Jessica Scott's Blog, page 25
August 28, 2012
The Official Excerpt from UNTIL THERE WAS YOU
It’s here! It’s finally here! Check out the offical excerpt from UNTIL THERE WAS YOU.
And remember to enter the the UNTIL THERE WAS YOU PREORDER SWEEPSTAKES all throughout September until Oct 7th!
ENTER TO WIN THE GRAND PRIZE OF A KINDLE FIRE OR A NOOK COLOR!
HOW TO ENTER:
To enter the contest, forward your email receipt of purchase of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU to “contest@jessicascott.net” . Entries must be received by OCTOBER 7, 11:59pm EST.
UNTIL THERE WAS YOU
He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .
A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.
Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye.
He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.
UNTIL THERE WAS YOU by Jessica Scott, Excerpt
You can preorder UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold!
August 25, 2012
How to Save a Hamster & Not Scar Your Kids For LIfe
Fluffy is one sadistic little bastard. I love the stupid rodent. You wouldn’t think a hamster has personality but Fluffy, well you’ve been reading the blog. You know what hamster has put me through.
Last night around 1130, I was putting my computer away and getting ready for bed when something caught my eye.
Fluffy was sleeping.
Fluffy does not sleep at night. She’s up, snorting hamster pcp and plotting her next escape adventure or luring delicate Hammy into perdition.
Not only was Fluffy sleeping, she was sleeping funny. The kind of legs up and mouth open that looked like she’d crashed after an alcohol fueled binge drinking episode.
I poked her. She didn’t move. I picked her up. She was limp.
Holy shit, Fluffy died.
Or at least I thought she had. Then her whiskers moved a little bit.
And I go into combat life saving mode. Fluffy was running around all day. Maybe she was really hungry. So I did what any good hamster parent did: I asked Dr Google.
Dr Google suggested that Fluffy had gone into hibernation. I remembered that the kids said the house was really cold yesterday when they’d gotten home.
How the hell do you wake a hamster up from hibernation? Because if they don’t get woken up to stay hydrated, they could due.
First, I go her wrapped in a towel and then in a heating pad on high. Hamsters need to be warm to come out of hibernation. Then I mixed up water and sugar because hey, gatorade is the stuff athletes needed to recharge their electrolytes after a competition and Fluffy is one seasoned hamster athlete.
Then I read that you should give them honey and water. Well, I’d been just pouring the water and sugar into her mouth. I looked around for one of those medicine dropped you used to use when your kids were babies.
Nothing.
So I did what any parent who doesn’t want to explain a dead rodent does: I went to Walmart at midnight. Yeah, I did it. So what?
I spent the next hour and half alternating between sticking the little tube in Fluffy’s mouth and rubbing her vigorously, trying to get her to wake up.
And when she finally came out of, lord God in heaven was she pissed. Jumping and twitching and having zero muscle control like a newborn kitten. I’ve never seen a hamster jump three feet but I’d swear she did.
It was only when she started exploring that I felt safe enough to put her in her cage and go to bed.
First thing this morning, I checked on Fluffy. I’m happy to report that Fluffy was curled up, gnawing on a carrot this morning with her eyes half open like she’d been up half the night on a bender.
Probably plotting her next escape.
Kind of how I look right now, typing this, sucking on my coffee like it’s actually going to do something.
August 24, 2012
Thoughts on Justice & Good Soldiers
I put a soldier in jail today. I have no regrets about pressing charges. As an officer and as a company commander, my duty is to ensure good order and discipline in my formation. And while I”m not going to go into details about the case, I will say that I have no issues casting judgement on this issue.
But what upset me today – in addition to the court martial – was the moral equivocation I witnessed. And it got me thinking about larger issues in our society. Issues where one side says this is unequivocally wrong and perhaps, the other side agrees.
I don’t think there are many issues in which almost everyone agrees. And I’m not going to dance in the grey area of women’s rights tonight. I’m not going to talk about crime and punishment or officers’ failure to understand their duties and obligations. I’m not going to talk about being a good soldier and what that entails. All of those things are posts for another time.
In Michael Sandel’s JUSTICE, he talks about categorical imperatives. What are those things that can be applied universally across all situations? How do you decide who lives and who dies in a hypothetical numbers game? As a company commander and as an officer, I think it was a key piece of professional development because it got me thinking about how and why I make the decisions that I do. It started me really thinking about the foundations of what is right and what is wrong.
But today, I watched people make decisions about the adjudication of a case and I don’t understand them. I cannot fathom standing up and defending this soldier for what he did. He could be a Medal of Honor recipient and I would not stand up and defend him. What I can’t understand for the life of me is how someone can look at this person – knowing what he did – and say they were a good soldier. I understand that the defense must defend their client. It’s imperative to our justice system that we try even those who admit guilt fairly and that involves a fair trial.
The defense argued that three combat tours made this person redeemable. The defense argued that he accepted responsibility for his actions and that the judge should be lenient.
I suppose mercy is the strength of a leader. But I can’t find it in my heart to be merciful for this particular crime. I can’t find it in my heart to say its okay, just serve your time and then you can be rehabilitated. There are some crimes which are not forgivable. There are some things that good soldiers simply do not do.
As a person of faith, I worry about the fact that I have no mercy in me for this person. I felt no qualms about moving forward with the court martial. I felt no sympathy as he was placed in shackles.
What does that say about me? And why is it so troubling to me that justice was served and yet, I am so deeply disturbed by it?
Rambling Thoughts on Personal Hygiene
Back in Officer Candidate School, there was a big dust up about females taking showers in the field. Mind you, we didn’t have unlimited access to Lieutenant Google so the barracks lawyers were in full effect. The whole thing surrounded whether or not females were required to have a shower every 3 days or not when in a training environment.
Long story short, we ended up going out to land nav at the ass crack of dawn on Monday morning and coming back in on Thursday afternoon (mind you this was July at Fort Benning at the hottest summer on record to that point). And one of my *cough* strongest memories from OCS was how bad that bus smelled when we all piled on. But any soldier who has been in the army for more than a day knows how to apply deodorant to strategic places as well as the proper application of baby wipes and clean underwear.
The short version of that is that no, the females were not brought in for showers while the males stayed in the field and marinated in the funk of their own ballsweat (I think I made that word up). We all stunk equally.
Fast forward a few years and now we’ve got women down in the maneuver battalions. Where previously, male infantrymen and armor guys were kept segregated from us alien females until they moved up to a brigade staff or higher and were presumably older and more mature, now women have invaded the sanctum of the all male maneuver unit.
Rumblings from afar (and by that I mean rumors) as some units get ready to go to their field exercises is that some of the CSMs and BN CDRs are talking about not bringing the troopers in to shower. They’re (and by this I mean females) with a maneuver unit, the argument goes, they can suck it up just like the rest of the knuckle draggers. The unspoken hope there is that life will be so miserable that they’ll run crying to the powers that be and they’ll get taken out of the maneuver units and thus restoring the all male sanctum.
Here’s the thing. A sleeping bag and a canteen cup and wash cloth can go a long way in keeping the smell of fish tacos from invading the TOC. And gentlemen, let me be the first to assure you that no, you cannot go two weeks without a shower. When I can smell your ass from six feet away, you’re not macho and hoah, you’re nasty. Maybe you enjoy reveling in your own filth and if you do, that’s fine. But that’s really no reason to make everyone suffer when you’re on Fort Hood and hygiene runs do a lot for the moral of the overall force.
But ladies, if you do find yourself in this situation, rest assured that you can maintain proper hygiene no matter how much of an ass hat you find yourself working for. Just keep the body spray to a minimum because there is nothing worse than funky ass stench covered by perfume.
August 23, 2012
The Shame of Honey Boo Boo
I saw a stunning example of soulless humanity last night. I am ashamed to be part of the culture that would do something so mean and hurtful and downright cruel.
My husband turned on the train wreck of a show called Honey Boo Boo. It’s another one of those already horrific shows that show parents pimping their daughters out to make them beauty pageant stars.
Except that this little girl’s parents are so country, they need a translator scroll over their words. And of course the producers of this show decide to highlight what stunningly great parents they are for feeding their six year old daughter a McDonalds Frappe – you know the ones with caffeine. That stuff you’re really not supposed to give children.
But the worst moment of the five minutes I watched came as the heartless camera man showed the little kid’s face falling, little by little as she realized that she did not win.
It was sad. It was truly depressing. And it was cruel.
Congratulations TLC. You have found the epitome of every bad caricature of people from the South and amplified it times ten. You should be ashamed of yourself for exploiting that child and her parents. I have to blame the parents, too because they’re at least adults capable of understanding what their doing. But what all of them are doing to that little girl?
It’s disgusting. And I will never watch anything on the TLC again.
Of course, I’m certain you are shamed…all the way to the bank.
August 22, 2012
Cover Reveal: TO IRAQ AND BACK
So I’ve been working behind the scenes to get the first book from my year in Iraq ready to go. Now this cover isn’t final BUT I think it’s pretty darn close and I’m thrilled with how it turned out.
There’s a story behind it too. The background picture is a photograph I took at the National Training Center in 2008 during our train up for Iraq. The helmet is my ACH from Iraq and the bunny is my daughters. I thought it was kind of neat to use their bunny.
So what do you think? 
August 21, 2012
UNTIL THERE WAS YOU MASTER EVENTS LIST
IN the army we have something called the MEL: the Master Events List for an exercise. So in keeping with the finest traditions of neurotic authors everywhere, here is the UNTIL THERE WAS YOU MEL. Check back often because it changes daily (not saying I”m going to be able to update it daily, just that it changes daily).
Remember to enter the UNTIL THERE WAS YOU PREORDER SWEEPSTAKES all throughout September until Oct 7th!
Preorder today!
UNTIL THERE WAS YOU PREORDER SWEEPSTAKES
ENTER TO WIN THE GRAND PRIZE OF A KINDLE FIRE OR A NOOK COLOR!
HOW TO ENTER:
To enter the contest, forward your email receipt of purchase of UNTIL THERE WAS YOU to “contest@jessicascott.net” . Entries must be received by OCTOBER 7, 11:59pm EST or enter using one of the means posted on the rafflecopter widget.
UNTIL THERE WAS YOU
He plays by the rules, she’s not afraid to break them. Now these two strong-willed army captains will prove that opposites attract . . .
A by-the-book captain with a West Point background, Captain Evan Loehr refuses to mix business with pleasure—except for an unguarded instance years ago when he succumbed to the deep sensuality of redheaded beauty Claire Montoya. From that moment on, though, Evan has been at odds with her, through two deployments to Iraq and back again. But when he is asked to train a team prepping for combat alongside Claire, battle-worn Evan is in for the fight of his life.
Strong, gutsy, and loyal, Captain Claire Montoya has worked hard to earn the rank on her chest. In Evan, Claire sees a rigid officer who puts the rules before everything else—including his people. When the mission forces them together, Claire soon discovers that there is more to Evan than meets the eye.
He’s more than the rank on his chest; he’s a man with dark secrets and deep longings. For all their differences, Evan and Claire share two crucial passions: their country and each other.
You can preorder UNTIL THERE WAS YOU at these ebookstores or wherever ebooks are sold!
B & N | Amazon | Powell’siBookstore
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On Watching Harry Potter With My Spouse
I love my husband. We have a shared nerd factor of loving Star Wars and Star Trek. We both like action movies and he’ll even go to romantic comedies with me providing they’re actually funny.
But there are lines this man will not cross. He never read the Harry Potter books, telling me they’re kids books (mind you he read the Hunger Games but that is an entirely different blog post). And yet, he’s watched all the movies while he was deployed this last time.
So two nights ago, he starts the Deathly Hallows Pt 1. And as I’ve just started reading the Harry Potter books to my kiddos, at least the first book and a half, some of this is fresh in my mind.
Then he starts asking questions. Below is a half ditch effort at recording the running dialog between us while watching this movie.
DH: Who is the old guy.
ME: That’s Dumbledore.
DH: Who is he?
ME:He’s the headmaster at Hogwarts.
DH: Is that higher ranking than the Sherriff of Nottingham?
ME: Not answering that. Be quiet. I’m trying to watch the movie.
DH: Spoiler alert: they all die.
ME: No they don’t.
Break to go fuss with the kids. A short while later.
ME: Did they find any more of the horcruxes
DH: (looking at me in disbelief) I don’t even know what that is.
ME: it’s the things that have Voldemort’s soul.
DH: Don’t ever tell anyone you know all this stuff.
ME: shhh. I’m trying to watch the movie. Will you quit fast forwarding it.
DH: it’s the boring parts.
ME: No it’s not. You’re killing the story arc for me.
DH: you’re taking this writer thing too far.
ME: shh.
We won’t go into the comments about him showing me his wand or explaining the whole wand chooses the owner comments he made after I explained to him what Olivander’s was. It’s not PG 13 and let’s leave it at that.
August 20, 2012
Protecting My Emotional Energy
No this isn’t some post about new age hippy religion. Okay well maybe it’s a little new agey but bear with me for a little bit.
When I was in 10th grade there was a girl on the basketball team who everyone liked. She was the popular kid who was good at sports and blah blah blah. Well, me being the insecure fat kid who rode the bench, I wanted her to like me. I spent an inordinate amount of time kissing ass and trying to fit in and basically trying to be someone else. I had a hard time fitting in because well, my mouth always engaged before my brain does and while I like to think I’ve gotten a teeny bit better as I’ve gotten older, those of you who know me best know this is not really the case. But anyway. One day I was being a dork as usual and she made a comment to the effect of “I don’t know why I try so hard to be nice to you.”
My mouth engaged before my brain could stop it and I said something to the effect of “don’t do me any favors.” It was probably the first time I’d stood up and said a massive eff you to someone who shouldn’t have mattered in my world. Granted, it was high school. Granted, it’s easy to look back and tell the 14 year old me you should have done that a long time ago.
Fast forward to now. There’s another person in my life. I don’t need to go into all the messy details but the short version is a long time ago, I made the decision that this person was not going to be a part of my life any more. This person might not be a bad person, this person might be mentally ill but the short version is that I can’t control that. I can only control my own actions and I decided that my reactions to this person were toxic and a long time ago, I decided this person was not going to be in my life because I don’t like who I am around them.
As a person of faith, I struggle with this decision because hey, didn’t Jesus teach that we’re supposed to forgive people? Well, maybe this person isn’t in my life any more because all the forgiveness in the world doesn’t stop the epic mind fuck that goes along with having this person in my life. I stood up a long time ago and decided that the sum of this relationship is not worth my mental and emotional energy. This person does not build me up, they tear me down.
My last battalion commander taught me a lot of things. She used a lot of sports analogies which were generally lost on me (if she’d started using things from books, well…anyway). She said her dad taught her that if you want to run faster, run with the faster group. If you want to play sports better, play with the better kids.
This is how I look at my life and it’s a lesson I try to teach my daughters. Everyone is not going to like you. Everyone is not going to be someone that builds you up. The true friends in your life will tell you when you’re being an ass but love you anyway. The people in your life that matter are the ones who you can call at three in the morning and still love you no matter how much emotional drama you bring to the table.
As I grow older, I realize that there are a lot of people who seek to tear you down. That look at success and want to destroy it. I’m not saying I’m a success because hey, I can’t cook boxed macaroni and cheese without burning the bottom of it. But I try to be a good person. I try not to be complete and total bitch. I try to make decisions that are just and right, even when my own emotional baggage is getting in the way. I don’t always succeed but I damn sure don’t want someone in my life dragging me down, tearing me down and telling me I suck just because they can.
Some people say that you should always take care of yourself because life isn’t a team sport. I disagree. Maybe there are some elements of life that are an individual event but I believe in the team. And I want people on my team that build everyone up around them.
If you have to make someone else trip so that you can succeed? I don’t want you on my team.
