VIRUS sample chapters are now available for reading. Get your fill of the beginning of my new book and post a comment.

Thanks for reading.

Monica

Virus is almost done

Virus, the young adult book I've been working on for five years, is almost done.
I have some editing to do, some reader feedback to input before I send it off to copy editors. I hope to have it published by mid to late November 2012.
I plan to post the cover and a book blurb on Good Reads to start promoting the book. If you would like an advance copy, post a message here with contact info and I'll be in touch. I will send out 20 advanced copies. The only stipulation is that I need readers to write reviews and post them on e-retail web sites like Amazon and on Good Reads.
I'll be publishing the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-book web sites. A complete list will be posted once the book is set to go.
Virus is an end of world type story about a virus that is unleashed on the U.S. The survivors are mostly young adults who were either immune to the virus or got sick and survived and developed "special skills" when the virus altered their DNA. I think of the book as a cross between The Stand and the NBC television show Heroes. Book one is the story of survival and travel to Florida where most of the population is gathering to live out the winter.
There is a bigger broader story about a  "big bad" that will stretch out over the three-edition series called Remarkables.  Because I work full time, I won't be able to complete book two until late 2013 and book three until 2014. I have most of book two and three outlined and just need to fill in the blanks.
Here is a sample of the cover:

Before I start book two though, I plan to release the first book in my Fairy Tale series called Cursed. It's about a young woman who is cursed to die at 17 by her grandmother. The book is half written and I have a goal of publishing it in late February 2013.
I'm excited about this series. Unlike Remarkables, it's only been percolating in my brain since May. I have a seven-part story to tell. Each book is an independent story, although characters will bleed over from book to book. I think of it more in the vain of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld. She had characters make guest appearances in books, which all revolved around supernatural themes.
All of my young adult books have supernatural, science fiction type elements. I don't write about vampires or werewolves, but my characters have powers, much like in Harry Potter without reciting spells.
Chapters one and two of Virus will be posted here soon. Come back to check it out.

Taking a leap

For years I'd write books, not quite finishing them all, and wonder sometimes, why am I doing this?
I have so many demands for my time. I'm desperate to find four hours a week to go running and start training for some goals. I need to spend more quality time with my daughter without it always being about dressing, undressing, bathing and eating.
My recent issue of Writer's Digest finally paid for its subscription price. I'm going to self publishing an ebook.
I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It's kind of sad it's taken me this long to realize the potential. I have friends who are competent editors. I know graphic artists to do a book cover. Darn, why didn't I think of this before now?
Anyway, the plan I have calls for a revision of the stories I've been writing. I'm outlining a series that will start as a three-parter but have the option of a fourth or fifth installment. The books will be about half the length of Polluted Blood, the young adult trilogy I've been working on for four years. Book one of Polluted Blood is almost done but it will take a year or more to finish book two.
The first three books of my new series will be released over three or four months starting this fall. I'll post some chapters here soon to see what ya'll think.
Gotta go write. Later.

The Glee Project -- Unfair

I don't get a lot of time to watch television anymore considering our night's are taken up with a two-year-old's priorities. But there are a couple of shows I'm trying not to miss. I may have to watch two episodes in a row but I get it done. My luxuries this summer are The Glee Project and True Blood.

I only discovered Glee in December of last year and managed to get caught up by watching it online for a few months. It's a great show and I just love the singing and dancing although I don't always recognize the Broadway songs.

I think it's a great show and the ctitics who say it's uneven are being a bit harsh. That being said, I was really disappointed with some of the developments on The Glee Project, which is on the Oxygen network on Sunday nights.

Two weeks ago Marissa was eliminated and it was a shocker. I don't even think it was done for dramatic reasons because the longer the show keeps really competitive people vying for the guest spot, the more interesting it is. But her elimination seemed particularly unfair because she was up against Alex and Cameron, who had been before Ryan Murphy for the last chance singoff twice already.

None of the contestants are stand out actors. Truthfully, the egotistical Lyndsay is probably the most talented overall, but none of the competitors would win acting awards although they all have great voices.

Sunday's episode seemed particularly ridiculous. I think I finally know why critics have called this show uneven because last night was exactly that.

Again Cameron and Alex are in the last chance singoff with Damian. The first thing Ryan Murphy does is express frustration about Cameron and that he's been struggling. He mocked him for calling his mother about feeling like he cheated when one of the contestants planted an unexpected kiss on him during the video. But in Sunday's episode, Cameron refused to kiss Hannah as per the director's suggestion.

That kind of difficult behavior has been rewarded before with dismissal like when Bryce was fired in the first episode. So, consistency says Cameron should have been on the chopping block. But no. Cameron expresses a desire to leave the show and Murphy goes into his dressing room and gives him this totally sincere sounding pep talk about how he could make it to the finals.

Huh? Murphy told him in the early days that he didn't understand Cameron and didn't think there was a character he could write for him.

Could the real Ryan Murphy please stand up.

Producers chose to cut Damian but since Cameron volunteered  to leave the show, Damian was saved. But again, this was two weeks in a row where Cameron should have been cut and wasn't for an unexplainable reason.

The saddest part about this is I really liked Cameron.

Health care system out of whack

This is why the costs of health care are astronomical.
We took Chloe to see the doctor a couple of weeks ago. They charged us an extra fee because she didn't have an appointment. While the doctor was examining her and trying to look in her ears, she said there was too much ear wax to see much. So she used this nifty device -- a long stick with a loop on the end -- and removed quite a bit of wax to improve the view.
Once finished she determined there was no ear infection in that ear but unfortunately the other ear was infected.
We got a presciption and were on our way. We do like the care we receive at the pediatrician's office but the billing and appointment systems are atrocious.
Here's for the crazy part. When we got the statement from the insurance company, the doctor had charged for a SURGICAL PROCEDURE. They charged extra to remove the wax from Chloe's ear.
Now, call me cheap, but I would think that's just part of the job of looking in her ear, improving the view. It's like taking fluff out of your belly button.
I think it's nutso how much providers charge and how they are nickle and diming the system into bankruptcy.
If I'd known the doctor was going to do that, I would have taken the device from her and cleaned Chloe's ears myself.
The health care system is going bust because of uncontrollable charges. I'm guessing if she wiped Chloe's nose, we would have gotten a charge for ASSISTED CARE.

Does your husband do this - part two?

Doing Christmas cards at the last minute, less than 24 hours before going to Korea, dials the phone.
"Hey mate," Martin says in suddenly a thick, English dialect. "Hey mate, how are you? I'm doing Christmas cards at the last minute and I don't bloody have your address. I think I bloody did this last year."
Blah blah blah.

When we come back from a trip to England, I swear, I hardly understand anything he says.
It's not so bad when he talks to his folks via Skype, but throw in a few friends, and I can't barely catch a word. The longer we are in England the thicker the accent gets and the longer it takes when we get home to get back to normal. And now it's coming on strong after a phone call?
The scary thing is we've been together five years and I'm still not used to it.

Does your husband do this?

Last week hubby says he MUST go to the car dealership to get some parts because his car is missfiring.
I didn't know which dealership he was going to - and frankly - didn't care. Chloe was eating, making a mess and needed my attention.
Hubby takes off. I clean up baby, play with her and then get her into the bath because when it comes down to it, Chloe may be cute, but she's grubby.
I don't notice hubby is gone. He comes back at 8 p.m. -- 90 minutes after he left. I didn't think much of it as I was busy with said baby.
He spills his guts about the visit to the dealership, which included a TEST DRIVE OF A CAR.
I was not suprised. I probably should have been, but I wasn't. Hubby does this all the time.
Periodically he shows up at the house driving a car he's test driving. He's all excited like a kid in a candy shop except for my husband it's a kid in a car showroom.
It turns out that he test drives cars to get it out of his system. It helps him cope with the urge to buy a car.
Although, I'd say, increasingly it's not working. This is the second time he's test driven a car in the past 6 weeks.