Here it is! Announcing my entrance into the Booktrope family! My YA Horror Roses Are Red...Violet Is Dead will be published by Booktrope. As I get more news I'll be posting and updating. Stay tuned my tribe!
#wordmongering Hope you're still mongering those words. Keep on pounding away at those keyboards and make something happen. Hopefully something really really good!
Until later....as always be good to each other and keep #wordmongering!
Friday, September 5, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Perceptions....what you see isn't ALWAYS what you get.
It's been a while since I've posted. In my defense I was writing my new book. Roses Are Red...Violet Is Dead is about a half Native American named Violet who is being stalked.
But you see, her actual race isn't important. The ONLY reason it needs to be brought up at ALL is the mere fact that Violet's stalker has broken out many cliches he think is Native American and is using them to get her attention. "Oh, look! I know your plight. I know your culture. You want to know me." But, of course as in real life that isn't really true. Let's back this up for a moment. Violet is a typical teenager. She's snarky, worried about the future, and has a thing for caffeinated beverages. She's also typical in that her race doesn't always define her. Her friends, her activities, her sense of self are what defines her. But, I won't get into that quite yet. There's going to be more to come on the mechanics of Violet and her story. :D
Little known fact about me: My brother and I were adopted. Both of us have Native American in our background. Our adoptive parents had to sign away our rights as Native Americans to be able to adopt us. Back then I didn't know what that meant. Now, even as an adult I'm not really well versed on the whole thing. I just know that from what I've been told, I'm a part of the Blackfoot tribe. And unfortunately, I know as much about that as I would about being able to perform brain surgery, in space, on a tutu wearing hippo.
You may have been reading so far and wondering what my point is. Everything seems a tad disjointed and rambling. Here it is. Someone in the publishing industry was looking to get some stories on people of color. I'd asked if Violet and her crew were what they were looking for. The response I got? "I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable with white people writing about Native Americans." Now....who's judging who?
With all of this hullaballoo in the news about race and how it matters, I find it odd that someone would discriminate against my book simply because I'm perceived to be all white. It feels like it should be the punchline to a bad joke. But, no. It's not.
Years and years ago I'd created a saying "perception is 9/10ths of the law". Yes, I know that in the real phrase it's possession. But bear with me here for a moment. This particular professional chose to not read my work because I was perceived to be completely white. So, perception won out. A few days ago my brother posted a little video on Facebook about the beers at a local sporting arena. If you ordered the small, you got a short stout cup. If you ordered the large you got a large tall cup. BUT...here's where everything goes awry. When someone poured one cup to another BOTH cups have the exact same amount of fluid in them. Isn't that a kicker. You order what you THINK to be a large but it turns out to have the same exact amount of beer in it as the small. This particular sporting area preyed upon your PERCEPTION. You perceive that a large should have more than a small, so you'll spend the extra $2-5 to buy the large. They're making money hand over fist. (Yeah, I'm still in a bit of WOW about that....)
And....now, the biggest moral of my story. For the most part, with me, what you see is what you get. Except when it comes to my race. My ruddy flammable complexion (read that as so white skinned you can use me to navigate movie seats from the glow emanating off of my lily white skin), my green eyes, and my (my actually natural) blonde hair make people think that I'm all white (thank you Clairol for helping me not be a monochromatic palette). Irish maybe. (Yes, I have many many freckles) But I'm more than that initial perception of me. There's Blackfoot running under the surface. In your day to day life, take a moment to look beyond your initial perception. You might find something you hadn't expected. After all, it really IS that perception is 9/10ths of the law. :D
As always, be good to each other and keep #wordmongering.
But you see, her actual race isn't important. The ONLY reason it needs to be brought up at ALL is the mere fact that Violet's stalker has broken out many cliches he think is Native American and is using them to get her attention. "Oh, look! I know your plight. I know your culture. You want to know me." But, of course as in real life that isn't really true. Let's back this up for a moment. Violet is a typical teenager. She's snarky, worried about the future, and has a thing for caffeinated beverages. She's also typical in that her race doesn't always define her. Her friends, her activities, her sense of self are what defines her. But, I won't get into that quite yet. There's going to be more to come on the mechanics of Violet and her story. :D
Little known fact about me: My brother and I were adopted. Both of us have Native American in our background. Our adoptive parents had to sign away our rights as Native Americans to be able to adopt us. Back then I didn't know what that meant. Now, even as an adult I'm not really well versed on the whole thing. I just know that from what I've been told, I'm a part of the Blackfoot tribe. And unfortunately, I know as much about that as I would about being able to perform brain surgery, in space, on a tutu wearing hippo.
You may have been reading so far and wondering what my point is. Everything seems a tad disjointed and rambling. Here it is. Someone in the publishing industry was looking to get some stories on people of color. I'd asked if Violet and her crew were what they were looking for. The response I got? "I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable with white people writing about Native Americans." Now....who's judging who?
With all of this hullaballoo in the news about race and how it matters, I find it odd that someone would discriminate against my book simply because I'm perceived to be all white. It feels like it should be the punchline to a bad joke. But, no. It's not.
Years and years ago I'd created a saying "perception is 9/10ths of the law". Yes, I know that in the real phrase it's possession. But bear with me here for a moment. This particular professional chose to not read my work because I was perceived to be completely white. So, perception won out. A few days ago my brother posted a little video on Facebook about the beers at a local sporting arena. If you ordered the small, you got a short stout cup. If you ordered the large you got a large tall cup. BUT...here's where everything goes awry. When someone poured one cup to another BOTH cups have the exact same amount of fluid in them. Isn't that a kicker. You order what you THINK to be a large but it turns out to have the same exact amount of beer in it as the small. This particular sporting area preyed upon your PERCEPTION. You perceive that a large should have more than a small, so you'll spend the extra $2-5 to buy the large. They're making money hand over fist. (Yeah, I'm still in a bit of WOW about that....)
And....now, the biggest moral of my story. For the most part, with me, what you see is what you get. Except when it comes to my race. My ruddy flammable complexion (read that as so white skinned you can use me to navigate movie seats from the glow emanating off of my lily white skin), my green eyes, and my (my actually natural) blonde hair make people think that I'm all white (thank you Clairol for helping me not be a monochromatic palette). Irish maybe. (Yes, I have many many freckles) But I'm more than that initial perception of me. There's Blackfoot running under the surface. In your day to day life, take a moment to look beyond your initial perception. You might find something you hadn't expected. After all, it really IS that perception is 9/10ths of the law. :D
As always, be good to each other and keep #wordmongering.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Review Time!! ACID by Emma Pass
As I mentioned in the post last week, I'm not one to give you the ins & outs of the book. That's for you to read & the author to show you in their work. Without further ado....my review!
This book is definitely worth a read! If you come across it in your searches for something to read, please stop & get it. You won't be sorry you did. Enjoyable to the very end! Since it's VERY rare I'll give a book a total of 5 stars I give this a 4 1/2. It's that good!
Until later! And as always write like the wind & be good to each other!!
#wordmongering
This book is definitely worth a read! If you come across it in your searches for something to read, please stop & get it. You won't be sorry you did. Enjoyable to the very end! Since it's VERY rare I'll give a book a total of 5 stars I give this a 4 1/2. It's that good!
Until later! And as always write like the wind & be good to each other!!
#wordmongering
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Review Hoopla and what I think is the reason for it.....
Hey all! This post is going to be a little heavy, but I wanted to say something about it because well, I have an opinion and I feel very strongly about it.
The Horror Writers Association has petitioned Amazon to pull certain reviews. I'd seen the article on either Facebook or Twitter and nodded vehemently when I read it. Rather than insert a lot of web addresses I'll let you go about it on your own time. I'll paraphrase what's going on. They would like Amazon to take down reviews. Now, before everyone gets upset here's the ones they would like removed:
Ones that are OBVIOUSLY from someone that hasn't read the book or if they have it's only those sample pages that Amazon lets you read for a teaser.--Ok, this seems PERFECTLY logical to me. The people that post reviews based on tiny snippets of a book aren't as informed as they should be. In order to be able to give people an opinion of a book, for Heaven's sake....read the thing! Whoever wrote it put a lot of effort into doing so. Trust me, writing isn't as easy as gumdrops and lollipops like some people think it is. There's blood, sweat, and tears in every word of every page.
Reviews that are focused on price rather than content.--Again, perfectly logical. Just because a book is either 99 cents or is $5.99 that shouldn't have a bearing on what a reviewer thinks about the CONTENT of the book. It's the writing and the story that we want to know about, not the price. We can see the price. It's in black and white in front of us. Sure, maybe cheaper books have worse content and more expensive books have better content. Well, if you've ever been shopping, you know that there are some generics out there that are just as good as the name brand. Unless you're a total brand snob, this shouldn't be the focus of a review of a book. A book review serves to tell people whether or not they enjoyed the author's work. Not whether or not they enjoyed the price they paid for it. Great thing about the society we live in, if you don't like the price of something you either shop around for a cheaper one or you simply don't buy it. We have those wonderful choices right there at our fingertips, even more so if you're buying off of Amazon in the first place.
Reviews that have negative PERSONAL remarks about the author.--This is one that seriously chaps my hide. We're all SUPPOSED to be grown ups here....usually (yeah, there are teen buyers. HECK I'm hoping that teens buy, I'm targeting their age bracket exclusively). When you're pretty much resorting to play ground antics to get your point across, it's the online equivalent of calling someone a "doodie head". Seriously, grow up and realize that just because you didn't like something doesn't mean that the person that created this something is the worst person on the planet. Another nice thing about the country that we live in? We have so much diversity. What's even better is that publishing in general is ridiculously subjective. But what isn't? Not everyone likes lychee fruit and personally I love the stuff. Can't get enough of that ONE tropical fruit that I'm not allergic to. Conversely, don't give me Brussels sprouts, I do NOT like them. I've tried them in every way you can imagine and no matter what, I still don't like them. Now, Husband thinks lychees are "Meh" but he swears up and down his grandmother's recipe for Brussels sprouts is amazing and will blow my socks off. A perfect example of how everything is not for everyone. Personally, I love that. That means more lychee for me. Hee hee.
And last....but not least....my personal rant. The ONE thing that I've always stood by and frustrates me to no end......*drum roll please*
Reviews that include spoilers. -- I know that there are a LOT of reviewers out there that think it's necessary to give us the play by play, blow by blow account of what happened in the book. Whenever I see it though, I hear a unicorn fart in the woods. Why would someone buy a book if all they have to do is read the reviews and know what happens? In my opinion (yes, MY opinion, I own it 100%) the author is the only one that can tell their story. They're the only one that can do it justice. Why am I going to attempt to do something that's already been done before I got there? Call me crazy or even lazy, but I don't want to rewrite this person's novel. They've already done a bang up job of that all by themselves. When I leave a review, I let people know what I thought about the book, but I won't ever....yes I said ever....tell everyone what happens in the book. Especially the ending. In my mind that's the equivalent of running up to some random stranger standing in line at a thriller or mystery movie and saying to them "It was the butler who did it! Aren't you glad you ran into me so I could tell you the ending?" You don't do that! (Ok, maybe there are some people that do it. But seriously? That's the rudest thing ever. Stop it.)
We live in a society where the comfort of our own laptops, iPads, tablets, phones, and desktops offer us that cushy buffer to feel safe enough to take an excursion into the big bad world. Albeit a cyber world, but a big bad world nonetheless. The safety of where ever we're sitting makes us feel like big brave lions that can take on anything and roar in the face of danger. The problem is, with this courage also comes a lack of manners and common courtesy. We forget to say "please" or "thank you". We forget that on the other end of that screen name/user name/handle is an actual living breathing human that has feelings and can be hurt. After all, interfacing with glass and plastic doesn't make it feel like it's personal. Not like we do when we're face to face with someone and can see their eyes, see the light go out when we've just stabbed them in the proverbial heart. To see them genuinely smile or actually LOL. With our lack of feedback to our actions we've become bolder, crasser, meaner, and downright bullying at times. No, I'm not saying that EVERYONE on the internet is in this category, but there sure do seem to be a lot, am I right? Every day I see someone that's been adversely impacted by someone else's rude, mean, and bullying behavior online. In fact, one of the things that brought about the article that I mentioned above was a controversy on Good Reads surrounding a new author that had her book panned long before it came out. The shelves they were putting her book on weren't something that anyone in regular society would say out loud. Maybe in private behind closed doors, but not for everyone to hear.
It's funny that because a lot of this behavior happens behind closed doors, we forget that we're actually in public. Facebook is a community. On Facebook you "friend people" you "like" posts or pictures. On Twitter you "follow" people and you can "favorite" or "retweet" someone's tweet. These are all social things. If we were in person in a conversation someone might say "Oh Moni! I like that!" The same as they can on Facebook. Someone from that conversation can say "Oh, my mom said the other day that your hair looks fabulous." Ok, that was just a retweet. Ultimately, we've forgotten that these technical and digital age things came out of actual things that people have done since the dawn of the spoken or written language. Maybe it's time that we rediscover face to face chats (and no, I'm not talking video chatting on your phone, although I guess in a pinch....that might work). Maybe take some of what you realized while talking to a warm, live, breathing human being and use it when you're posting that next kitty photo to Twitter or Facebook. Be HUMAN on the internet. Be the person that you are in real life with the people that you talk to on the internet. You'd be surprised at how much more caring and less rude you could be.
For those that are reading this and saying "But, Moni! I'm me all the time whether it's on the net or in person." I understand that. I'm just putting out this gentle reminder. It would be nice to have cyber bullying down to a minimum. Bullying in any setting to me is the equivalent of slaughtering that farting unicorn I mentioned before.
As always, be good to each other and write like the wind!!
#wordmongering
The Horror Writers Association has petitioned Amazon to pull certain reviews. I'd seen the article on either Facebook or Twitter and nodded vehemently when I read it. Rather than insert a lot of web addresses I'll let you go about it on your own time. I'll paraphrase what's going on. They would like Amazon to take down reviews. Now, before everyone gets upset here's the ones they would like removed:
Ones that are OBVIOUSLY from someone that hasn't read the book or if they have it's only those sample pages that Amazon lets you read for a teaser.--Ok, this seems PERFECTLY logical to me. The people that post reviews based on tiny snippets of a book aren't as informed as they should be. In order to be able to give people an opinion of a book, for Heaven's sake....read the thing! Whoever wrote it put a lot of effort into doing so. Trust me, writing isn't as easy as gumdrops and lollipops like some people think it is. There's blood, sweat, and tears in every word of every page.
Reviews that are focused on price rather than content.--Again, perfectly logical. Just because a book is either 99 cents or is $5.99 that shouldn't have a bearing on what a reviewer thinks about the CONTENT of the book. It's the writing and the story that we want to know about, not the price. We can see the price. It's in black and white in front of us. Sure, maybe cheaper books have worse content and more expensive books have better content. Well, if you've ever been shopping, you know that there are some generics out there that are just as good as the name brand. Unless you're a total brand snob, this shouldn't be the focus of a review of a book. A book review serves to tell people whether or not they enjoyed the author's work. Not whether or not they enjoyed the price they paid for it. Great thing about the society we live in, if you don't like the price of something you either shop around for a cheaper one or you simply don't buy it. We have those wonderful choices right there at our fingertips, even more so if you're buying off of Amazon in the first place.
Reviews that have negative PERSONAL remarks about the author.--This is one that seriously chaps my hide. We're all SUPPOSED to be grown ups here....usually (yeah, there are teen buyers. HECK I'm hoping that teens buy, I'm targeting their age bracket exclusively). When you're pretty much resorting to play ground antics to get your point across, it's the online equivalent of calling someone a "doodie head". Seriously, grow up and realize that just because you didn't like something doesn't mean that the person that created this something is the worst person on the planet. Another nice thing about the country that we live in? We have so much diversity. What's even better is that publishing in general is ridiculously subjective. But what isn't? Not everyone likes lychee fruit and personally I love the stuff. Can't get enough of that ONE tropical fruit that I'm not allergic to. Conversely, don't give me Brussels sprouts, I do NOT like them. I've tried them in every way you can imagine and no matter what, I still don't like them. Now, Husband thinks lychees are "Meh" but he swears up and down his grandmother's recipe for Brussels sprouts is amazing and will blow my socks off. A perfect example of how everything is not for everyone. Personally, I love that. That means more lychee for me. Hee hee.
And last....but not least....my personal rant. The ONE thing that I've always stood by and frustrates me to no end......*drum roll please*
Reviews that include spoilers. -- I know that there are a LOT of reviewers out there that think it's necessary to give us the play by play, blow by blow account of what happened in the book. Whenever I see it though, I hear a unicorn fart in the woods. Why would someone buy a book if all they have to do is read the reviews and know what happens? In my opinion (yes, MY opinion, I own it 100%) the author is the only one that can tell their story. They're the only one that can do it justice. Why am I going to attempt to do something that's already been done before I got there? Call me crazy or even lazy, but I don't want to rewrite this person's novel. They've already done a bang up job of that all by themselves. When I leave a review, I let people know what I thought about the book, but I won't ever....yes I said ever....tell everyone what happens in the book. Especially the ending. In my mind that's the equivalent of running up to some random stranger standing in line at a thriller or mystery movie and saying to them "It was the butler who did it! Aren't you glad you ran into me so I could tell you the ending?" You don't do that! (Ok, maybe there are some people that do it. But seriously? That's the rudest thing ever. Stop it.)
We live in a society where the comfort of our own laptops, iPads, tablets, phones, and desktops offer us that cushy buffer to feel safe enough to take an excursion into the big bad world. Albeit a cyber world, but a big bad world nonetheless. The safety of where ever we're sitting makes us feel like big brave lions that can take on anything and roar in the face of danger. The problem is, with this courage also comes a lack of manners and common courtesy. We forget to say "please" or "thank you". We forget that on the other end of that screen name/user name/handle is an actual living breathing human that has feelings and can be hurt. After all, interfacing with glass and plastic doesn't make it feel like it's personal. Not like we do when we're face to face with someone and can see their eyes, see the light go out when we've just stabbed them in the proverbial heart. To see them genuinely smile or actually LOL. With our lack of feedback to our actions we've become bolder, crasser, meaner, and downright bullying at times. No, I'm not saying that EVERYONE on the internet is in this category, but there sure do seem to be a lot, am I right? Every day I see someone that's been adversely impacted by someone else's rude, mean, and bullying behavior online. In fact, one of the things that brought about the article that I mentioned above was a controversy on Good Reads surrounding a new author that had her book panned long before it came out. The shelves they were putting her book on weren't something that anyone in regular society would say out loud. Maybe in private behind closed doors, but not for everyone to hear.
It's funny that because a lot of this behavior happens behind closed doors, we forget that we're actually in public. Facebook is a community. On Facebook you "friend people" you "like" posts or pictures. On Twitter you "follow" people and you can "favorite" or "retweet" someone's tweet. These are all social things. If we were in person in a conversation someone might say "Oh Moni! I like that!" The same as they can on Facebook. Someone from that conversation can say "Oh, my mom said the other day that your hair looks fabulous." Ok, that was just a retweet. Ultimately, we've forgotten that these technical and digital age things came out of actual things that people have done since the dawn of the spoken or written language. Maybe it's time that we rediscover face to face chats (and no, I'm not talking video chatting on your phone, although I guess in a pinch....that might work). Maybe take some of what you realized while talking to a warm, live, breathing human being and use it when you're posting that next kitty photo to Twitter or Facebook. Be HUMAN on the internet. Be the person that you are in real life with the people that you talk to on the internet. You'd be surprised at how much more caring and less rude you could be.
For those that are reading this and saying "But, Moni! I'm me all the time whether it's on the net or in person." I understand that. I'm just putting out this gentle reminder. It would be nice to have cyber bullying down to a minimum. Bullying in any setting to me is the equivalent of slaughtering that farting unicorn I mentioned before.
As always, be good to each other and write like the wind!!
#wordmongering
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Mother's Day (Or ANTI-Mother's Day that is...)
For most of us, Mother's Day is an awesome day. We're either celebrating our mothers or being celebrated as mothers. This is wonderful & I can't tell you how happy I am for you.
For me this is a mixed bag. I am a mother, but my children don't live with me. They also don't do anything for me on Mother's Day. I'm all right with this. I check up on them often & I know that they are all happy & healthy. It's what I truly want for them. Then there's celebrating MY mom. Hmmmm....that's another can of worms. I have my adoptive mother, her & I don't get along very well. My biological mother & I have met, but again there's a lot going on there too.
So this post is for those that feel disenfranchised by the whole "Mother's Day" concept.
Some of us have bad feelings on this day because we think of all the bad things that happened to us at our mother's hands. Not all mom's are the June Cleavers that we've been shown to be the "ideal" mom. This is sad but true. As much as I would LOVE to have everyone in the world have that wonderful mother that nurtures them, loves them unconditionally, & never hurts them, it isn't ever going to happen. Then there are the mothers that won't ever get the cards, phone calls, brunches, breakfast in bed, or even an acknowledgement of their motherhood status.
Yes, Mother's Day may be an awesome day for many, but not all. Take a moment of your time to remember those that won't be enjoying today. Remember...perception is 9/10ths of the law!
As always, be good to each other...& write like the wind!
#wordmongering
For me this is a mixed bag. I am a mother, but my children don't live with me. They also don't do anything for me on Mother's Day. I'm all right with this. I check up on them often & I know that they are all happy & healthy. It's what I truly want for them. Then there's celebrating MY mom. Hmmmm....that's another can of worms. I have my adoptive mother, her & I don't get along very well. My biological mother & I have met, but again there's a lot going on there too.
So this post is for those that feel disenfranchised by the whole "Mother's Day" concept.
Some of us have bad feelings on this day because we think of all the bad things that happened to us at our mother's hands. Not all mom's are the June Cleavers that we've been shown to be the "ideal" mom. This is sad but true. As much as I would LOVE to have everyone in the world have that wonderful mother that nurtures them, loves them unconditionally, & never hurts them, it isn't ever going to happen. Then there are the mothers that won't ever get the cards, phone calls, brunches, breakfast in bed, or even an acknowledgement of their motherhood status.
Yes, Mother's Day may be an awesome day for many, but not all. Take a moment of your time to remember those that won't be enjoying today. Remember...perception is 9/10ths of the law!
As always, be good to each other...& write like the wind!
#wordmongering
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