Building Castles on the Beach

This is in no way culturally timely (sorry for the misleading title), but I just finished watching the series Friday Night Lights . I know I'm late to the party. I nearly always am. But since my wife recently got to rant about the show Smash , I thought I might rant about something I've watched. I read a part of the original Friday Night Lights non-fiction book and enjoyed the feature film based on the book, but I wasn't about to invest in a weekly TV show about football. But I read a lot about stuff and the critics kept telling me it's a great show and that it's not really about football anyway. Or at least, there's very little football in a show about football. Then my wife watched it, the whole series while I was busy doing other stuff, and she kept telling me it's a great show and that it's not really about football anyway. So a few months ago I decided Friday Night Lights would be my new treadmill show. There are five seasons, only the fi...

My husband, Brent, has been preoccupied lately with the successes of a few (very few) writers who have self-published their novels. There is a feeling that by self-publishing they’ve somehow subverted the talent-driven system of agents and publishers. To that, I snort though my nose and cry “Hah!” (Blog owner's note: My wife says I've been preoccupied, but apparently she's been preoccupied herself since rewatching the entire season of Smash already this summer. I've offered her the platform of this blog to get some things off her chest.) I don’t believe in the talent-driven system. As far as I’m concerned it’s a myth that we share with others to promote hard work and persistence – it’s the Santa Claus of the creative world. Cute braids require long hair, not a mullet. I lost my faith in this particular Santa Claus when I was 7-years-old and I auditioned for a part in a community production of the Sound of Music . I loved that show. I knew all the songs. I...

NOTE: I wrote this post a couple of months ago in response to some Facebook mishegoss, yet I never posted it because it turned out differently than I had planned. Still. It's fun. Enjoy. Nothing about monocles in here. Uncool. In eighth grade, I was your typical jock, popular enough to win the student council elections to become president of Gold House. I wore Sperry Topsiders with no socks, pleated slacks, and Izod polo shirts with an upturned collar when I wasn't wearing a tie or an argyle sweater. I would have accessorized with a top hat and monocle as well, but it's really hard to see with glass in front of only one eye. Despite the supposed popularity of such a look in prep schools or Ivy League universities, public school eighth graders didn't wear ties if they could help it. It was the first time I realized I was differently minded. Fortunately, this particular peculiarity was socially acceptable; unfortunately, it was a gateway to a mo...

This week I've joined the Insecure Writer's Support Group through Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog. I have news. I got an email from an editor I talked to at a writer's conference almost nine months ago. I sent him the whole of Trendy Poseurs Go Home , which he requested because he wanted to read a YA novel that was completely devoid of the paranormal. So his recent email said he just started reading what I sent him, which is understandable because it takes a long time to get through submissions like this, but I had given up on that particular possibility long ago. He said he liked what he was reading and wanted to make sure it was still up for grabs before he read the rest. I immediately responded and said, yes, yes, by all means read on and enjoy. And how much do you want to pay me for it? Should I start planning my book tour? Who's going to play me and my twin in the Charlie Kaufman version for the screen? Sometimes my brain does that, it's true. But in real...