Don’t Eat Ice Packs (and ten other things Darwin doesn’t want me to tell you)

I often smile when I read warning labels. I can't help it. Perhaps I am perverse. I’m really not sure. But in light of some recent events, there are people who could use a smile, and I am nothing if not accommodating. So here is my list of eleven (number 2 counts as two) warnings that Darwin doesn’t want me to tell you. In the comments, feel free to add additional warnings.  And be safe out there!!

  1. Don’t eat ice packs.

  2. Don’t put sunscreen in your eyes to look at the sun. And don’t  look at the sun.

  3. Don’t blow dry your hair during your bath or shower. It really won’t save you time.

  4. Don’t eat toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste and space food both come in tubes. I’m fairly certain the similarities end there.

  5. Don’t eat cleaning products, full stop.

  6. Don’t run with scissors or sharp objects.

  7. Don’t leave an open flame unattended.

  8. Don’t drink hot coffee or sip hot soup until it has cooled enough not to burn your mouth.

  9. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet (or anywhere).

10. For the love of all things Darwin, don’t share this post with someone who actually needs this advice! 

EGOTs for Egos?

EMMYS.
GRAMMYS.
OSCARS.
TONYS.

Big name awards. Big shows. Red carpets. Who wore it best(s)/worst(s)? But are these award shows promoting fairness -- or just inflating already inflated egos?

This is a fight I don't have a dog in -- I rarely watch movies in the theatres. I like actors and actresses generally, but don't know crews or backstage people from extras. Everyone could wear black suits and pants on a sound-stage with a green-screen and I would probably still be invested in the actions, adventures, period dramas, comedies -- whatever they wanted to put before me.

As an author, specifically one who indie-publishes on a shoestring of less than $100 per book, I understand that awards help spread word of your work. But for the big winners of last night's award show -- didn't the box office do that?

But I listen to the celebrities who get up and accept these awards. They appear floored to receive them. They really do need the validation IN ADDITION TO their box office success and the fact that they are celebrities and that they have publicists and make-up artists and costume designers and acting coaches and people who supported them -- not just allowed them, but financially SUPPORTED them -- following their dreams. Awards ceremony winners experience such a high. It must be incredible.

But then there are all the people who don't win. Who never win. Who never get nominated. Who never get noticed. There are people involved in scandal and people whose work doesn't get noticed because the names in top billing are involved in scandal. For every highly paid and highly glamorized celebrity icon, there are hundreds and thousands of poor dreamers who are never going to amount to anything in Hollywood or on Broadway. Winning is as much luck and politics as actual politics.

Since we're not going to stop doing award shows, we need to consider more categories. We need stronger minority representation. And we need to stop comparing apples to oranges. La La Land and Moonlight (I have seen promos of both but the entirety of neither) were created for different audiences. Different things make them GOOD. And neither film, from what I understand, is simply GOOD. So maybe we need categories for best fantasy film, best historical realism, best movie to make you cry and best film for laughs? Why do we need to declare one fruit of our labor to be the best? So what if judges want apples one day, oranges the second, and lemons the day after? Should one show get to sweep the whole fruit basket?

While we are adding categories, perhaps it is time to add gender-non-conforming to actor and actress categories. But that creates other questions. When a cis-person plays a transgender role, what category would they belong to? And while I'm asking ridiculous questions: is it more difficult for a straight actor to perform a gay character than for a gay actor to portray a straight character? And should we recognize that? I say we need to because some actors get typecast and then have difficulty getting away from certain roles. Careers can be damaged from coming out -- or going back in -- and shouldn't this difficulty be recognized?

How can we support all in the arts with award shows that clearly designate winners and not-even-nominateds? How do we get rid of gender categories all together without returning to a world where only white men win? I know we will keep having award shows as long as people watch them, pay to have them broadcast on TV, and as long as actors and actresses seek validation. Still, I wonder -- are we are missing the point?

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Images above are courtesy Pixabay, where attribution is not required. That said, Pixabay and its contributors have no foreknowledge of my opinion or article and are free to not agree or not be associated with the content found here.

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Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer, and Dr. Pepper addict. Right now, she's in over her head.                    

Other articles of interest:
Finding Pink Elephants
A Muse Meant
Quick and Dirty Publishing Guide     

     Check out her author page on Amazon. 

The Importance of Being Human

I want to write something important. Something powerful. Not because I view myself as important or powerful, but because the subject I intend to write about is so very important to me. I want to write about people and their right to exist. 

Most people don’t question their right to exist. Existence should be a given. I am; therefore, I exist. It should be an inalienable right. 

Inalienable. Remember that. 

When orders are signed to make someone an illegal alien by people who are immigrants or children of immigrants, it is the worst sort of privilege. Getting honest, poor, hardworking people to buy into the rhetoric of fear is the worst kind of betrayal of the privilege someone has been given to help someone else in need. If one believes, as I do, that we are only made strong long enough to help each other, then one understands my dilemma. 

I can’t be too heavy-handed with facts and articles supporting my position. To do so is elitist. I can’t appeal to my own experiences. That rhetoric is anecdotal, and I can’t prove that my experiences are symbolic of the rule rather than the exception. 

I don’t have the money or the power to overwhelm a media outlet – much less all of them – with my version of facts. I can’t buy advertising that will repeat my words verbatim until they are accepted as truth no matter how outrageous they might be. But I have a laptop. And sometimes I think I can write a little. I have to try. 

If I were in a position of authority, especially if I could have been in such a position years (decades, centuries) ago, I would not allocate money to foreign defense. We live in a country a hemisphere away from the problems of Africa and the Orient and the Middle East. If people want to abandon those problems by coming to our shores, we should let them. We should take great care of them so that they want to bring their loved ones to the Utopia our country promises. We should not send soldiers to change their countries’ ways of life. Our soldiers should be here learning as much as they can about new immigrants, understanding their language and culture and helping us adapt to each other. 

In fact, if our soldiers only went overseas to protect people, and not cheap oil, I think we would be closer to living in a Utopia. And if we are going to invade a country for its minerals (oil and coal are not scientifically minerals, but legally, they are included as minerals in terms of mineral rights), the least our leaders could do is be honest about it. American employees are getting pulled off US oil rigs because foreign oil is so abundant and cheap. Instead of making the connection between foreign wars and cheap imports, people are being told to fear and blame immigrants for their joblessness and resulting poverty. Poor and tired – exhausted, really – people believe what is pounded at them by the people in charge. It takes a long time to start to question authority and power, even to the absence and abandonment of logic. 

So clearly, I have a soft spot for immigration. I happen to find people inalienable. 

Then I get hit by the two by four of how I can care about people but not be pro-birth. And the simple explanation is that I don’t consider every ejaculation or menstruation a baby. A more complicated explanation is that I’m not a doctor. I have, however, been pregnant. And the juxtaposition of those two informs me that I can not make laws to account for every pregnancy situation. 

Without looking at improbable statistics, I would wager that there is an unplanned pregnancy for every couple desperate to conceive their own baby. I don’t know why the world works that way. I do know that these unplanned pregnancies and childless couples cannot be paired together like some crazy TV reality show match game. I wish it were that simple. On top of that complication, there are wanted babies who cannot be saved by current medical advances. Abortion of these babies to save the mother and provide a chance for a viable baby to be conceived and born seems the most humane course of action. 

In the meantime, pitting two groups of emotional, vulnerable people -- the childless and the unplanned pregnant -- against each other is the very definition of cruel. Chances are neither has the money or the resources to help the other, if and when they are able to connect. Then disreputable people sweep in, hoping to profit from both sides – selling babies, stealing babies, keeping children from loving families, allowing children to stay in abusive households or squalid orphanages. This behavior is inhuman and inhumane. If we spent the time and resources fighting THIS instead of constant legal battles over reproductive rights, I believe we would have much better results. 

Because I love little people, I support abortion. Not just choice, but abortion. I can’t prevent child abuse. I can’t prevent cults and sex trafficking and a lot of bad behavior. Ideologically, however, I can support the idea that if people only had babies they wanted, loved, and were ready, eager, and able to care for, then we would have additional resources to crack down on bigger problems that result from children who are uneducated, poor, bored, neglected, targeted, and abused. If instead of shooting people who walk into Planned Parenthood, or shouting Bible verses at them, people held signs –as my friend suggested – offering to pay expenses or adopt unwanted children or provide emotional support, I could believe in the goodness of the common person that I sometimes fail to see. Abortion is not the only reason people go to Planned Parenthood. The pregnant woman murdered in Colorado a little over a year ago was not there to have an abortion. She was murdered by a mentally unstable man who believed fake videos about Planned Parenthood’s only purpose. I happen to think that people supporting the actions of that mentally unstable man should reflect long and hard before proclaiming a pro-life stance. I tire of the rhetoric that Planned Parenthood’s only purpose is abortion. I especially tire of this rhetoric from craft stores who buy cheap goods from countries with mandatory child limits and forced abortions. 

It’s not about the money, either, people. I get that soulless argument a lot. Funny, I’m not supposed to complain about a portion of my taxes supporting war or the death penalty – but people can sure complain about paying for other people’s condoms, boxes of pills, IUDs, or abortions. Dollar for dollar, there is no argument. I’ve also seen enough parents complain about other people’s children’s behavior in grocery stores to know that if there was a free box of condoms that a judgmental shopper could hand a parent – well, let’s just say my grocery store trips could be a lot more interesting. 

It is too about the money. If money weren’t an object, traffickers wouldn’t traffic. Not drugs, not people. If everyone had the resources to truly do what they wanted, we might all live on private islands and not give a damn about anyone else. There are rich people for whom the true value of money is as meaningless as Monopoly money is to me – but they need to keep score with their balance sheets. The acquisition of wealth is a great game, and there is little room for second place – no room for losing ground. If we eliminated money – as some stores and government offices have done, going cashless to prevent robberies – some people would still have more than ten cars, a private jet, and a yacht while others would only have the rags on their backs or maybe a couple trash bags’ worth of possessions. Overwhelmingly, the people living paycheck to paycheck with underwater mortgages and massive bills will give more of themselves to help those seeking handouts in soup kitchens. Equally overwhelmingly, a rich person could write a check for funds they would never miss that could do more good than a thousand poor people helping poorer people. Which is why we allow charities to exist. 

Which is why we should crack down on charity fraud, kickbacks, and related bad acts. 

Which is why we should be mindful of rich people eluding taxes and fine them heavily for not compensating their employees fairly and pocketing the difference. 

Which is why a college education should be freely available and not a requirement of entry level employment. And why we should crack down on and break up for-profit colleges that break promises they make to desperate students. 

Which is why we need a livable minimum wage that includes all medical care from conception to burial or cremation. And why such medical coverage should not be tied to a job or an employer whose ideology may differ from our own. And why it should be as easy to walk into a health insurance agency and establish a personal relationship with an agent as it is to walk into a car insurance agency or tax preparation office. When we are at our most sick and vulnerable, we are most human. We should not be beans counted in an office by people who only know us as numbers on a page. That we perpetuate this is inhumane. 

I believe that a person is strong to help someone who is not. I believe we can do more together than apart. I believe that self-care is important and self-sacrifice is admirable, but selfishness to the detriment of the common good is the reason the colonies overthrew the monarchy and the reason we should not allow ourselves to be ruled by a tyranny today. I believe in We the People and I believe in the American Dream. 

And if you still don’t – why not? How can I help you address whatever fear is holding you back?

Abbreviations are not Contractions, and Plurals don't need Apostrophes

I finally figured it out!!  Sort of.

When people sell CD's -- they put an apostrophe because the abbreviation for compact disc is CD.

But -- repeat after me -- an abbreviation is NOT a contraction!

Other plurals with apostrophes are just silly. When I see a street vendor's sign announcing that fruit's, vegetable's, and CD's are being sold, I cringe.
(the vendor owns the sign, but the fruits, vegetables, and CDs are plural, not possessive)

CD's is wrong, but at least there is some logic behind the mistake.

And perhaps when people realize where that mistaken logic comes from -- when they realize they are mistaking abbreviations for contractions -- perhaps they can start to change.

I used to think that we used an apostrophe in it's when we meant "it owns something." Perhaps at one time we did (we used to put two spaces after a period in sentences, after all). Perhaps it was an 80s trend. It feels like an 80s trend. Maybe it was something we (I would say I am alone in my mistake, but have you read Facebook posts lately? I have learned, adapted if need be, and now I'm waiting on others to catch up.) mis-learned in second grade when we saw all those other contractions with apostrophes -- he's, she'd, you'll, they've. But those work because contractions include a noun and a verb. It's (meaning IT IS) is still written that way.

Click picture to purchase -- it is not owned by me and I don't get paid for you to click it, just FYI.

When we write ITS like in the example of the dog losing its collar , we forget that it's (it is -- see what I did there?) the same kind of word as his and her -- which also don't have apostrophes -- not he is, and definitely not HER IS. (I shivered a little writing that, not going to lie.)

Still, ambiguity exists.
Mothers Day or Mother's Day or Mothers' Day
all the holidays can be punctuated or not and it's acceptable.

Shortened expressions like
thank yous or thank you's
either are accepted based on meaning, and often both are accepted forms.

Names written on family signs, like The Campbell's instead of The Campbells
are also ambiguous without the context of the rest of the sentence.

Writing letters as letters, like minding your Ps and Qs or dotting your i's versus crossing your t's, can be written both these ways so long as the writer sticks with one through the entire document.

So shortened expressions SHOULD follow the same rule we now accept for CDs. We should remind our children to say their thank yous as we leave their grandparents' house.
However, because thank yous often refers to written thank you notes, thank you's with the apostrophe seems to replace the missing word notes, and most of us are overall fine with that.

Names can indicate possession when the family collectively owns something.
The Campbell's house is brown.
The Campbell's dog is non-existent.
The Campbell's house or mailbox

But the name does not show ownership in the following examples:
The Campbells (more than one of them) are coming.
We are having the Campbells over for dinner.
The blue house on the corner belongs to the Campbells.

The overall take-away from this lesson is -- if in doubt, leave it out!  That is especially true for apostrophes.

On that note:

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers and all who mother!

Shakespeare, Hawthorne, Poe and I Haven't Written Much Lately, and at Least I'm Not Dead

Was my last blog post really in January? Seems impossible.

But then, consider that I moved in February (and got sick), created a new FB page (Life in Georgia, you should go check it out), and have been doing a lot of things so that I have things to write about. Sometimes I even write about the things. Sometimes I share when I write about the things.

April was Camp NaNo, but the first week, my son and I drove back to AR for Spring Break, a birthday party, several friend visits, and a speaking engagement. We drove and only lost an hour, but I felt like I had jet lag that cost me another week. I made it to PTA events -- which is probably why I'm chairing a committee -- too tired to act like I didn't want it. And I do want to do well. I want my kid to be proud that I'm around before those teenage hormones fully come into play. But I only showed up to make adult friends that might have kids my son is friends with. Obviously I have learned nothing about the typical PTA... (I have met a few people that now know me by name. So far they seem really nice. I'm sure they are also not typical PTA of the type terrible tales are written!)

 (Harper Valley PTA clip that I don't own -- all rights to their rightful owners, etc, etc.)

I BETA-read a friend's book in late March and handed it off in April. I can't reveal anything yet, but people are going to love it. Here's one hint (see image):


That's it -- that's all you get! And it isn't enough -- I promise!!

Anyway...











I met with many of the young authors during my Spring Break visit.

Aren't they a wonderful looking group? And don't get me started on the talent!  Ian's working on book #3, Cadence a new series, Bella book #3 and Ari book #2. #proudteacher

I collected the BETA readings of A Muse Meant over Spring Break. I edited for the last time (cross fingers) and handed it off to one last BETA reader. I'm excited about that.

My son and I started a story about the explanation and evolution of mermaids, and I'm working on that -- a very little. IDK if this cover works, but I kinda liked it:

I'm worried about all the tales I feel like I'm abandoning, and think I may have found a loophole to do a short story collection for a bunch of random fantasies I've half-baked. I wrote an intro and shared it with one of my young authors -- she took it and ran with a new dragon story that has not one thing to do with my introduction (as I had intended it). But she's got a new wonderful story in the works and her giddiness was catching. So I told her if all the young authors wanted to add shorts or if we wanted to write a story together -- whatever works and sounds like fun for as long as it IS fun!

And I have a Scavenger Hunt to arrange. "It'll be easy!" I said. "There will be zombies!" I said.

I say a lot of stupid things.

I did not create this Zombie Bingo Card. I was thinking that something LIKE this would make finding items out of order easy. We shall see.

I have been and done more things. I have loads of half-written blog posts that I need to finish, type, and post.

One thing at a time, right? Sure... Let me know how that works out for you...

Finding Pink Elephants

The new scene with the ferris wheel in ‪#‎AMuseMeant‬ came together beautifully last night. Handwritten. Three pages. I knew right where I wanted it. I went to the electronic copy of my book to type it this morning -- and the passage where I wanted to enter it WAS NOT THERE.

 

I panicked, and started searching my docs for a phrase that would help me identify this chapter from the others. I laughed when I found it: "pink elephant." But I couldn't find the file with that phrase.

I didn't IMAGINE typing it. It was typed and printed out in front of me. I checked the flash drive -- other copies of the document, but no pink elephants. (And man do I make a lot of drafts!)

I had to stop looking for my pink elephant to get my son on task for the day/hour/minute, pay a bill, find a card, talk with my husband about our budget, collect air mattresses, and yes, go to the bathroom. In the last place on that list, I remembered that I had another flashdrive. Finished my business, found the other flash drive and popped it in -- Wah hoo! There was my beautiful pink elephant. 

 

In #AMuseMeant, the pink elephant symbolizes Samm's epiphany that with belief in herself, she can do anything. But with this belief comes the responsibility of not ignoring problems in her life, hoping they will go away or be solved by someone else. (Sometimes it's hard to tell a blessing from a curse in this regard, just ask my 12 year old!)

 

My larger question, worry, and concern over the next week (besides prepping for the BIG SALE and book launch May 2, of course), is in how to determine how many more pink elephant passages exist between the draft that is on the flashdrive and the one that I had stored in the cloud. If ink, paper, and time were no weights in my decision, I'd probably print out both, bamboozle a friend (or a son), and compare the drafts page by page. How I'll actually handle the situation -- well, I'll tell you when I figure it out. 

 

Until then, here's the newly designed cover for #AMuseMeant:

 

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and a hattip to the old classmate and new friend who reminded me that returning to my roots and approaching a problem in the simplest way possible CAN yield the best solution. In the meantime -- I see pink elephants that you can't stop thinking about. You're welcome!

 

Author Photo by Tori Brunson

Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer. She writes on a variety of topics: Parenting, How-To, Grammar, Women/Feminism/Equality, Book Reviews, Work in Progress and Reflections. Her books are available on Amazon and she's pursuing her dreams as a motivational and professional speaker. If you'd like to see her speak at an upcoming function, contact her through her website or Facebook page.

Weekend Reflections: Minimum Wage Wars on Humanity

I stumbled across (not upon) this article via the Washington Post without knowing the history of the person who started at Hardee's and is now some sort of political person. I didn't bother to look her up. I know many rags to riches success stories -- but many more rags to more rags stories. But I digress.

Trashed dreams?

WPost: Day in the Life of Hardee's Employee Article

Stock photos courtesy MorgueFile & used with permission.

Ann Hull wrote quite the short story / expose about a day in the life of the average fast food worker. As a human interest story, it tugged heartstrings. As an educational piece promoting raising the minimum wage -- it fell short. Very short. Just look at the comments.

Judgmentally, I was saying the same things. A $200 tattoo? Cigarettes? Who needs multiple HDMI cables? Who has kids at 18 by multiple dads? Who misses financial aid deadlines?  

Where are their parents? 

Having a tattoo doesn't make one a bad parent.

 In a perfect world, everyone would have parents helping make sure that s/he struggled a little less and was at least a little more successful in life than the parents themselves. We don't live in a perfect world. Not to mention that such perfection would mean different things to different people. Being rich and being happy may not be mutually exclusive, but happiness seems more attainable to me than wealth. To a rich person, happiness may be just as elusive. To a person living in poverty, I am wealthy. Compared to the superintendent of my son's school district (who has been in the same position since I started school in the same district over 30 years ago), the CEO of WalMart (or pick a Walton), any living president of the University I graduated from, or even the people who live in the posh neighborhood across the street from me, my family's paycheck-to-paycheck existence and rented home keep us very near the poverty line. It's all relative.


Many things I wanted five years ago have been acquired -- debts paid off, new car, better place to live. A trip to Florida to see the Harry Potter amusement park with my kid. A book published and sales to my name. Having accomplished those, I'm not satisfied. Debt has crept back in -- new car, furniture for the new house, moving fees, funeral expenses, a new laptop, and the trip. We got out of debt only to climb right back into bed with it. Like a child, I still want more things. I want more vacations. I want to worry less about money. I want savings and retirement accounts. I want health insurance that costs less than my car payment and would kick in before I'd spent $10K out of pocket. I want someone to typeset, edit, and format my books for me. A marketing director who would do the asking so I didn't have to. I want money to pay an artist -- or a team of them. I want, and I don't feel like I'm asking for a lot.

One person in the article thought that $28,000 a year was good money. That's what her mother made. And she wasn't doing better than that working at Hardee's. Granted, it's more than I've made in book sales and speaking fees. A lot more. But it isn't a living wage, as far as I'm concerned.

I don't have tattoos. I don't drink. I've never been to jail. I have an undergraduate degree with no student loans to repay. (I did attend, but did not graduate from, graduate school. I had a student loan for that. It has been repaid. My husband, who earned a PhD, still has student loans.) All four of our parents were college graduates. We both have friends whose parents were single tattooed chain smokers, and some of them grew up like the young people in this article. Others grew up and have jobs that make more than we do. My husband and I did not seek wealth as a primary reason for employment. We wanted steady incomes in jobs that made a difference -- for both of us, the difference we wanted to make was combatting combating (that just looks wrong, like the a should be long) combatting (it may be wrong, but it looks better) ignorance. But neither of us are doing the work we went to college to pursue.

There are opportunities in this growing Arkansas area that don't exist in truly rural areas -- like where my father grew up. My mother's family was never in poverty, but as an army brat, my mother spent time worrying about her dad in combat in an existence I don't wish upon any kid. To know that these days, active military service does not set a family up for financial security is an outrage. The growing gap between the haves and the have nots just gets wider and wider. And people do lose hope.

Until we can effect true change in our nation, we will have hopeless citizens striving to be happy because financial gain is elusive. And if tattoos, cigarettes, and cable TV makes someone feel life is more than suicide, or homicide, or some other kind of felony -- then we should support that. After all, it is a lot easier and cheaper to support the poor's extravagances than to fight the massive crime spree of our nation's politicians, Wall Street, and the terminally elite.

Author Photo by Tori Brunson

Phyl Campbell is Author, Mother, Dreamer. She writes on a variety of topics: Parenting, How-To, Grammar, Women/Feminism/Equality, Book Reviews, Work in Progress and Reflections. Her books are available on Amazon and she's pursuing her dreams as a motivational and professional speaker. If you'd like to see her speak at an upcoming function, contact her through her website or Facebook page.

Sunday Reflections: Reflection on Education

This article from the Atlantic prompted the following response:

There are many ways to digest and learn from this: high stakes testing is a mistake (big #1). That's the point of the article -- that and continuing to talk about racial tensions.

But there's an overlooked second idea that the article mentioned but didn't dwell on. It should have.

Courses for college credit taken in HS (including AP and concurrent courses) actually hurt college freshman who intend to use them to graduate college faster (as a pure learning tool, they are fine). When HS students take college courses and do average to well, then college advisers tell them to take more challenging classes when they get to campus. However, these students really need to figure out how to navigate college. They lack the experience to realize how different a college class on campus is compared to an AP or concurrent credit course. Also, since AP test scores and concurrent courses don't count towards a student's college GPA, a college freshman taking junior and senior level classes is at a higher risk of losing scholarships if the first semester of college isn't great.

Freshmen should be taught to take only introductory level classes their first semester. Or, freshmen should be allowed to ease into college, taking only a class or two until they know what they can handle. However, scholarships don't cover this type of enrollment, and the effects of enrolling in too many classes (increasing the chance of failing one or more) or not having the financial aid are equally detrimental to college success. 

If high school students weren't trying to take and do well in college classes, perhaps they would have more time to study for high-stakes testing. Honestly, though, learning how to hold down a job in high school and saving money (for college expenses not paid by scholarships and grants) is probably the best thing a high school student can do for his or her college preparation.  Applying for scholarships would be a second, but students need to talk to someone who is more knowledgeable than the typical overburdened HS counselor or college admissions officer. There is a TON of scholarship money out there, but most students can't find it and spend too much time chasing after the same hundred opportunities as everyone else.  Internet searches turn up more garbage than genuine opportunities. If we employed as many scholarship researchers as we did student loan officers, I think we would turn some of this around.

So researchers and pundits can keep talking about race and the first problem -- high stakes testing may be easy to measure, but what is easy (to measure) is rarely what is best (for anyone). However, until these same researchers and pundits start addressing the other elements of the equation, college students might as well bang their collective heads on ill-fitting desks as they leave college with useless degrees and ever-growing piles of debt. 

Phyl Campbell is the author of several books, including Mother Confessor, Carley Patrol, and Martha's Chickens and the Pirates. She completed a bachelor's degree in four and a half years at a state university paid for by scholarships and grants -- and was the only member of her family to completely fund school this way. Still, it wasn't enough education for her desired career -- teaching. One of many caught in the power struggle that is higher education, Campbell is an advocate for greater transparency in and outside the classroom.

Being Remiss -- My week in Review

Oh Goodness!

In the attempt to keep up and not overwhelm readers with content, either, I have neglected this blog again. How tragic! Let me recap the last week:

I did publish a few book reviews on Wikinut. Two reviews were books by Margaret Peterson Haddix. One I liked; one I didn't care for. The third was an animal rescue plus dragons book by Chris D'Lacey.

I also posted about a new business venture in social media marketing. You can read more about that here.

Saturday I participated in the third annual Author Festival put on by the library in my area. I had prime placement on the front row between another children's author and a YA fantasy and science fiction writer. The author list was cut in half from the year before -- but whether that fewer people requested to come or if there was actually a bar people had to meet is unknown. The event was poorly attended, and I'm not sure why. The summer events for children that this library hosts fill three classroom areas and spill over into standing room only. Many times, there is no place to park on a Saturday -- which may mean that the neighboring park is full. So was it the date? The time? That the authors aren't giving books away free?

In addition, two authors I traded books with had work I did not feel was ready for publication. Which makes me wonder if I am the wheat or the chaff. And that's not a good place for my head to be after three years at this. (More positively, four authors I have met there had books I enjoyed, and one had a decent book that just wasn't my thing. I don't usually trade with Western writers, Christian writers, or poets -- and in my area there are a lot -- these are not my genres and unless those authors asked to trade me, I'll keep thinking my work won't appeal to them -- with no hard feelings.)

So at the end of it all, I'm taking away that I'm grateful for the free advertising, but my time also has value.

Three years I have done this event and in that time, I've sold three books. Not three each time. Three books. In three days over three years. Of those, ZERO reviews*. Goose egg. Nada. What's worse -- the library that host me at this event will not shelve my books, because I'm an indie author. So their patrons can't go the the library and check out my work beforehand. There isn't a place for me to leave my card or ordering information. They won't tell those who buy my books when I'll be around to sign them. But I can get a John Grisham (who was born in my state) novel from another library in their system with a couple of keystrokes. I know even he struggled like I did, but he wasn't a writer before.

So I think a clear message is not being sent. How difficult would it be to have a book club devoted to local authors? To establish a local beta reader group? To have a reading panel to determine which authors should be invited to the festival -- each author sponsored by someone familiar with the body of work that would speak positively of it (besides the author) at something called a "Festival." If it's a festival of locals, they shouldn't be authors meeting the staff and each other for the first time. Age differences aside, they should have grown up together, preferably in that library. Or they should be bringing their families to that library, if a job, school, or other Arkansas opportunities moved them here. And people in the community should be excited to rub elbows with this local talent before the talent takes some major deal that removes them from Arkansas and moves them to New York or California or Canada.

Three YEARS. I've been a participant for THREE YEARS, and yet the new (for a little over a year) head librarian did not know me. To what extent is that my fault? To what extent is that hers? This is the same library where I completed summer reading lists as a child.This was the place where I felt loved and was happy.

It is not the library's fault. They are doing the best they can with available resources. I check out a lot of books and DVDs that I don't have to buy.

Now the people who work there are people hired by an outside firm. They're generally new to the area. And maybe it's a sign of the times, but they don't know things. There are wonderful exceptions, of course, and I'm not saying any one of them is bad. They're all completely competent employees. But it's difficult to talk books with them. They smile and nod at me like they smiled and nodded at the book lover in front of me and like they'll smile and nod at the book lover behind me. The majority aren't secretly writing their own books when they think no one is looking. They don't have ten books each on the staff hold shelf waiting for them to have a spare second.The people employed as librarians are not by definition readers -- and I find that very sad.

I need an invitation elsewhere. I need a library or group that actually supports indie authors and holds them accountable for good quality work.  Bookstores are dying, but people are still reading. So authors need to be able to connect with them -- the way that John Grisham did years ago. It isn't safe to sell door-to-door, though I know some people do. Still, there ought to be a better way.

Clearly, I've been stewing about that. Thanks for bearing with me while I got that off my chest. Moving forward --

Sunday I rode along as my husband took our son fishing for the first time. We met some friends at the lake and made a day of it. Caught nothing, but that's OK. I did some world-building for Archer's Paintbrush and a prologue for CONfidence Woman. I solicited help for an awards database so I can start applying for things. Perhaps outside validation would help me reconcile ridiculous doubts and help me sell fiction.

Wednesday I was diagnosed with an ear infection -- Labyrinthitis. Thursday night I had a flat tire. 

I've got so many articles and fiction angles I'm working on that it's disgusting. If I could concentrate my focus on one project at a time, I'd complete a novel a month for the next year and a half (unlikely, but one can dream). And that's been my week in review.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on directions I should go -- anything I've done or mentioned that you want to hear more about? I write with the intention of feedback and a dialogue -- and that can't happen without your input.



*I have to take that back. No customer reviews. I did receive two reviews from other authors with whom I exchanged books at the second event. One of the authors I reviewed in return, and the other who's work was, in my generous opinion, not ready for publication. And I felt so guilty that the second author gave me a glowing review that I could not return a poor one. So I said nothing. At the first event, I exchanged books with a different author whose work was not up to par. And I did review that, but only after I had messaged the author privately asking if I could help. I received no reply.

Sunday Reflection

I spent the bulk of yesterday upgrading my site and adding all the links I lost when I left WordPress for GoDaddy. In addition to merely posting the lists of links, I organized them into categories and used a menu creator to hide pages, set an organizational scheme, and try to do all that stuff that upgrades the level of webpage awesomeness to slightly better than functional beginner.

Homepage of my GoDaddy Website, phylcampbell.com

I never did figure out how to put parts of my databases drag and drop style onto a page. I tried using Wix, but it wanted my database to have a URL, or me to upload the entire database. And neither would let me import data that was already hyperlinked. Copying and pasting is not difficult, but when copying, pasting, and hyperlinking 200 items, it is time-consuming and tedious. But it got done. This is my favorite page -- the book reviews. I listed each title alphabetically, then made an alphabetical list by author -- each are hyperlinked to the associated reviews.

My Website Book Review Page

Speaking of reviews, I still don't know whether all this time spent building my online presence is worth it. I have gotten a few new reviews on Amazon -- for which I am grateful. It's even better when I have NO IDEA who some of the reviews are from. While I hope my friends will like my stuff, I don't want my only reviews to be from friends who would lie to help me out. Believe it or not, there's a chance those people exist. I got my first two star review. I know the reviewer. He told me he didn't have time to read the book -- which could mean he didn't have time, and could mean that he couldn't get into it and was being polite (AKA: passive aggressive). I wish he'd have commented WHY he didn't like it -- whether it was personal preference or indie formatting or he didn't like it because there wasn't a fire-breathing dragon (note to self: include fire-breathing dragon in next book). I would feel awkward (and rude, in the wrong, etc) asking for more constructive feedback. I don't expect everyone to like my book(s). Heck, I expect less people to "get" my books than people who "get" me -- and that number is very small. But I can't fix something if I don't know what isn't working about it. One bad review out of 10 is about par for the course. And in a very real way, that two star review could be the kind of balancing agent an indie author needs so that other potential buyers know I am not asking my friends (or worse, paying people) for positive reviews.So that's my silver-lined cloud for the day.

Silver Lining?

I did start Hootsuite content management for Google +, my FB author page, and Twitter. I didn't want to auto-post so often that someone was getting an update every 10 minutes (and I have some of these people in my Twitter, though I've made a list that they aren't on, and that's helped), but I tend to post when I am awake and thinking about it, which is great for the people in India at 2 and 3 in the morning CST, but not so much the American audience I ought to try to reach. Post automation lets me create the posts when I'm awake and share them when everyone else is. As I shared here, this made a big difference in my Wikinut views and Twitter followers, but a 100% difference in Wikinut earnings is 0.001 to 0.01 a day -- not exactly raking in big bucks.

Working for peanuts -- that $5 in the corner? Definitely not mine...

Today my son has a friend over. Yesterday it was a different friend. We broke down and bought him an Xbox 360 so he and his friends could play Minecraft on a larger screen than their phones. Part of the money for the purchase came from our NOT having to pay the actor's fee for the play our son will be in next month. But like any new technology, we parents are trying to find the balance between letting our son play with his new toy and making sure he has some non-screen time. And I've just kicked him off to play while I'm updating my blog. Feels slightly hypocritical. So I'm going to save and close. Time to read another book. I've got one Princess Frog series title left, so I think I'll crack it.

Oh -- at night, my son and I are reading Chris D'Lacey's series. Conker died last night. I expected that, and for the most part was fine with it. But D'Lacey did such a good job with David's reaction that it was REALLY hard to read while tears fell down my face. Don't tell people, but I AM a big ol' softie!

Happy Sunday! Today I am going to work on an author review and compile notes from an interview I conducted last week. I hope to publish both via Wikinut this week. What have you been up to?

I am also competing in the HotTopic Howarts Sweepstakes. I feel I have less than zero chance of winning, but it also gives me something to tweet daily, so what the heck. And there's always a chance HotTopic will take pity on my son due to his lame mother and pay for us to go to Florida.

Beyond that, I am doing a little job hunting. I am getting laundry done. Sean got me some Monkey Hooks and I'm putting "stuff" on the walls. Fairies came and did the dishes. I switched out kitchen tables for one that is a little shorter, wider, and its legs don't fold.

I am endeavoring to make a list of things I've done, rather than things to do, since the latter depresses me and then I get nothing done. Last week I had a wonderful breakfast with JR and helped my brother move into his dorm. I still haven't tried to hook up and use my sewing machine or decided how best to sort the stuff out in the garage, but that's why I'm making the list of "I did" rather than "I need to." The former makes me feel accomplished.

I am going to try to be better about using my social media outlets. A tweet a day, a blog post a week, and a Wikinut article every other day I think are manageable goals, whether I find a job or not. This week, I'm going to follow up on a lovely reply email I received Friday night and attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new publishing house here in NWA. Maybe pass out some business cards. I think they're lovely. TTYL!