Statistically, 46.8% of all high school kids have had sex before they graduate.
Judging from movies, books, and TV shows, you would think it was 100%.
What about the other 53.2%? Who writes books, movies, and TV shows for them?
Yesterday, I read a blog. I can't remember which blog it was, so if it was yours, speak up! But this blog mentioned how it almost seems to be required in YA literature to have the 16+ aged kids having sex.
Why is that?
Why is it that movies show everyone living together? Okay, lots of people do. WE GET THAT. But not EVERYBODY does.
In my books, some kids are having sex and some kids are not. Kind of like real life.
Why does the media make fun of the kids that are not having sex? Like they aren't having sex because they are plain, ugly, socially inept, rather than because maybe they don't want to.
We should respect other people. Especially if they are willing to take a stand against something popular. That's respectable.
When I was in high school, there was a girl in my class that was a member of a strict religious group. I'd known her since elementary school, actually. She wasn't allowed to cut her hair or wear make-up, get contacts, or wear pants or short skirts.
This girl was nothing short of AMAZING.
I didn't share her religious beliefs. But I didn't ever think of her as crazy or fanatical. I admired her ability to live what she believed. She was a beautiful girl who knew how to carry herself. She was very smart and very kind. To this day, I honor her and what she stood for.
So. Who's writing books about girls that are smart and sexy and beautiful and not having sex? Who's making movies about kids that go to class and have fun at football games and don't drink?
I don't know about the movies part, but I'm doing my part with the books. This is my stand. To portray life the way it REALLY is. Not the way Hollywood thinks it is.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 112/169
actual: 112/171
tomorrow's goal: page 122/171
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
The Right to Drive the Speed Limit
Today as I was driving home from Sam's Club, I got stuck behind a dump truck. Not just me, either, but a big line of cars got stuck behind this guy. Unfortunately, we were on a two-lane highway. The speed limit might have been 50 mph, but we couldn't go any faster that the dump truck in front of us going 25 mph.
While inconvenient, there was nothing that could be done about it. The dump truck needed the road. He couldn't go any faster (I assume). We simply had to slow down and crawl along behind him.
But what about those other times? Those times when you are happily zipping along at the POSTED 40 mph, and a car pulls out in front of you doing 35 mph? Um, hello. Speed limit is 40.
Disclaimer: I do not advocate speeding. I don't speed. Ever. The last time I urged someone to go faster than the speed limit was when my mom was driving me to the hospital to give birth to my second son. ah, what a fun day.
Back to the issue at hand. Perhaps it is because I don't speed that I like to take advantage of every legal fastness I can. My husband and I got in a huge argument about this a few weeks ago. He's one of those absent-minded drivers. He drives what he wants, not paying attention, whether that's ten below or ten above the speed limit. He said people have the right to drive slower than the speed limit.
Sure, of course they do! As long as they do it in the right lane. The right lane being the right lane.
I'm a respectful driver. I won't tailgate you. I won't yell at you. I'll simply go around you. But if I can't get around you because John Doe in the right lane is also going 5 miles below the speed limit, I'm going to be exasperated.
After all--don't I have the right to go the speed limit???
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 90/166
actual: 90/168
tomorrow's goal: page 100/168
While inconvenient, there was nothing that could be done about it. The dump truck needed the road. He couldn't go any faster (I assume). We simply had to slow down and crawl along behind him.
But what about those other times? Those times when you are happily zipping along at the POSTED 40 mph, and a car pulls out in front of you doing 35 mph? Um, hello. Speed limit is 40.
Disclaimer: I do not advocate speeding. I don't speed. Ever. The last time I urged someone to go faster than the speed limit was when my mom was driving me to the hospital to give birth to my second son. ah, what a fun day.
Back to the issue at hand. Perhaps it is because I don't speed that I like to take advantage of every legal fastness I can. My husband and I got in a huge argument about this a few weeks ago. He's one of those absent-minded drivers. He drives what he wants, not paying attention, whether that's ten below or ten above the speed limit. He said people have the right to drive slower than the speed limit.
Sure, of course they do! As long as they do it in the right lane. The right lane being the right lane.
I'm a respectful driver. I won't tailgate you. I won't yell at you. I'll simply go around you. But if I can't get around you because John Doe in the right lane is also going 5 miles below the speed limit, I'm going to be exasperated.
After all--don't I have the right to go the speed limit???
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 90/166
actual: 90/168
tomorrow's goal: page 100/168
Friday, November 6, 2009
Boycotting Amazon
While I think of myself as an educated person, I don't have all the facts and answers at my fingertips. A few months ago I quit buying from Amazon.com and even B&N whenever possible to support my local indie. (You can read about that here.)
Those of you who are writers know how tough it is to make a profit from writing. (I'm not even talking about living off your profit--I'm talking making one.) What I didn't realize was how hard it is for publishers to make any money. But yesterday I learned from this blog that on top of everything else a publisher must pay for, if Amazon sells the book for them, Amazon takes 60%. 60%! And they charge a restocking fee. For this particular small press publisher, it ended up costing them money every time someone bought a book from Amazon.com.
You read that right. Instead of making money from the sale, they spent money every time they sold.
Granted, that's not going to be the case for big publishers who print much larger orders. But if Amazon takes 60%, the author takes another 10%, the publisher is left with 30%. And they still have paychecks to write.
I'm not sure how much a bookstore charges, but I've heard something closer to 40%. (Anyone want to correct me on that?)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, I'm willing to pay a few extra dollars to avoid Amazon. In fact, I'm going to skip the shipping and handling altogether and order it from my local indie.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 84/164
actual: 80/166
tomorrow's goal: page 90/166
Those of you who are writers know how tough it is to make a profit from writing. (I'm not even talking about living off your profit--I'm talking making one.) What I didn't realize was how hard it is for publishers to make any money. But yesterday I learned from this blog that on top of everything else a publisher must pay for, if Amazon sells the book for them, Amazon takes 60%. 60%! And they charge a restocking fee. For this particular small press publisher, it ended up costing them money every time someone bought a book from Amazon.com.
You read that right. Instead of making money from the sale, they spent money every time they sold.
Granted, that's not going to be the case for big publishers who print much larger orders. But if Amazon takes 60%, the author takes another 10%, the publisher is left with 30%. And they still have paychecks to write.
I'm not sure how much a bookstore charges, but I've heard something closer to 40%. (Anyone want to correct me on that?)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, I'm willing to pay a few extra dollars to avoid Amazon. In fact, I'm going to skip the shipping and handling altogether and order it from my local indie.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 84/164
actual: 80/166
tomorrow's goal: page 90/166
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Totally Frivolous
In light of yesterday's serious post, I'm going to share with you the haircut I'm getting on Saturday:
Thanks for all the hugs. I ate a lot of Hershey kisses and feel better. The sooner the Halloween candy is gone, the better.
(Oh, and in case you're wondering, the haircut won't cost me a dime. Mark bought me a gift certificate to this place for Mother's Day.)
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 80/160
actual: 74/164
tomorrow's goal: page 84/164
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Backed into a Corner
I hate to talk about something personal like jobs and finances, but I'm having a "I need to talk to someone" day. This post might not be up in 24 hours. I just need to get it off my chest.
Mark has tried like crazy to get a job in his career path, to no avail. He got a job two weeks ago, but without stating the pay, let me just say that it leaves us more than $1000 short each month. We have enough savings to pull us through for two months at that pay.
So Mark and I put a lot of prayer and thought into it, and we asked the Lord to help him find a job that would cover our expenses by December first, or he is going to volunteer for deployment. Obviously not what we want to happen.
Then he had a job interview last week, and it went really well. So well, that on Thursday they offered the job to him. They said it would start Friday, Nov. 6, as long as he passed his polygraph test.
On Monday (Nov. 2) Mark passed his polygraph test. Like a good employee, he let his current employers know about the other job. And THEN he gets a call from the HR department telling him not to give his 2-weeks notice yet, the job might not start for awhile.
A major bummer. And now he looks flaky at his current job.
They also scheduled him for a 6am physical this morning at the lab, half an hour from our house. Mark was up at the crack of dawn for that thing. When he walked back in at 7am, I did a double take.
"That was fast!" I said.
"No one was there," he said.
What??? I drilled him. Did you call all your phone numbers? Yes. Did you try all the doors? Yes. Are you sure it was 6:ooam?
He showed me the paper. Very legible handwriting. 6:00am.
He even drove to the nearby medical center. Left messages. Nothing.
No one called him back as of lunch time today.
I know my faith is being tested here. But I'm frustrated. Are we not meant to have financial security? Is he supposed to leave me for a year? I feel like we're being backed into a corner and I'm a panicked animal, lashing out. Someone else is playing the cards for us. I'm trying to trust, to relax. Breathe. It's the beginning of November. We still have a month.
Everything will be okay...right???
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 70/160
actual: 70/160
tomorrow's goal: page 80/160
Mark has tried like crazy to get a job in his career path, to no avail. He got a job two weeks ago, but without stating the pay, let me just say that it leaves us more than $1000 short each month. We have enough savings to pull us through for two months at that pay.
So Mark and I put a lot of prayer and thought into it, and we asked the Lord to help him find a job that would cover our expenses by December first, or he is going to volunteer for deployment. Obviously not what we want to happen.
Then he had a job interview last week, and it went really well. So well, that on Thursday they offered the job to him. They said it would start Friday, Nov. 6, as long as he passed his polygraph test.
On Monday (Nov. 2) Mark passed his polygraph test. Like a good employee, he let his current employers know about the other job. And THEN he gets a call from the HR department telling him not to give his 2-weeks notice yet, the job might not start for awhile.
A major bummer. And now he looks flaky at his current job.
They also scheduled him for a 6am physical this morning at the lab, half an hour from our house. Mark was up at the crack of dawn for that thing. When he walked back in at 7am, I did a double take.
"That was fast!" I said.
"No one was there," he said.
What??? I drilled him. Did you call all your phone numbers? Yes. Did you try all the doors? Yes. Are you sure it was 6:ooam?
He showed me the paper. Very legible handwriting. 6:00am.
He even drove to the nearby medical center. Left messages. Nothing.
No one called him back as of lunch time today.
I know my faith is being tested here. But I'm frustrated. Are we not meant to have financial security? Is he supposed to leave me for a year? I feel like we're being backed into a corner and I'm a panicked animal, lashing out. Someone else is playing the cards for us. I'm trying to trust, to relax. Breathe. It's the beginning of November. We still have a month.
Everything will be okay...right???
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 70/160
actual: 70/160
tomorrow's goal: page 80/160
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Hard Copy Away!
So this morning I mailed off my latest draft to my editor. It is the third hard copy I have mailed out to WiDo Publishing. The first was in request to my partial, the second after several revisions, and now this one. I also printed out and mailed three other hard copies to publishing companies at the same time I was querying WiDo.
I'm saving my receipts. Business expenses. I won't have a return this year, that's a guaranteed. But I might on my taxes!
Since signing a contract with WiDo Publishing, this is draft number four. Here are the changes so far:
Draft 1: Changed the opening scene from four girls to two. Took out all backstory.
Draft 2: Added in the detective's and villain's POV.
Draft 3: Slowed down the romance between J and R.
This most recent draft was by far the most extensive. It required me to pretty much delete the romance between J and R while still maintaining some romantic tension. I'm not sure how well I did at that. We'll see.
It then required me to remove R's POV from the manuscript. He only had five scenes, and three of them were easy to do. J was present, so I was able to show the scene from her POV. J was not privy to the other two scenes, however. So they got cut. Completely. Again, I tried to make sure any pertinent information got talked about or discussed, but we'll have to see if there's anything I left out.
Back to work on my sequel rough draft. I need to set goals again.
Oh, and I've had two new story ideas in the past week. Exciting. Wish I had more time to write.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 50/157
actual: 60/160
tomorrow's goal: page 70/160
I'm saving my receipts. Business expenses. I won't have a return this year, that's a guaranteed. But I might on my taxes!
Since signing a contract with WiDo Publishing, this is draft number four. Here are the changes so far:
Draft 1: Changed the opening scene from four girls to two. Took out all backstory.
Draft 2: Added in the detective's and villain's POV.
Draft 3: Slowed down the romance between J and R.
This most recent draft was by far the most extensive. It required me to pretty much delete the romance between J and R while still maintaining some romantic tension. I'm not sure how well I did at that. We'll see.
It then required me to remove R's POV from the manuscript. He only had five scenes, and three of them were easy to do. J was present, so I was able to show the scene from her POV. J was not privy to the other two scenes, however. So they got cut. Completely. Again, I tried to make sure any pertinent information got talked about or discussed, but we'll have to see if there's anything I left out.
Back to work on my sequel rough draft. I need to set goals again.
Oh, and I've had two new story ideas in the past week. Exciting. Wish I had more time to write.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 50/157
actual: 60/160
tomorrow's goal: page 70/160
Monday, November 2, 2009
Walmart and the Missing Debit Card
Today I planned on hitting Walmart and getting some Halloween decorations for 50% off (or more). I also needed ink and paper so I can print off a draft of my book and mail it to my editor. While I was at it, I figured I'd get groceries.
I had a blast in the clearance section. Got cute little ghosts and glittery skeletons, window decor, fun things for next year. The ink and paper section, not quite so exciting, but very necessary.
Then the food. :::Sigh::: If you ever go grocery shopping with children, you know why I'm sighing. We manage to make it through the whole ordeal without repeating any aisles, which is a BIG DEAL.
Of course, Little Tiny goes nuts around the time we get to the check out line. I smile at everyone around us, ignore my screaming child, and start putting groceries on the belt. My children start taking their shoes off and hitting each other. I discretely threaten them.
The cashier points out to me that I grabbed the wrong size milk for my WIC coupon. Big surprise. Grrr! No matter how hard I try, I always get the milk wrong. Either the wrong brand, the wrong size, or the wrong percentage! I smiled politely and asked the bagger to go and exchange the milk for me. He walks around my screaming children, who are lunging at the candy aisle.
While she's ringing that up, I start digging through my purse for my debit card. After all, I had other things to buy.
Can't find my debit card.
I don't carry any other form of money on me. No check book, no cash.
I can feel the beads of sweat collecting on my forehead. My hands shake and my frustration mounts. I remove everything from my purse and start shifting through the business and membership cards. Where is that debit card??? I remember the last time I used it, and I know I put it back.
Which leaves only one culprit. And he was very out of reach at the moment, which was probably very good for him.
I pull out a $30 check my dad wrote me. "You cash checks here, right?"
"Right," she says.
I sign my check and hand it over, wiping my forehead.
"Oh. It has to be a paycheck or government issued. No personal checks."
Well, I wish she would've told me that in the first place!
Seriously, I would've just put it all back, except I really needed the paper and ink. And bagger dude hadn't come back with my milk yet, anyway.
Luckily I had a paycheck in my purse. Cost me $6 to cash it at Walmart, but I bought what I needed. And a bag of M&Ms to hush my shrieking children. I know, horrible mom! The day after Halloween and I'm bribing them with MORE CANDY!
I could care less. The line behind me was enormous. I took my hard-earned cash, my quart of milk, my Halloween decorations and paper and ink, and I high-tailed it out of there.
Hobby Lobby will have to wait until tomorrow. Now that I have my debit card back.
I had a blast in the clearance section. Got cute little ghosts and glittery skeletons, window decor, fun things for next year. The ink and paper section, not quite so exciting, but very necessary.
Then the food. :::Sigh::: If you ever go grocery shopping with children, you know why I'm sighing. We manage to make it through the whole ordeal without repeating any aisles, which is a BIG DEAL.
Of course, Little Tiny goes nuts around the time we get to the check out line. I smile at everyone around us, ignore my screaming child, and start putting groceries on the belt. My children start taking their shoes off and hitting each other. I discretely threaten them.
The cashier points out to me that I grabbed the wrong size milk for my WIC coupon. Big surprise. Grrr! No matter how hard I try, I always get the milk wrong. Either the wrong brand, the wrong size, or the wrong percentage! I smiled politely and asked the bagger to go and exchange the milk for me. He walks around my screaming children, who are lunging at the candy aisle.
While she's ringing that up, I start digging through my purse for my debit card. After all, I had other things to buy.
Can't find my debit card.
I don't carry any other form of money on me. No check book, no cash.
I can feel the beads of sweat collecting on my forehead. My hands shake and my frustration mounts. I remove everything from my purse and start shifting through the business and membership cards. Where is that debit card??? I remember the last time I used it, and I know I put it back.
Which leaves only one culprit. And he was very out of reach at the moment, which was probably very good for him.
I pull out a $30 check my dad wrote me. "You cash checks here, right?"
"Right," she says.
I sign my check and hand it over, wiping my forehead.
"Oh. It has to be a paycheck or government issued. No personal checks."
Well, I wish she would've told me that in the first place!
Seriously, I would've just put it all back, except I really needed the paper and ink. And bagger dude hadn't come back with my milk yet, anyway.
Luckily I had a paycheck in my purse. Cost me $6 to cash it at Walmart, but I bought what I needed. And a bag of M&Ms to hush my shrieking children. I know, horrible mom! The day after Halloween and I'm bribing them with MORE CANDY!
I could care less. The line behind me was enormous. I took my hard-earned cash, my quart of milk, my Halloween decorations and paper and ink, and I high-tailed it out of there.
Hobby Lobby will have to wait until tomorrow. Now that I have my debit card back.
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