Blog: Eating my way through Thursday.

Yesterday, my husband and I each had the day off from work, so we spent some time together hanging out, watching EASY A at the movie theatre, and . . .  eating.

Now, I try to eat somewhat healthfully.  I get in a lot of fruits and vegetables and avoid too much sugar and fat and the like. 

But sometimes I do like to have some not-good-for-me stuff.   You know, like salt & vinegar potato chips, Jelly Bellys, fries, a veggie corn dog, and cherry lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, and apple crisp from Red Robin, and Fruity Pebbles cereal.

The real problem with these unhealthful splurges occurs when THOSE ARE THE ONLY THINGS I EAT IN A  GIVEN DAY. 

Like they were yesterday.

By the time I was ready for bed, I grew very concerned that I wasn't going to be be able the food keep down.  I expect that it will be a looooong time before I'll crave anything deep fried.  But not as long as it would have been if my new radioactive-looking friend, Pepto-Bismal, hadn't helped me out...

This bit of TMI is brought to you as a result of today being my 24th day in a row of blogging. 

Sometimes topics become scarce, people!

AUTHOR EVENTS: Denise Jaden's launch party for Losing Faith

This past weekend, my friend Matt and I made the drive up north to British Columbia to attend Denise Jaden's LOSING FAITH book launch party.  The event was held at The Reach Gallery and upon entry, I spotted this:

Why, yes, those are four Andy Warhol pieces on the wall behind the podium that I snapped from a far away distance while I was testing out my camera with and without flash in preparation for the event.  As you might know, I have an inexplicable thing for Andy Warhol's art and it fills me with joy every time I have the opportunity to see new-to-me pieces.  So no matter what was going to happen for the rest of the afternoon, this trip was already awesome in my eyes.

It only got better and better, though!  Denise put together a very personalized program with a lot of variety and fun.  She had live Polynesian music and dancers from her dance troupe:

Her friend Jerrica Santos performed a song she wrote for Denise about LOSING FAITH:

In addition, Denise spoke about why she wrote LOSING FAITH, read a short except, did a Q&A, and performed her own dance.  I didn't get pics of the dance itself, but here's Denise in costume. Yes, with Andy Warhols behind her.

   

 
Overall, it was a wonderful event and I'm so glad I went!  Congrats, Denise!

Oh, and look!  Here's a completely gratuitous shot of FREEFALL, Andy Warhols, and me:

Blog: I have a Mockingjay T-shirt!

My husband's band played an acoustic set at the Hot Topic, which means he got a discount on clothes, which means I now have a Mockingjay T-shirt.

Because, really, when else can one wear YA merch that doesn't happen to be Harry Potter or Twilight movie stuff?

(Ignore the crazy look on my face.  I'm desperately tired, okay?)

Blog: Bringing the Awkward with a book's subject matter.

There was a time where people asking what my book was about would cause me The Anxiety.  I'd say things like, "It's about a boy who... is in a band... and, um, his best friend died.  But it isn't as depressing as all that!  Because he takes this class and, you know, meets this girl.  And ...stuff." 

And people would stare at me  all 0.0 and I'd think to myself that I should never be allowed to tell anyone what my book is about ever again because I kept botching the pitch.

After the book deal, my contract described the book as "A dark contemporary YA about a teenage boy's emotional freefall after his best friend dies of an alcohol overdose." 

So I started telling people that when they asked what it was about. 

And they'd stare at me like 0.0

That's when I realized that it wasn't just my poor delivery of the "pitch" that threw people; it was also the dead friend thing.  I actually had someone (at a writer's conference!!!!!!) remark all sarcastic, "Oh.  That sounds like an uplifting book." 

My response was, "Actually, yes. It is."

I feel like people want to be excited for me.  Because I wrote a book!  And it's getting published!  And that's so great!  Oh, but there's this dead kid.  And emotion.  And won't it be sad?  And how can anyone speak with enthusiasm for this story when there's this poor dead boy and all the grief?????

At another contemporary YA author's presentation this year, I observed that I am not alone in bringing the awkward.  S/he spoke of a coming book deal.  There was applause.  S/he gave a one-sentence pitch, and then waited for a few seconds in silence.  The audience seemed like they didn't know how to react.  They were super stoked for the deal, of course, as their earlier applause revealed.  But the subject matter was dark so it was like they didn't know if they should clap again because it would be irreverent for the topic at hand.

Maybe it would have been.  I don't know.  I was comforted, though, to see that I'm not the only author out there whose pitch can throw people for a loop.  That's what we get for being so character/voice-driven and having "issues" as our main hooks, I suppose.  :-)

Blog: #SPEAKLoudly

I once read something to the effect of “Victims have no choice in becoming victims, but after it happens, victims are the only people who can make the choice to become survivors.”  

The first part of that statement can be the hardest part for a person who has been sexually abused or assaulted to accept.  Many victims believe that what happened to them was their fault.  That if they’d done this and this and this, they could have prevented it.  Sometimes other people imply this by asking questions like, “Why were you in that place?  Dressed like that?  Acting like that?  Why didn't you fight back?"

Being able to recognize the truth—that the abuser is the one at fault—isn’t a realization that always comes easily.  A victim can suffer years of confusion, pain, and guilt before getting to that point.   

For some, the thing that turns things around might be watching an episode of Oprah and hearing perpetrators of child abuse/rape admit that there was absolutely nothing their victims could have done to stop them from hurting them, from taking what they wanted. 

It can be someone who knows of your experience, looking into your eyes and gently repeating “It wasn’t your fault” until it sinks in and you finally, one day, start to believe them. 

It can be reading a book like SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson that shows the horror of rape and the difficult aftermath through a victim’s eyes.  Delving into Melinda’s thoughts, feeling her pain—it can help.  It has helped.  So many lives have been changed by this book.  So many victims have read and related to Melinda’s story and then found the strength within themselves to become survivors. 

Once upon a time, I was a girl who needed a book like SPEAK.  I didn’t have access to it because it hadn’t been written yet.  

But it exists now.

Don’t let Welsey Scroggins silence this story.  Don’t let anyone keep this book out of the hands of the girls, boys, women, and men who need it. 

Speak up.  Speak loudly.