and she skips ahead and writes it....

She's back... (Friday, 02 April 2004 11:02 AM ): Stephany Aulenback is linking up a storm at Maud Newton's blog today, and it's all good. Make sure to see the entry on 86-year-old LaVonne Snowden's self-published book....

Drink of the week: Death in the Afternoon (Thursday, 01 April 2004 07:01 PM ): Absinthe may become available again. But not for a while. In the meantime, we must console ourselves with Pernod. Here's a promising-sounding cocktail with a Hemingway theme: DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON Creator: N/A Ingredients: 1 Champagne 1.5 oz. Pernod Glassware:...

ADV: Book Boot Camp (Thursday, 01 April 2004 12:08 PM ): [We interrupt this blog for a brief advertisement.) Dear Pittsburgh-area writer: Do you have a manuscript moldering in a bottom drawer? Starting April 18, Fat Plum will present Book Boot Camp, a six-session workshop with tracks for manuscript revision, publishing...

Eight is my favorite number (Wednesday, 31 March 2004 10:57 AM ): Please go enjoy Crazy Arms That Long to Strangle by Rennie Sparks: The octopus may also wave its arms in rhythmic patterns that attract and immobilize fish. Fishermen off the coast of Washington report seeing hundreds of small fish frozen...

You must read at a tenth grade level or higher to enjoy this page (Tuesday, 30 March 2004 10:23 AM ): Nifty and useful: A readability checker for Word documents and web pages. (Lia via Cup of Chicha.)...

Now I'm wishing I was sitting at a cafe on the Rive Gauche (Friday, 26 March 2004 08:35 PM ): I missed this pointless Hemingway diversion yesterday. I travelled to Europe with my sister Laura a few weeks after I graduated college. I wouldn't have gone but for her: She wanted to travel but our parents wouldn't let her go...

Print on demand versus self-publishing (Friday, 26 March 2004 02:38 PM ): Continuing the topic of the previous post: Stephany Aulenback received an email from a bookseller who explains some issues with print-on-demand. You can read the full text there, and if you've an interest in books and publishing you should, because...

Friday morning mini-rant: the state of publishing (Friday, 26 March 2004 10:51 AM ): Stephany Aulenback wonders when electronic books and print-on-demand will come into their own. I think e-books are waiting for the right delivery mechanism, devices that are easier to read from than the tiny screens on PDAs. But I don't see...

Juicy (Thursday, 25 March 2004 10:22 PM ): The launch of my new venture has taken most of my time lately. It is Fat Plum: We're beginning by offering workshops, private consultations on writing and publishing, manuscript reviews and edits, and so on. Soon we'll expand into writer-focused...

Swank Swink (Thursday, 25 March 2004 08:32 PM ): The first issue of Swink arrived in my mailbox today, apparently ahead of the issue's debut in bookstores. Coincidentally, the mag is also featured in today's PW Newsline (a daily email from Publisher's Weekly) under the topic "The New New...

And you thought you were unhappy before... (Wednesday, 24 March 2004 09:36 PM ): The anonymous midlist author who shared her story on Salon this week gets not a smidge of sympathy from other authors, from publishers, from book sellers ... ok, you get the point....

In a New York state of mind (Wednesday, 24 March 2004 11:21 AM ): Tremble has been on a roll lately. Of course, last night he did a reading at the "Giant Tuesday Night of Amazing Inventions" so we shouldn't expect anything new today or perhaps tomorrow. But there's much to enjoy with the...

Misery of the midlist author (Monday, 22 March 2004 12:18 PM ): Many literary blogs are linking to the Salon article, "The confessions of a semi-successful author," that tells the sad but common tale of an author who has struggled with the horror that is modern publishing. For a tale of publishing...

And for those who prefer a more organized approach... (Friday, 19 March 2004 03:12 PM ): NewPages.com also has a lovely guide to online literary magazines. This too looks thorough. NewPages also offers reviews of literary magazines -- something I've long wished for....

A hidden order amid the chaos (Friday, 19 March 2004 03:08 PM ): Laura Hird has perhaps the largest collection of links to known and obscure literary magazines I have seen. I can't find any system to the placement of the mags, but perhaps there needn't be lots of organization: Literary magazines are...

It could break your heart if you really thought about it, so you should never think about it (Friday, 19 March 2004 11:56 AM ): The story "You Are a 14-Year-Old Arab Chick Who Just Moved to Texas" by Randa Jarrar is the winner of storySouth's first Million Writer's award. It was originally published in Eyeshot, and you can read it there now. The fall...

Frozen River (Tuesday, 16 March 2004 11:21 AM ): From Parenthetical Note: Frozen River I've been thinking about how many times I've ridden the ferry since he vanished: at least twice a day on weekdays, back and forth to work, and then some on the weekends to drink Budweiser...

Tupac caput! (Monday, 15 March 2004 07:12 PM ): From Yankee Pot Roast, Celebrity palindromes. A sampling: "Oprah deified Harpo." — Uma. "No, Mel Gibson is a casino's big lemon." — The pope, clairifying what he meant by "It is as it was." "Vanna, wanna 'V'?" — Pat Sajak,...

And while we're looking at the neat and the new... (Friday, 12 March 2004 03:12 PM ): Better Non Sequitur looks pretty cool. Here's how they describe themselves: We are a small, independent media company located in San Diego, CA. We specialize in the publication, production, and distribution of books, films, and music; but we are open...

Also: Lying, cheating, stealing (Friday, 12 March 2004 02:59 PM ): More on Swink (see below): Until March 15 they are accepting entries on the theme of lying, cheating, stealing. Read more and then submit....

Swink (Friday, 12 March 2004 02:56 PM ): Everyone over at Maud Newton and elsewhere is abuzz about Swink magazine, which is neat and new, and will be serving online-only writing in addition to their print journal. They have a contest for fiction and poetry, the due date...

Agent provocateur (Monday, 23 February 2004 01:12 PM ): From Teresa Nielsen Hayden, regarding the need for and quality of literary agents: "A bad agent is worse than no agent at all. A really bad agent is worse than not being a writer. Getting past the “no unagented submissions”...

Summarizing in three to five pages (Monday, 23 February 2004 09:21 AM ): Maud Newton continues the discussion of the problems with synopsis-based publishing. Her starting point is Robert McCrum's article, "The Curse of the Synopsis," which is both insightful and depressing. Yesterday in my writing group, we worked on the synopsis of...

The Thing in My Pants (Friday, 20 February 2004 10:50 AM ): A short bit of nonfiction by Maud Newton. Also see the Gothamist Interview with Maud. Funny and talented!...

The morning routine (Thursday, 19 February 2004 10:36 AM ): Confessions of a New Coffee Drinker: "I'm thinking about getting addicted to cigarettes! I'm going to buy the patch and work my way up! Now I see why all these things are so popular. I'm totally serious. This isn't satire....

Stranger than fiction (Thursday, 19 February 2004 10:10 AM ): Larry Ellison has married a fiction writer, and apparently people are speculating that he has a hand in writing her books. Having worked for Mr. Ellison at Oracle, I can say that a lot of the documentation and marketing that...

Not enough hours in the day (Thursday, 19 February 2004 09:09 AM ): Danny Gregory scolds us, albeit gently, for not finding time during the day to exercise our creative energies....

Gaming the system (Saturday, 14 February 2004 04:12 PM ): A system error makes clear what everyone expected but couldn't demonstrate: Writers and their friends anonymously give their own works high reviews on Amazon. "Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed...

My photocopying technique is unstoppable (Wednesday, 11 February 2004 09:37 AM ): "Then the world blossomed into a rainbow of possibility: I was approached by someone who said he enjoyed reading My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable. This flummoxed me because I had not given him a copy for Christmas as I...

Trials of the slush pile (Monday, 09 February 2004 08:35 PM ): More on rejection... Teresa Nielsen Hayden of Making Light discusses what it's like to be responsible for reviewing unsolicited manuscripts. I agree with her: It's not as easy as writers seem to think. She talks specifically about the comments at...

Rejection and publication (Monday, 09 February 2004 08:14 PM ): "Two years ago, the manuscript of what was to be "Everyday Matters" was lying in a drawer. At the time, it was pretty much like the book that's in stores today but it was called simply "A New York Diary"....

David Foster Wallace parody competition (Friday, 06 February 2004 10:00 PM ): DFW Parody Competition Finalists. An excerpt from my favorite entry: The Y-shaped Styles of Certain Flowers So. There are two people on a date and they're eating dinner, and the guy is telling this long involved story about another guy...

All Things Hodgman (Friday, 06 February 2004 06:10 PM ): I recently came across this interview with John Hodgman for Media Bistro. I'm a big fan of Hodgman. He went to school in the Boston area (as I did, although not at the same school and with only perhaps a...

Upcoming Event: Gist Street Reading Series, Feb 14 (Friday, 06 February 2004 02:27 PM ): From the mailing list announcement from Sherrie Flick: "The February Gist Street is on SATURDAY, February 14th. That's right--a Valentine's Gist. Come with your honey, come stag--but please do come to hear Anthony McCann and Matt Rohrer read their poetry....

Fan fiction promotes writing skills in children (Friday, 06 February 2004 11:57 AM ): An article in Technology Review, "Why Heather Can Write," looks at the fan fiction communities that have sprung up around the Harry Potter books and their influence on children's creativity and literacy. From the article: "Like many of the other...

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