Betsy Phillips's Blog, page 532

Mulling

So, yeah, I got asked to do this cool thing that involves going on a trip and I've been mulling it over hard, because it would be very cool. At the same time, I got a note from a reader asking about PCOS and going on metformin and I tried to be honest with her about the benefits (which have been, for me, tremendous) and honest about the drawbacks (which are infrequent but substantial).

And I realized, I haven't actually been anywhere except Charleston since I've been on it. I don't travel for ...

Just Wondering about the Per Diems

Do you think, if one could track per diem expenses over the last three years, that she would find that legislators were cutting their per diem expenses at the same rate they were cutting the rest of the budget?

Or do we all have to suffer under massive cuts while they milk us for what they think they are worth?

If I were a state employee, I would have to spit every time a legislator walked by me, the taste in my mouth would be so rotten.

My GoodReads Give-Away

Since I have almost no money for marketing… okay… no money for marketing, I'm relying heavily on publicity. The main difference between marketing and publicity is that you pay for marketing and publicity happens when someone else spreads the word about your book. An ad in Time? Marketing. Front page of Time? Publicity.

Publicity has some costs associated with it–time, any frees you might give away, gas to get places–but those costs are very low compared to buying an ad.

So, over at GoodReads...

Speaking of the Butcher

When I told him I wanted a tiny cow, he threatened to make tiny hamburgers out of her. Too bad the tiny cow does not have horns or I'd totally lift her up so she could butt the Butcher like he deserves.

The Butcher Freaks Me Out

So, I'm doing an interview for the book and the last question is, basically, who would I cast in the movie version of my book. Well, really, there's only one recurring character–the Devil. So, I'm mulling over who could be the right mix of charismatic, sexy, and seem like he might, at any minute, beat the shit out of you for no reason, and also, not so well-known that you'd think too hard about his other roles.

I settled on Brian Austin Green.

So, I came home. I explained the question to the...

My Mom Charms Me

She has been sending me texts as she reads the book, complaining about how creepy it is and how I lied when I told her the stories in the first half weren't scary (I just said they weren't as scary as the ones in the second half).

I asked her how far she was and she wrote back that she reads very slowly.

I pressed her on it and she said "April 5th."

And I laughed, because the story on April 4th–"The House on Sigler Street"–scared the crap out of me a couple of times, too.

Also, she's not reading ...

Two Tennessee Things

1. Christine Kreyling has more on the Fisk decision. I think O'Leary is right–that we're basically choosing between the art and the school. I also think that Fisk's problems are so large that a sale of a stake in the art is just a stop-gap measure. One thing I think we non-Fisk folks have to consider is that, for Fisk, this is the heart of the discussion–is Fisk more valuable than art? Even if Fisk is more valuable than art, will it continue to exist as it is or at all? One of the things...

Though It's Totally Cool If You Want to Call Me 'The Gentlelady'

So, no, I'm not going to be running for State Senate, now or in the future. And I have addressed the substantive portions of Oatney's smarm over on Pith, which will be up tomorrow–the gist being that it doesn't matter what the insidery reasons are, Haslam is still giving a huge amount of support to Campfield.

But I'd like to take a second to address the insubstantial portions of Oatney's efforts to condescend to me so hard that I suffocate under the weight of it.

1. Oatney says, "Leftist...

The Nashvillest Brings News I Can't Quite Process

We lost Opryland for a mall. And now we might not have a mall at all.

My Trip to SchmubleyouPLN

It was awesome. Folks, I am a small-town girl. I wish I were more sophisticated, but I am not. Shoot, I moved to Nashville and I have never been happier living here than when I found a part of town with a cow pasture in my back yard. Things just don't happen to small-town girls. And so, when I walked in and I said, "I am supposed to meet with Nina Cardona," and the woman behind the desk said, "Betsy's here," like "Betsy" might just stroll into any place and people would know who she was, I...