Joshua Unruh's Blog, page 9

Ode to a Czar

This is a poem that my boss, Aaron Pogue, just wrote for/to/at me. I'm the czar in question since I'm the Consortium's Czar of Marketing. Also, this was written with the aid of Mexican alcohol. Be ye warned.

PS: He's super proud of the fact that this is a "textbook Elizabethan sonnet." Take that, culture.

PPS: He wrote this in 19 minutes flat. Double take that, culture.

We want to see our artists paid. We do!

But we cannot accept the claims of some

That answering our fans with threats to sue

Is truly the best way to get it done.

And that's what copyright is, at its heart.

It's nothing but the threat of brutal law.

It's stupid and it's dangerous to Art.

Its obsolescence liberates us all.

But isn't it a necessary sin?

The lesser of two wrongs, to make it right?

Perhaps it was. Perhaps. But we begin

To see new hope against the artist's plight.

The internet has changed the marketplace,

And patronage puts forth a brave new face.

Copyright is Copy Wrong

Hello faithful readers! I'm sorry for my absence, but I've been plugging away at all manner of Consortium projects. Some of them even involve me writing things! Some of those writings are even fiction! For instance, be on the look out for a big summer push with four new fantasy novels, including my own Saga of the Myth Reaver: Downfall in August (most likely).

But the first novel of that push is Aaron Pogue's The Dragonprince's Heir. It's special for all kinds of reasons, but the biggest one, and the one I need for you all to get excited about, is discussed in the press release below. Don't worry, I wrote most of it so borrowing it for a blog post isn't plagiarism.

Please give it a read, please get excited about it (or ask me for more details about why you should care), and then contribute. This is the first of many big moves to close the gap between what we're doing now and what we've always wanted to do from the start.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DIGITAL REVOLUTION RENDERS COPYRIGHT OBSOLETE

OKLAHOMA CITY - Bestselling author Aaron Pogue is publishing the third book in his successful fantasy trilogy. Given the excellent performance of the other books in the series, this book, The Dragonprince’s Heir, will sell thousands of copies in its opening week and has the potential to make as much money as the first two books put together. None of that is what Pogue wants you to know about the book, though.

“I want to donate this book to artists everywhere,” Pogue insists. “The first day The Dragonprince’s Heir is available, I hope that it’s in the public domain. Just like the first two in the series.”

What makes a successful author, one who was only recently able to quit his day job as a technical writer, give away the ownership to an intellectual property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars?

For Pogue, it’s the belief that copyright is a concept that has outlived its usefulness. “Those rights could have made me a fortune. A single movie option could make my non-profit arts foundation a fortune. But we're passing up that opportunity in search of something better.”

Copyright is Copy Wrong

Pogue believes that copyright has become a tool for exploiting artists. He says it’s time for a cultural revolution where art is valued as art and not as a commodity, but not at the expense of artists making a living.

“Art gets its value from being shared. By keeping art hidden, copyright has become an artificial, ugly, and ineffective thing. It was necessary for a while, but the low production costs and easy market access of digital art changed everything. We have the opportunity to bring back patronage. A new patronage opens new opportunities for art.”

It isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Pogue is already bringing this “new patronage” about with his non-profit arts organization, the Consortium.

The Consortium Model

The Consortium is a non-profit organization comprised of schools and students that will produce art for the community, all while making a decent living. Pogue believes the key to this model is a reinvention of the patronage system that succeeded during all four centuries of the Renaissance.

For anyone unfamiliar with patronage, Pogue has a quick history lesson. “Back then, the nobility and the very rich kept artists on staff. The artists composed beautiful music, created breathtaking paintings, or wrote classic books which their patrons then gave to the world. Much of what we consider culture today was created under this model.”

“But we don’t need mega-corporations or multi-millionaire Medicis anymore,” Pogue says. “We just need art lovers to support an organization like the Consortium so that the Consortium can support artists.”

You can read a more detailed explanation of how Pogue will use the Consortium to bring the plan to fruition. But so far, the model is working. As the organization’s president, Pogue is the Consortium’s first paid artist and also the main source of financial support. The first two fantasy novels in his bestselling Dragonprince trilogy have sold thousands of copies and made a tidy profit. This profit has been invested back into the Consortium to launch the successful publishing arm of the organization, Consortium Books.

“Right now I have 30 dedicated and hard-working volunteer artists,” Pogue said. “They’ve made it possible for us to publish seven writers in addition to myself with over 100,000 book sales across 15 titles in the last year. That’s commitment, and it’s success. But it isn’t our ideal. Not yet.”

Kickstarting the Ideal

Pogue believes that if artists were paid a decent salary for making creative works initially, they wouldn’t have to worry so much about intellectual property law and copyright. That’s all he expected from Taming Fire and The Dragonswarm, the first two novels in his trilogy. Once each title made $30,000, he authorized the Consortium to release them into the public domain.

Even Pogue was surprised how quickly his plan flourished. “I thought it would probably take ten years for Taming Fire to earn enough that I could release it into the public domain. It didn't even take ten months.”

As of this month, Taming Fire and the The Dragonswarm are both dedicated to the public domain. The Consortium has released them under the Creative Commons No Rights Reserved license.

But Pogue wants more for the third novel. He wants it to be in the public domain from the first day it’s published. And he’s turning to cloudfunding website Kickstarter to make it happen. For the month leading up to publication, Pogue is using Kickstarter to raise the $30,000 necessary for the Consortium to secure the rights to his novel without a single copy sold.

“This is an opportunity to make a statement, to participate in something new, and to show support for an idea that could change the world,” Pogue says. But he doesn’t want any confusion about what this fundraiser is all about. “I'm not asking you to contribute to the publication of a single book. I'm asking you to help make that book, that piece of art, belong to the world. Free and clear.”

How To Become a Part of the Revolution

Whether you are an art lover or simply feel copyright is no longer a useful system, the Consortium would appreciate your help. The easiest way to show your support is by purchasing Consortium art. The publishing arm is funding the organization through published works. The Consortium has both full length novels and short stories, both individually and in collections.

But the best way to support this vision of the future is by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign that will immediately purchase the rights to The Dragonprince’s Heir. (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/consortiumokc/help-release-the-dragonprinces-heir) Please visit that link for more details on the organization, to look over the contribution rewards, and, finally, to contribute to this revolutionary new idea.

###

For more information or to schedule an interview with Aaron Pogue, please contact Joshua Unruh at Joshua.unruh@consortiumokc.com

THE MAKING OF ‘THE STARS MY REDEMPTION’ PT. 3

You're in for a special treat today, blog-goers. A fellow Kindle All-Star and often frantic Twitter-mate, Tony Healey, aka the Fringe Scientist, has a new novel coming out. It's a science fiction piece that promises to be a great read. Tony's running around a few blogs talking about how the book came to be, and I was lucky enough to host Part 3. Enjoy!

Guest Post by Tony Healey

The Sci-Fi Adventure Novel ‘The Stars My Redemption’ is released June 1st in the Kindle Store.

At times in The Stars My Redemption there is a flashback within a flashback. Writing the book, I found it hard in deciding how to move from one flashback to another. On this one, I turned to Stephen King.

In ‘IT’, King uses the following technique to transition from one time to another.

(1985)

and then the writer transitioned from one time period to another. He picked up his pen and--

(1969)

--writes a cheque.

You see? It’s like in a movie, when someone thinks back to something that happened in the past. Sometimes the screens goes all wobbly, but in most modern films we just get a hard, clean cut to the past. I think that’s the best way. And although I know this device might throw a few readers off, I’m confident that most will get it. Look, if it worked for King in one of his most successful novels, I’m sure it will work for The Stars My Redemption.

I have used the flashbacks in the novel to show you what Abe has been upto. They give you a perspective on the character you wouldn’t have if the flashbacks weren’t present. And come the ending of the book, you will see how important those flashbacks really were. They are part of his arc as a character.

The quote from ‘Tiger’ by William Blake that appears at the beginning of the novel is a direct reference to the original title of The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. He was going to call the novel ‘Tiger! Tiger!’ and I almost considered the same at one point. But I thought it enough to include the quote only.

‘Tiger, Tiger,

Burning bright,

In the forests,

Of the night’

There are nods to Star Trek, Star Wars and other shows throughout the novel. There are also members of the Kindle All-Stars who have been written in. I couldn’t include everyone however, which is a shame. I’d have liked to have worked in all 30 members somehow. None of this was intentional, it just happened as I was writing.

When I thought about the character of Abe himself, I pictured a bald man with a white eye and a robotic arm that had seen more than his fair share of danger. I envisioned him covered in scars deep as tree bark and old tattoos from all four corners of the galaxy. A man who has literally been chewed to bits by the jaws of life. I thought that the uglier I made him outside, the more striking it would be to find that he still had a heart inside. As for his speech? He talks like some people I know or have come across. He’s a common man, and I wanted him to have that common flavour when he spoke.

I hope that readers enjoy The Stars My Redemption, and that they want more. I can’t say that there will be a sequel to the book. It’s a stand-alone novel in many ways. But I’ve left myself plenty of room for another novel set in the same universe, so maybe readers will be seeing more. As for Abe, I can tell you that there will be individual short stories featuring him. I might even write a prequel. He has a lot of history, and there are many adventures that are yet to be revealed. How did he become the most wanted man in the galaxy? I think he did something very very bad, and I think I have an idea what that might have been.

But you’ll have to wait to find out. My next novel is a thriller called ‘Adolf Hitler Must Die’. At the time of this writing I am halfway through it. I hope to publish it August 2012, all going well. I also have a collection of four horror stories I’m putting together called ‘At The Edge of Sleep’. And for years I’ve been filling notebooks with ideas for a Fantasy Series. Well, hopefully I’ll get the time this year to work on that too.

But after that all? Maybe I’ll look to the stars again. See what’s going on.

PART 1 appeared 05/25 at www.apiarysociety.com

PART 2 appeared 05/26 at www.davidhulegaard.com

Having Chosen to Oppose His Shield, I Yield

A long, LONG time ago, I complained that the Captain America movie was doing it wrong based on trailers and without having seen it. I come before you, lo these many months later and just before the Avengers movie drops, to recant...sorta.

Why am I taking an entire blog post to say I was wrong? Because once I think an opinion through, I rarely change it. Only time and eroding the original core thesis can typically change my mind. When I do change my mind, it only feels right to point it out.

I'll sum up my previous post stating my usual thesis thusly: "Superhero origins are really boring if used for anything other than a quick (emphasis on quick) vehicle to get them into costume and punching bad guys in garish costumes." I stand by this with a few exceptions, Captain America not being one of them.

But this movie managed to keep me engaged even through the relentlessly slow origin build-up. And, my friends, it is relentlessly slow. However, it is never, ever boring.

I think that's the key. Probably the same with Batman Begins and the opposite with Green Lantern. BB absolutely belabors every little damn thing about the Nolan Batman's painful and small origin, but it's so fraught with all the emotions that we're never bored while we wait for the cape and cowl to show up.

Similarly, in Captain America everything is absolutely fraught with idealism that we're able to overlook how damn long it takes for the guy to punch super-Nazis.

In Green Lantern, however, we have a painfully long amount of time where Hal Jordan is a douche followed by a painfully long amount of time learning how to make a gun with his magic wish-ring while on Planet CGI. Nothing is fraught here.

Just to show this is not a new problem, Superman The Motion Picture suffers from a lot (45 MINUTES!) of Planet NobodyCares and living on the NobodyCares farm before he gets in the costume. Interestingly, very similar problems to GL just in a different order.

Anyway, the bottom line is, I was wrongish. You can, with the right origin, the right take, and the right attention to craft make even the most boring, three-line origin story into compelling cinema.

I still wish they'd knock it off, though.

Drop the Policymic

Things may be a bit sparse here over the next few weeks as I've joined a politics and culture/New Media bootcamp at Policymic.

As part of the assignments and learning process, I have to write a couple articles a week on something trending, hot, and/or interesting. I'm afraid that'll soak up most of my blogging energy. Maybe not all, but we'll have to see what strikes my fancy. I do have some short stories and novels that need writing too, you know?!

At any rate, I still have things for you to read! And you help my "grade" if you go visit them, "mic" them, tweet them, and FB them. Now only do that stuff if you really like the article, not just if you like me.

Without further adieu, here are Call of Duty and AMC's Walking Dead Show Americans Are Obsessed With the Apocalypse and James Bond 'Skyfall' Will See 007 Drink Heineken Instead of Martinis.

You'll be shocked to note I went with the (pop) cultural stories. And you will be doubly shocked to discover I have opinions about them.

Lessons From The Dice Bag – Something They Can’t Ignore

Earlier this week, you heard about an important lesson I learned from the Smallville roleplaying game about relationship-driven drama and the addition of weird elements. Today, I'm excited to talk about a strange, independently published game called Dogs in the Vineyard. The lesson I learned here seems like it should be obvious, and yet just moving it from the background to the foreground of my mind has made a big difference in my writing.

Dogs in the Vineyard

So the premise of Dogs is kinda strange, but it isn't really germane to this post. I'll just put the Wikipedia link right here and you can go read more about it or not as you like. It's a pretty great game, though.

The fascinating part for the purposes of this blog post is the conflict mechanic and what it requires from the players. A pool of dice are rolled and then the conflict takes turns in a manner similar to a poker hand.

The first person to make a move sets the number, which must be met or beaten in as few dice as possible from the opponent's pool. This is called a See. The opponent then declares what she does by pushing two dice forward to set a new target number. This is called a Raise.

So an argument might consist of Point from Player A (first play), Response from Player B (See), Counterpoint from Player B (Raise), Response from Player A (See), Counterpoint from Player A (Raise), etc. The number of dice you See with decides if you take Fallout from the altercation. That part isn't important for this post, but it's how you take "damage" in the game.

The bit that impacted my writing was what the book said about Raises. Whatever the Raise is on the dice (and the rules cover everything from a conversation up to a gunfight with the same mechanic), in the fiction, it has to be something the other person cannot ignore.

Like comparing his mother to a dog of the female persuasion.

Or a public accusation of wrongdoing.

Or getting manhandled out a door.

Or a knife shoved in your gut.

Or a gun pointed in your face.

Have you ever read a book or story where two characters are having a conversation and nothing is really happening in it? Like you know from the narrative that there's a conflict underneath the chatter, only you totally can't see that from what's being said? They have to be arguing or throwing plates or screaming, but the back-and-forth of the conversation certainly isn't bringing the conflict to the fore.

Sometimes the characters are even reacting as though they're getting angry or going on the defensive, but you honestly can't tell why that is from the words used. I see this a lot, and it boggles my mind because nobody would write a fistfight or a shootout this way. Yet it happens to dialogue all the time.

Then I ran into Dogs. The conflict was supposed to be driving the boring conversation, but each character kept saying things the other side could ignore. Both sides kept talking, but the words weren't driving or pointing toward the conflict, and we, the readers, therefore don't understand why anything that's happening is happening. Or even why we should care.

Keep the Dogs advice about Seeing in mind whenever you're writing anything from a discussion on up to fullscale warfare and watch the sparks fly. Go back through any scene that's meant to have conflict, especially the talky ones, and make sure that each side is saying things the other cannot ignore. Then make damn sure the opposing character isn't ignoring it.

You can trust me when I say this because I've seen it a hundred times at the gaming table: If you run a scene like this, then the conflict can still be under the surface but the bubbles boiling to the top will make sure nobody forgets it's down there.

And that's one helluva lesson from the dice bag!

Pimpin’ Addendum

As a further discussion of my previous post, I submit this piece from The Oatmeal. I don't want to steal anything, so just click through and check it out.

This was sent to me in a passive/aggressive manner even though I don't do this kind of thing, or at least very, very rarely. So that'll show you how even one request for a Like or a ReTweet can change the way people see you depending on their threshold.

Lessons From The Dice Bag – Relationships and the Weird

I've mentioned in previous posts that I lurve tabletop roleplaying games. I tend to wind up being the gamemaster rather than a regular player. For those not in the know, the gamemaster plays the world, everyone in the world, arbitrates rules, maintains the social contract, herds the cats that are scheduling three or four hours of time for a group of 3-5 adults, and generally tries to make everything entertaining.

That's a lot of work! But it often leads to insights into writing fiction without the collaboration of my players. This happened enough that I decided to create a new feature where I share these Lessons From The Dice Bag. Here's my first example, a lesson I learned recently from Smallville.

Smallville

Let's get two things out of the way right quick. They are important for any discussion of the Smallville RPG. First, that show was godawful. That word means so awful even God, who pronounced all the Cosmos to be good, looked at it and was like, "No...just no."

Second, the roleplaying game is BRILLIANT.

Okay, with that established, we can move on. You may have noticed, I like my stories to have an element of weirdness. Magic, superpowers, aliens, monsters, Destiny, nosy reporters, whatever. Smallville the show had all these things (and yet it was still terrible...the mind wobbles). Smallville the game gives you all the tools to have those things.

But, and this is key, weird stuff didn't drive the conflict of the show, relationships did. Who couldn't tell the truth to who else because they were secretly an alien? Who secretly loved who? Who was a costumed vigilante in their spare time? Who was secretly spying on her friends "for their own good?" And, above all, how did this make everyone FEEL?

With all that going on, you might think the weird stuff was just set dressing for the relationships. But here's the lesson I learned from the game: In relationship-driven drama, the action and weird stuff isn't set dressing so much as it's a magnifying glass thrown on the relationship drama.

You want to do a Very Special Episode about eating disorders? Then a fat girl eats nothing but vegetables that have grown in Kryptonite soil until she first gets thin and then has to eat other people for their fat.

You want to see how a character would react to another character's declaration of love and adoration? Have a shapeshifter show up and make the declaration.

You want your whiny-ass main character to see that maybe having superpowers is actually really awesome and that saving people is a pretty great way to spend your time even if you don't get to play football in the meantime? Have a freak lightning storm steal his powers and give them to some less responsible kid.

Weird stuff is a magnifying glass that makes the relationship problems bigger (sorta like Christmas is for newlyweds). No! Wait! It's more like an exotic spice added to a dish. The spice makes the dish more interesting than it was on its own and makes the interplay of flavors already there more pronounced and interesting.

I don't do a lot of relationship-driven drama, but I now feel utterly prepared to do one. It will have weird things going on, but they won't just be floating around in the background being weird. Neither will they become the whole point and take over the story. Instead, they will be used as the spice, as the magnifying glass that focuses heat on an already volatile situation.

Come back next time and I'll tell you a VERY important lesson I learned from an oddball game called Dogs in the Vineyard.

Julie Lindsey’s Death by Chocolate Blogstravaganza!

Today I have the distinct pleasure of sharing a guest post with you by one of my very favorite e-quaintences. I somehow discovered Julie on Twitter and found her to be hilarious, honest, and, well, let's say prolific in her volume of tweets. As an avid reader of Young Adult fiction, she was willing to share her blog space with me when I published TEEN Agents and I'm very happy to be able to do the same for her Death by Chocolate. I sympathize with this post deeply and am even thinking of breaking my own moratorium on romance reading to give DbC a thorough going-over. Now, here's Julie.

Thank you so much Joshua for letting me stop by today as part of my Death by Chocolate blog tour!  Writing for publication is a huge dream of mine and I hope this is just the beginning. Having incredible reader/writer/blogger friends like you is the icing on my awesome-cake LOL and I am right at home! The journey this far has already been major nuts. I have three small Lindseys to thank for much of that. I thought I’d give you a peek into my life as one parent reader/writer/blogger to another so you’ll know you’re not alone if you are also covered in Polly Pockets and Play-Doh when you stand up from a long day of writing.

Writing with Children is A Wild & Crazy Ride!

It all started three years ago while I was up all night nursing a cranky newborn. You see, Little Miss came along and swiped my office. She now has a pink princess castle room filled with toys, and I have a laptop on the couch. Unfair, maybe. Parenthood? Totally. I used to write for sanity sake and log the ins and outs of my kids’ lives for posterity. Then I caught a movie on late one night. I loved it. I was captivated. When my husband told me he thought it was a book, I couldn’t wait to read it.

The book did not disappoint. After that, my life changed completely. I wanted more than anything to write a story that would affect other readers the way my favorite authors have affected me. Suddenly, writing snippets didn’t suit me anymore. I wanted to impact someone too. I want this very much. To reach out and put a smile on a stranger’s face is my new goal and where I have focused all my extra energy.

My kids are pretty used to seeing my body on the couch with a laptop blocking my head. This is our life. They see me working toward an impossible goal with no amount of formal education on the topic. I hope they learn to reach for the starts. They hear me rant over cruel and sometimes stooped rejections. I hope they learn not to give up. Believe in themselves and Just Keep GOING. We’ll see. That’s the long haul. In the here and now, my house is a mess, the laundry is always wrinkled and we eat more things form the freezer than the garden sometimes. I’m hoping they won’t remember that part. I hope they remember I worked hard and when I had time, I spent it on them, not ironing. We’ll see.

I’ve also taught them to laugh, and not take themselves too seriously. We’ve gone out for the day only to stop at Chucky Cheese for dinner. I kick off my shoes to join them in the tunnels and see I’ve been wearing two different shoes all day. They’ve seen me get into the passenger side when there are no other adults with us, and I have to get out and go around to the right door. I’ve set packages down at the mall to strap kids inside, then driven over the packages on my way out of the spot. *hangs head*

Above all else, the writer life has taught me to go with it. I roll with whatever comes my way and have learned to be thankful for the blessings that come together so I can be in this chaos. My life is blessed. Reader/Writer/Blogger/Mommy is a super extra crazy job description, but I know I’m way more fun because of it.

If you are in need of a smile, I hope my new book will do the trick. Death by Chocolate is silliness wrapped in OMG. It puts life in perspective. I mean, at least I’ve never accidentally killed anybody!

Death by Chocolate

Ruby Russell has reached her limit. When she discovers her hipster husband has a dirty little secret, she whips him up a Viagra-infused-chocolate mousse punishment, but in the morning, her husband's a stiff. Armed with a lifetime of crime show reruns and Arsenic and Old Lace on DVD, Ruby and her best friend Charlotte try to lay low until after Ruby's son's wedding, but a nosy therapist, meddling minister and local news reporter are making it very difficult to get away with murder.

About Julie:

I am a mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus. Most days you'll find me online, amped up on caffeine & wielding a book.

You can find my blogging about the writer life at Musings from the Slush Pile

Tweeting my crazy at @JulieALindsey

Reading to soothe my obsession on GoodReads

And other books by me on Amazon

Julie Lindsey's Death by Chocolate Blogstravaganza!

Today I have the distinct pleasure of sharing a guest post with you by one of my very favorite e-quaintences. I somehow discovered Julie on Twitter and found her to be hilarious, honest, and, well, let's say prolific in her volume of tweets. As an avid reader of Young Adult fiction, she was willing to share her blog space with me when I published TEEN Agents and I'm very happy to be able to do the same for her Death by Chocolate. I sympathize with this post deeply and am even thinking of breaking my own moratorium on romance reading to give DbC a thorough going-over. Now, here's Julie.

Thank you so much Joshua for letting me stop by today as part of my Death by Chocolate blog tour!  Writing for publication is a huge dream of mine and I hope this is just the beginning. Having incredible reader/writer/blogger friends like you is the icing on my awesome-cake LOL and I am right at home! The journey this far has already been major nuts. I have three small Lindseys to thank for much of that. I thought I'd give you a peek into my life as one parent reader/writer/blogger to another so you'll know you're not alone if you are also covered in Polly Pockets and Play-Doh when you stand up from a long day of writing.

Writing with Children is A Wild & Crazy Ride!

It all started three years ago while I was up all night nursing a cranky newborn. You see, Little Miss came along and swiped my office. She now has a pink princess castle room filled with toys, and I have a laptop on the couch. Unfair, maybe. Parenthood? Totally. I used to write for sanity sake and log the ins and outs of my kids' lives for posterity. Then I caught a movie on late one night. I loved it. I was captivated. When my husband told me he thought it was a book, I couldn't wait to read it.

The book did not disappoint. After that, my life changed completely. I wanted more than anything to write a story that would affect other readers the way my favorite authors have affected me. Suddenly, writing snippets didn't suit me anymore. I wanted to impact someone too. I want this very much. To reach out and put a smile on a stranger's face is my new goal and where I have focused all my extra energy.

My kids are pretty used to seeing my body on the couch with a laptop blocking my head. This is our life. They see me working toward an impossible goal with no amount of formal education on the topic. I hope they learn to reach for the starts. They hear me rant over cruel and sometimes stooped rejections. I hope they learn not to give up. Believe in themselves and Just Keep GOING. We'll see. That's the long haul. In the here and now, my house is a mess, the laundry is always wrinkled and we eat more things form the freezer than the garden sometimes. I'm hoping they won't remember that part. I hope they remember I worked hard and when I had time, I spent it on them, not ironing. We'll see.

I've also taught them to laugh, and not take themselves too seriously. We've gone out for the day only to stop at Chucky Cheese for dinner. I kick off my shoes to join them in the tunnels and see I've been wearing two different shoes all day. They've seen me get into the passenger side when there are no other adults with us, and I have to get out and go around to the right door. I've set packages down at the mall to strap kids inside, then driven over the packages on my way out of the spot. *hangs head*

Above all else, the writer life has taught me to go with it. I roll with whatever comes my way and have learned to be thankful for the blessings that come together so I can be in this chaos. My life is blessed. Reader/Writer/Blogger/Mommy is a super extra crazy job description, but I know I'm way more fun because of it.

If you are in need of a smile, I hope my new book will do the trick. Death by Chocolate is silliness wrapped in OMG. It puts life in perspective. I mean, at least I've never accidentally killed anybody!

Death by Chocolate

Ruby Russell has reached her limit. When she discovers her hipster husband has a dirty little secret, she whips him up a Viagra-infused-chocolate mousse punishment, but in the morning, her husband's a stiff. Armed with a lifetime of crime show reruns and Arsenic and Old Lace on DVD, Ruby and her best friend Charlotte try to lay low until after Ruby's son's wedding, but a nosy therapist, meddling minister and local news reporter are making it very difficult to get away with murder.

About Julie:

I am a mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus. Most days you'll find me online, amped up on caffeine & wielding a book.

You can find my blogging about the writer life at Musings from the Slush Pile

Tweeting my crazy at @JulieALindsey

Reading to soothe my obsession on GoodReads

And other books by me on Amazon