I mentioned before that I really enjoyed the Idolish7 anime series. I went a little crazy and bought the music from the series on iTunes. :P One of the songs that I was surprised to discover is this one, although I don’t think it was actually played in the series, it was only released in the game. It’s so uplifting and cute! I hope you enjoy it. Here is also a cover of the same song by Lambsoars, which is also great. Those four guys are just super cute! Yeah 「代わりのある今日が終わる」 街中がため息をついて 涙をこらえた "Another day just like any other comes to an end" I could hear the whole town sigh As I held back my tears 用はないけど寄り道しよう やるせない思いを言いながら 顔を上げたら It's not really necessary, but let's take a detour Let's talk about our gloomy feelings Then lift our heads 消えてしまいそうな光 僕たちの言葉によく似てる 狭い駅前ここも誰かにとって夜空の果て The dying light Closely resembles our words Even this small place in front of the station Can be the end of the night sky to someone みんな気づかない星でも 好きに瞬いて踊るよ...

For a couple weeks now, I’ve gotten back into my Japanese language study. I discovered that for me, my Japanese study is like exercise, in that I have to do it first thing in the morning or it’s never going to get done. Even if I tell myself I’ll do it later, that almost never happens. I’m usually too mentally tired at the end of the day to do Japanese study. So I’ve been doing about an hour of Japanese flashcards studying before I start my writing work every day. A part of me chafes at doing it when I’m raring to go to work, but my Japanese learning is important to me. Eventually I’d like to get proficient enough to be able to translate my writing into Japanese so that I don’t have to pay a translator. I know I’m really far from that right now, but I can dream, right? I had been thinking of restructuring my Japanese learning for a while now, so today I went to the Bunpro.jp website for the first time in months. Bunpro is basically flashcards for grammar, and it’s a really great w...

I feel slightly embarrassed to admit I watched this anime and absolutely loved it. I didn’t think I’d like an idol genre anime so much! The series is based off of a Japanese mobile game with a storyline and rhythm games, and the art for the series is beautiful. The dancing sequences were also really compelling. The characters also have rather intriguing backstories, making them more 3-dimensional and complex. Here’s the series description: A group of aspiring idols gather at Takanashi Productions and are entrusted with the company's future. The seven men who have just met represent a variety of totally different personalities. However, they each have their own charm and possess unknown potential as idols. Forming a group, they take their first step together as "IDOLiSH7." Their brilliantly shining dancing forms onstage eventually begin captivating the hearts of the people. In the glorious but sometimes harsh world of idols, they aim for the top with dreams in their h...

In chapter 9 in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 3: Aggressor , the team has to infiltrate a gambling hell. When writing the scene, I referred to an antique book published in 1803, Hoyle’s Games, Improved . It was originally published earlier, but this is the version that would have been around at the time of my book, and which the gamblers would have referred to. If you want to check out what the card and dice games were like, you can read a scan of the book on Google Books (this is where I got my copy). I admit I’m a bit of a nerd about these things, but I enjoyed looking through this book!

I wrote the following scene when working on Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 2: Berserker . It takes place during chapter 3 when Thorne is searching London for Sep. I quite liked the scene itself, but I ended up deleting it because the segment where Thorne is searching was already really long. Adding this small segment made the pacing drag a bit too much. So with many tears, I finally cut this part out. However, I’m now able to post it here on my blog! I hope you enjoy it! Deleted scene from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 2: Berserker , chapter 3 They managed to speak to a slovenly-looking woman standing in the doorway of another brothel, as if she were guarding it. “I can’t say for sure that I saw anything unusual, but if I had someone chasing me, I’d find someplace to go.” She had a habit of running her tongue over the gap where her canine tooth was missing. “I’d go somewhere like St. Orange Orphanage.” “St. Orange?” Thorne asked. “The ladies running that place aren’t very ...

The Summer Beach Book Bash party is done, but our Save the Date Facebook Reader Group is still hopping! Lisa Prysock posted this really cute online jigsaw puzzle with the cover of my novella, The Wedding Kimono . My time for the 24 piece puzzle was 2 minutes, 33 seconds. Solve the puzzle and post your time!