WIP

On my mind...

- Note to anyone in the world who might have seen the previous post on religion and politics and social issues. There is another thing I should probably add to the list of "I must not be tempted to start talking about or all hell will break loose". That would be veal and the reasons why I think it should never be eaten.



Isn't that a cutey bear? Sweetie munchkins like that deserve at least two years of a good life before they are sent to the chopper. I'm just saying. I'm not a PETA gal, but there are certain things which can definitely make me steam. Treatment of animals is a huge thing.

And on that note I guess I should add I really wish that a friendly blogger I like would remove shock pictures from the side of her blog. Unlike me, she wants to end all slaughter and she keeps posting sick pictures and vids on the side.

It makes me sick to think about everything that still has to be done to ensure that somebody eating turkey dinner or cooking hot dogs for the fam has no 'what happened to this poor animal before they died' guilt. And good food should be guilt-free. Except, of course how it concerns your waistband. Which grr. Is quite another problem.

- CHECK THIS LINK OUT for query tips from Ginger Clark re/a query she received and a novel/newauthor she snagged. That definitely sounds like a book I might pick up at the library, if not at the store. It definitely does make sense for kids to get marriage counseling in school. I mean, when they are fourteen or fifteen, they are given baby dolls to carry around. Which still seems weird and uncomfortable when I see a teenager walking around with a big doll. I'm just saying. :O

One other thought - am I the only one who read Ginger's comments and suddenly wondered if YA is what they want to do? Only because when I was a teen, I did not talk like a teen. I mentioned to a friend or elsewhere that I didn't actually use 'contractions' so much until I started up with a writing group and somebody complained about the stiffness of the writing because I refused to use contractions.

I guess I'm just going to suck in my breath and hope that my 'writing voice' passes muster and gains the 'trust' of teenage readers.

- Thoughts on bullying - Stacia Kane did a post on a bullying, inspired by this facebook group and the tragedy of kids basically getting bullied to death and/or to the extent that they have mental or emotional issues for the rest of their life. Personally speaking, I never was bullied in school. Or if I was, I was blissfully unaware. Not saying I was anti-social, but I had a set group of friends and outside school hobbies that kept me preoccupied. If somebody didn't like me or talked behind/infront of my back, I pretty much didn't notice. <- Yes, I guess that means I was spacey. :)

My thought though when I read Stacia's post is that people out there would immediately equate a harsh crit on a story (something petty like that) with what happened to Phoebe Price. This bothered me a little bit, because I think there is absolutely no comparision. People might feel bad when they receive criticism instead of the expected praise, but it just means they can take their writing and go somewhere else and forever gripe about that ONE HORRIBLE CRITTER. There isn't the same kind of personal attack that a girl might receive every day in person, or even on one of those local facebook group thingies (where everyone at the school is on the same social network) and somebody posts something embarrassing and horrible for everyone to see.

For a lot of kids attending elementary, middle, or high school... there is a sense that they are trapped there and can't escape.

Although I never went through anything like that, I know how it feels when you have to go somewhere where you know you will be emotionally or verbally abused. But as an adult it is very easy to play avoidance games and go to places like that as little as possible. Or you do the whole 'donning my shell' when you go that place, and shake free of the shell when you can go home and don't have to go back for another three or four weeks (which is about how long I can get away with not going to this certain place).

When you are a hormonal/vulnerable teenager and stuck between the pressure to live up to the expectations of your parents and even your own desires for your 'school life' and the constant fears you will have to deal with more verbal, emotional, physical abuse day after day... it's not surprising that so many kids are having psychological problems and need to be (legally) medicated just to get through their young adult years.

So anyway, while I support people standing up and protecting their children and other people's kids from abuse, I don't think we should assume a 'victim mentality' when it concerns getting honest criticism.

- Spellcheck causes a bigger woe than ever <- Penguin Australia had a minor quality issue with a cookbook it published and sent forth into the book world.

The publishing company was forced to pulp and reprint 7000 copies of Pasta Bible last week after a recipe called for "salt and freshly ground black people" – instead of pepper – to be added to the spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto.

Yet another reason why I recently jumped on a soap box and issued forth a statement that we have to make sure our kids know how to spell and write without the aid of electronic devices.

Somebody whined and complained about how difficult it is to proof read cookbooks (I haven't the slightest idea why that would be more difficult than proof reading a 50,000+ novel, but m'kay).

That's about all that's on my mind today.

Besides writing in my car over lunch. <- Something I meant to do yesterday, but lost track of time here at work and missed lunch. Urgh.

OH MY LEAPING LIZARDLY GOSH!

The linked story asks the question about what you would put up with from your neighbors...

Robert Hodges counts nine clothes lines draped with women's undergarments hanging in his front yard. The Port Orange, Fla., man says his lawn also features two sand dunes, two rusting but working bicycles, wood panels from a dismantled deck and a toilet "for emergency use." His one-story, three-bedroom home, he said, is covered in bright orange, yellow and red paint that "attracts signals from my planet."

Hodges goes by the name "Prince Mongo" and claims to be a native of Zambovia, a planet, he says, that is nine light years from Earth.

There is a wild character for you. What if he's right?!!

:)