So, here I am blogging and promoting and giving crap away

It's almost been a year since I published Dissected. Copies have sold. It has great reviews. Honestly though, it has not been stellar. Why you ask? Well, right after I published that book my world pretty much fell apart in many ways. I won't go into all the details of my drama, but I've been busy, I've been dealing with matters that needed dealing.

On top of all the drama, I've also had some health issues that were finally summed up for me last week in as disappointing a way as they could be. Basically, I was told, "This is who you are now, learn to like yourself this way and learn how to live with it."

Yeah, no magic cure.

Don't worry, I'm not dying or anything. I apparently just can't function like ordinary people, therefore any time I have during the day to get stuff done is basically cut in half so I have to choose between activities: cleaning, writing, marketing, working from home, etc. etc. My house is always half messy, my lawn is unmowed, and I've been working on this same manuscript for about forever (trying to finish it during NaNoWriMo).

Now that all that is out of the way, and now that Dissected is almost one and hasn't been nurtured in the way it should have been, it's time to start. And how do we do that?

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yep, I'm giving some crap away. What you ask? Well,  we have a size L got Cassiopeia? short sleeve black t-shirt, a copy of Dissected with SWAG, a 1 pound bag of wild cherry gummy bears and a jar of glow in the dark stars.

How's that for starters? Click on the Rafflecopter link to go to the giveaway. Winner to be picked November 11th, announced November 12th, right here on my blog.

On top of that, on November 12th I will be offering the Kindle version of Dissected free on Amazon for 2 days.

It would do me a great honor if you'd spread the word (of course, some of your prize entries require it, so there's that).

For a short summary of the book and to read reviews, you can visit the Amazon page.

I'll also be changing the look of this blog. I've already updated my Twitter and I'm working on my website, so this will be next on my list as well as my Facebook. I'm growing up, moving forward, keeping on.


I'll be posting more links to reviews and whatnot up until the giveaway/anniversary date, so come back.

You can find me on Facebook and Twitter, and most anywhere authors hang out on the interwebs.

Thanks to those of you who have supported me along my journey. It's been smooth at times, choppy others, but you have to put things into perspective. I suppose as long as I wake up every morning, I can't complain too terribly much.

Queen of Dirt Part Deux

I check Amazon daily to see if I have new reviews, to check Never Eighteen's ranking, and see if I'm still on top book lists. I know I'm selling books if I'm on lists. Usually I'm on the following lists.

Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > Illness

Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > Death

Once I was on the romance list. 


Today I made a new list.


 Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Health, Mind & Body > Sexuality

Um, that's different. I suppose the book has bits of sexuality within its pages. Very little bits. But, hey, this is a new realm. Will it help me sell more books? I have no frickin' idea. In truth, I have no idea what these lists really mean. What's a 4 for 3 book? Do you buy three and get the 4th free? I don't know. 

I am obviously still the Queen of Dirt. Maybe someone will send me a sash and a tiara this time. Oh, and if you want to find out just how much dirt and sex is in the book you can go buy it by clicking the title of the book at the top of the page, or you can enter my contest here.

Monkey Madness Monday

Tamarin monkeys

Look at these monkeys <-------- They're so cute they look like stuffed animals.

So, I had an eventful weekend.  A writer meetup with my fellow Harbingers of Doom, Danny Marks, J. Anderson Coats, and Marissa Burt -- two 2K12er and an Apocalypty. 

Then I got a bout of the 24 hour flu.  Good times.  I hate being sick.  I'm not good at standing still, especially when there is so much to do.  It was hard to walk by a weed without pulling it, look at the dishes in the sink, see the mound of laundry.  But I always overdo it when I'm sick, prolonging my illness.  I was a good girl this time.

Then I stressed, panicked, and nearly collapsed over my option book.  If you don't know what an option book is, it's when your publisher has right of first refusal over  your next novel.  It's a lot of pressure.

On a more positive note, I'm taking an HTML class today.   My goal: to be self sufficient at producing websites and maintaining the one at my day job.  I bought a book, but I'm much better at being shown how to do something.  So I'm very excited.  Then I have a four day writer's retreat I'm conducting at the ocean with four friends.  We're each giving a presentation, writing, having fun, and socializing.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We're going to come up with a pithy name for it and do it annually.

That's about that for a Monday.

How's your Monday so far?

F³A: blah

I've been fighting this cold for about two weeks now, and it's finally gotten the better of me this week.  I've missed 2 1/2 days of work because of it and it's screwing up my need to exercise and clean.

I have been editing though, which is good.

And that's pretty much it aside from laying in bed, sleeping, and watching movies.

I've really nothing more to say today.  Brain fry.

Book of the week: The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder (Amy is a member of the Class of 2k11 and her ARC is on its way to me as we speak.  It's available for pre-order)


Random song from my iPod: Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros


Movie of the week: Prince of Persia (Jake Gyllenhall = Swoon)


Quote of the week: "Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Happy Friday,
~Megan

Top four worst experiences in school: # 1 Death

Two kids at my high school died in the three years I was there. The first was the son of some family friends. It was devastating. He was so sick, and I think I deluded myself into thinking he would be okay. I never went to visit him at the hospital, a decision I regret to this day. That was my sophomore year.

The seniors at my high school, go on this thing we call the Pilgrimage. It's really just an all day hike, and camping trip. Part of the way through the hike one of the guys ran past us, back toward the trail head. We asked what was wrong, and he said someone had collapsed. I thought nothing of it. It was a hard trail with hills and switchbacks. It was warm out, and we had already been hiking a couple of hours. Later, when we were at our campsite gathered around the fire, the teachers informed us that the girl who had collapsed died. We were all in shock.

There were two more deaths right after I left high school. One girl committed suicide, a boy got hit by a train.

It seemed like so much death to me during those few years. It doesn't seem normal, to know that many teens that have died in such a short amount of time.

Top 4 Worst Experiences of My Life: # 1 Near Death

There is a quote from Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul that I will never forget (don't judge me, lol).

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone

This is so true. Your children are so susceptible to illness, so vulnerable to harm. You worry about them all the time, especially when they're not with you, especially when they're young.

This brings me to the worst experience of my life, almost losing one of my children. Rachel was born in January, and if you have a child at that time of year, you should not expose them to the outside world for at least six weeks to three months. There is just too many viruses floating around. I didn't know this at the time.

At five weeks old, I noticed she didn't seem to be breathing right. I took her to the doctor. He told me she was sick, that I should just watch her breathing and if it gets worse, to bring her back in. Never, never, never did he say she could die (which is why he wasn't our doctor for very much longer).

A couple days later, her breathing became more labored. I took her into the ER. I brought my dad with me because in his line of work as a personal injury attorney, he is familiar with medical terms, and I, being the worried mother, didn't think I was going to be able to comprehend anything anyway. The doctor explained that she had RSV, which is respiratory syncytial virus. Check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_syncytial_virus. He said all the beds at the hospital were full, if they had any, he would have admitted her. He told me to watch her breathe and if her respirations got below a certain amount per minute, (I don't remember the exact number now, it was eleven years ago) I should bring her back in.

Oh my God. All I did for the next day or two was watch that girl breathe. Some time later, I can't tell you exactly, maybe a day, maybe two, her respirations came with an alarmingly long pause between, and it looked as if she were gasping for air, and it pained her to breathe. I called my dad to take us to the ER again. He nearly killed us trying to get there quickly.

They took us in immediately, but told me to wait outside the room because it would be too disturbing to watch. My dad went in with them. I could kind of see through the curtain, they were moving around quickly, working on her, Rachel was screaming, I would find out later they were clearing out her lungs. It happened very quickly. She was admitted and taken up to the ICU.

She looked so fragile hooked up to machines, with tubes sticking out of her every which way. The ICU doctor told me that RSV is deadly for infants. They attribute it to many SIDS cases. He also said if I had let it go that night and not brought her in, she would probably be dead. I stayed with her as long as I could stay awake, watched them work on her. There was a very nice attendant, Steve, who claimed her as his during her stay. He came in every so often and had to pound on her chest with this little pink mallet like thing to clear her lungs. He taught me how to do it, since I would have to once I brought her home.

They gave me a room to sleep in that night, and the next day she was taken out of the ICU. We were at the hospital for five days. I was there around the clock, except for a couple hours when my mother relieved me so I could see my husband, and 18 month old.

When she was released, I had to keep up with the chest pounding, and they gave us a nebulizer, which had to be used on her every few hours for months. I can't remember how long now, maybe up to a year or so. I guess many children with RSV develop asthma later, luckily Rachel was not one of them.

I will always be grateful to the wonderful staff at Mary Bridge Children's hospital for being so clear about Rachel's illness, and the care they have her during her stay. Rachel is now a happy, healthy child because of them.

Thanks for reading my top four worst experience. I appreciate the comments and questions I've received, and also thank you for sharing your own experiences. Next week the top four will not be so dismal. I haven't decided yet, let me know if you have ideas.

Tomorrow is a free for all, come back and check it out.

Kisses,

:*

Megan