At Present ...

I posted a review from one of my favorite authors, Chris Cannon, a few days ago and cringed when I saw it had been weeks since my last post. As an author, I think, most of us strive to be current with social media. I'll admit I've taken a serious liking to Twitter lately. It's fast and to the point. Blogging takes more than 140 characters. It takes media, pictures, thought, etc. And guess what? All of that takes time. And unlike The Rolling Stones song, time has NOT been on my side.

Over the last three months I've completed a manuscript, THE BOXER AND THE BUTTERFLY, that I'm extremely proud of. I've had a near physical and mental breakdown at my job at which I turned in my two weeks notice, started job shopping and then my supervisor, wonderful woman that she is, talked me down off the ledge and waved a magic wand and produced much needed help. All I can say about that is it is difficult to be responsible for yourself, let alone 100 clients spread across 4 counties coupled with 15 other nurses under you and 200 employees. How in the hell does Walmart do it? Seriously? Never mind having kids, a husband, you know ... other things in life that you love aside from a demanding job. At any rate ... I am better and my agency has survived some seriously troubled waters.

Over Easter (and this was a miracle job wise) I was able to go with my husband and kids to my mother-in-laws house. We had a wonderful weekend and weeks later, I'm still trying to digest how it is that I'd never read, let alone watched, the BBC adaptation of North and South. Now, before I start pointing the finger of blame, I will admit that my mother-in-law mentioned it in passing before as she knows my tastes. But, my cousin, Tiffany (that's right, I'm calling you out on this!) who had recommended this to me, never one time said, "Sasha, listen to me. Focus. You. Will. Love. North and South. Your life is incomplete until you watch it. Got me?" It was more like, "I think you'd like North and South." So, I'm blaming her. (I do love you, Tiff)

Seriously. North and South was GLORIOUS! It was like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre had a baby. Of course after I watched this over Easter weekend I had to get the book and as luck would have it, North and South is available on Amazon for free. It was soooo good. I loved all the misunderstanding that all of us Jane Austen lovers admire in her work, but North and South is different in that the author (Elizabeth Gaskell) addresses some seriously hard topics such as poverty, the segregation of classes, clashing of beliefs and customs. It was perfection. There were some hard moments. It's not all humor and sun shine as in most of Austen's work, and that's where I detected a hint of the Bronte sisters. As with any of these classic works the only complaint that I have is you really work your ass off emotionally throughout the book and then they always sum up the ending you've been building and building towards in like two pages. Other than that ... just wow.

More book related news ... I'm still shopping The Boxer and the Butterfly out. It is still out there in agent land with a few who are considering it. When it's all said and done, I'll make myself share my entire experience with the process, but it's a bit premature at this stage. In the meantime, I've started on another YA Contemporary set in my beloved WV.