Income Transparency
I’ve been challenged by my friend and fellow author Matthew Selznick to share information about my income as an author. He makes the point that it’s helpful for other writers to get a sense of what to expect from creative endeavors and most of the numbers you see are articles about the huge success of one or two indie authors. I find that people tend to assume that best selling authors are spectacularly rich and it’s a very glamorous life. Someone wrote a while back about the truth about his income after having a book that was a NYT best seller. I wish I could find it now. The truth is that authors don’t make much money and even the best selling authors aren’t immune. You can count on one hand, most likely, the number of authors who...
Read MoreCasting Directors: You Don’t Have A Leg To Stand On!
(Pun Intended!) There are actors who have disabilities. And yet when it comes to casting shows and movies, 99% of the time the actors are able bodied and pretend to have the disability of the character in question. This is a problem because this actor usually has no knowledge of what it’s really like to have the disability and so their performance is often cliched to the point of being painful to watch. It’s also a problem because people who actually have disabilities remain invisible and true diversity is not represented in our media. And it’s not just roles specifically written for characters with disabilities. I read an interview the other day with an actress in the UK who is a wheelchair user. She auditioned for a small part as a secretary...
Read MoreDisability in Orange is the New Black
I watched all of the Netflix Original series Orange is the New Black in one weekend and it was awesome. Lots of interesting characters and many stories. Sharp humor and really believable. For anyone who hasn’t heard about this show, it’s the story of a yuppie white woman in her thirties who suddenly goes to prison for a drug crime she committed ten years before during her rebellious and wild youth. It’s based (loosely) on an autobiography. The show takes the opportunity to explore the lives of women in prison and definitely humanizes that entire population. Disability came up in two cases. One One of the guards is a single leg amputee. I think they played it perfectly. He is totally capable and we don’t see any indication of his disability...
Read MoreDevoteeism From The Other Side: A Disabled Woman’s Perspective
I’m delighted to share with you today a post from an online friend. She is a woman with a disability and this is how she thinks about devs and devoteeism… The disabled and the devotees are basically STUCK. a) the feminists say: you shall not ‘succumb’ to a devotee because of his hero(ine)/saviour notion of you b) the devotees say: you have issues w/ your disability when you reject them That’s bullshit. So why not turn this into a boy-meets-girl-story rather than a sob story?! That’s what I’d suggest.  Devoteeism & Heartbreak On my road to recovery after a surgery I had two years ago, I became an avid reader once again in my life. I was looking for answers & things that interested me and I found a whole lot of...
Read MoreThe Nasty Business of Reviews
These days absolutely anything is available to review. We all have our opinions and we want them to be heard, no matter what the product. There’s not only user reviews of books, but also reviews of my apartment building and its management, my husband’s kung fu school, and just about anything you can think of. Apps, movies, restaurants, products, services, etc. User feedback is great, but there are some problems with it too. In this landscape of everyone has an opinion, it seems difficult for people to realize that not everyone is going to share their opinion. I used to think that the world needed my opinions on books. (I’m sad to admit such egomania to you guys!). I thought readers deserve to know what they’re getting in a book. And I know...
Read MoreProgress Trackers
At proofreaders; available for pre-order
What Is Meant To Be
Second draft
Homework & Homicide (working title)
Second Draft
Book Montage
RFW winner October 7, 2011
