F³A: Queen of Filth

Yes, that is apparently me, according to Rated Reads, my little book, Never Eighteen, is the dirtiest YA book they have ever read, being the only YA book they up to this point they have labeled as DIRTY.  Yep.  I will quote my reviewer, Craig Smith, lover of all things feline, ducks, geese, chickens, and Mac. A-hem

"Absolutely unbelievably foul language and first-person viewpoint of teenage sexual intercourse. Yes, yes, everyone assumes that all teenagers speak and behave like this, but those of us who actually spend time with real teens (that are not our own children) have a little bit different perspective. The subjects of the discussions between Austin and his friends are also pretty hard to swallow; can one group of teens REALLY have ALL of those kinds of experiences? Is our society truly that twisted?"

 Um...

I won't really comment on the review itself. I think it is an honor to be the Queen of Filth, no matter how inaccurate it may be. I will say this, I think their reviews are a little unbalanced from reviewer to reviewer as the vampire/human sex scene mess-up-the-hotel-room get pregnant have fetus almost kill mom by sucking all nutrients and blood out of her then try to eat her way out only to have boyfriend (need I mention they are unmarried) have to bite the baby out of the stomach with his vampire teeth to save moms life, blood everywhere, book Breaking Dawn only received a MODERATE rating. WTF???

*cough*

Bow down to the Queen of Filth.

Friday Scribbles

Random iPod Shuffle Song: Say It Ain't So by Weezer

Book of the Week: Velveteen by my friend, Danny Marks. Dark and twisted. Love so far.

Redbox of the Week (there's an app for that): Crazy, Stupid, Love. Steve Carrell for the funny, Ryan Gosling for the eye candy. Yep, like.

Quote of the Week: "Writing? Sometimes it's not sacred. Sometimes it's like making ground beef by pressing a live cow through a colander. It's messy and hard and unglamorous and really quite insane, but at the end you still can eat a burger." ~ my amazing friend J Anderson Coats. She is a cross between brilliant and awesome. Awlliant? Click on her name. Buy her book. Seriously.

Mental Health Days

I'm sure you've all heard of taking the "Mental Health Day". It's one of those days when you HAVE to call in sick even though you're not quite sick, but you would feel cheated if you took a vacation day.  One of those days when work has you so completely exhausted, brain damaged, tired, frustrated ________________________(fill in blank with other appropriate word).

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I work for my father. I'm the marketing coordinator for his law firm. (yesterday's post had NOTHING to do with him btw) Anyway, so every time I call in sick, I either get a call from my mother or father asking what's wrong with me. See, my dad doesn't understand the whole "Mental Health Day" because I'm pretty sure he has 4,394,398 sick days racked up, probably never having taken a sick day in his entire life. So beyond saying, "my brain hurts" I just have to say, "I don't feel good." and leave it at that, which is hard because then there are usually a few probing questions about what EXACTLY is wrong, is it my head, my stomach, muscle or joint pain, flu, cold, sinus infection...the trials and tribulations of being the daughter of a personal injury attorney.

Some days the MHD's are used to catch up with work (not day job work, writing/revising/marketing work). Sometimes I need them to catch up on sleep. Sometimes, especially if I forget to take my meds for a couple days, I need a real MHD. haha, *cough* though that's happened a couple times, I try NOT to let that happen.

I admit this habit has rubbed off on my kids a bit. Thing Two is at home right now having an MHD. She's catching up on homework, practicing for a big choir concert, and doing some cleaning in the house. I think it's fine. She doesn't miss that much school and she's a good kid. She knows she's not to play xbox, be on the computer unless it's for homework, or watch TV (crap, I think I forgot to tell her about TV, need to make a call).

Anyway, I think we're all entitled to a Mental Health Day every so often. In fact, I think it should be added to our benefits on top of our vacation and sick leave.  I don't think six a year would kill an employer, do you? Go to your union reps and your office managers now and ask for, no demand your MHD! Your sanity depends on it.

People should...

...do their own job and shut their pie hole about everything else.

...not give the go ahead on a project then get mad when it's done too efficiently.

...help when they are asked.

...come to grips that they just do not get it and probably never will.

...don't put someone on project overload then complain when it's not done in a timely manner.

...listen to the answer when they ask a question so they don't keep asking it a million times.

Okay. I'm done. Today's rant was brought to you by the number 1 and the letters FU.

Overloaded, Again

How does this happen? I'm fine then all of a sudden I feel like I'm being pulled a million different directions, on the verge of being torn into pieces and that my head is likely to implode.

I nearly stepped down in one my groups yesterday, feeling particularly worthless.

I'm running around to tennis matches, soccer games, school visits, errands, 5k class, grocery store.

I'm writing, blogging, posting, editing, working, waiting, marketing , networking exercising. Yes waiting is a thing.

I'm behind on bills, laundry, dishes, car maintenance, yardwork, housework in general.

I need to list. prioritize. organize. abide. breathe.

I just don't know how. sigh.

How the hell does anyone do this? Got any tips?

MonkeyMadness Monday: On Submission

So, after submitting three works to my agent, she's decided to pass on representing any of them. This basically means I have no representation for my option book, which is fine I suppose, because HMH has right of first refusal anyway, on my next work.

I pitched my three completed YA's to my editor at HMH and she liked the concept of all of them. Then she asked me which one I thought was the strongest. Uh...I definitely pulled Lockdown (school shooting book) off the table.

Then things got scary. Instead of submitting my freshest piece of work, Dissection, I submitted something I'd written in 2009 titled An Unbalanced Line (the book previously knows as Cheesy for those of you having followed me for a time).

Now, this is scary, not because I don't have faith in that book, I do, I think it's awesome, but I haven't even opened up that manuscript for about a year. My editor liked the concept though, thought it was a unique idea, and so that's the one we went with.

I feel like I need some kind of "thing" until I hear back like never changing my socks, or someone suggested rubbing the belly of a sock monkey every day (I may just do that).

So, if you'd cross everything possible in good luck for me, I'd sure appreciate it.  And for your viewing pleasure, a pitch for An Unbalanced Line, so you know what the heck it's about.

AN UNBALANCED LINE is the story of fourteen-year-old Chelsea “Cheesy” Reed, a total girly girl until her mother's tragic death leaves her struggling to gain the attention of a man she barely knows: her father. 

Frank Reed lives and breathes football and has always been too busy with his job as the local university’s football coach to give Cheesy much notice.  Despite doubt, ridicule and bullying, Cheesy decides to play football herself as a way to connect with her father. But, it seems the world is against her in her efforts, except for Tommy, the weird boy from math class. 

Undeterred by adversity and opposition, Cheesy pushes forward to prove to the cynics that she can do it, but most of all, to find worth in her father’s eyes.