This has nothing to do with anything...

Yesterday I had to buy a new tube of mascara. As often happens, I got a little lost in the make-up aisle. It's less that I want everything as I'm constantly amazed at what's available. Fake lashes, fake nails, eye shadows and lipsticks in enough shades to paint a rainbow, lip plumper...

The first time I saw this, I had to stop and stare. Lip plumper, really? I suppose my own lips could use some plumping, but I'm kind of wary. How does this magical product make my lips bigger? I've thought on it (without doing even five seconds of research) and instead of coming up with a solution, I started thinking about what else could be plumped up. Let's say I kiss my daughter's forehead. Is she going to get a lip-shaped puffy area on her skin? What's in that stuff? How long is it "active?" I don't know--not sure I want to. But I digress...

As I'm deciding between dark brown and medium brown mascara, I caught sight of a very weird looking bottle of foundation. Right on the front, it promised to tighten my skin, hide any wrinkles, and leave me with a smooth, flawless finish. I was actually intrigued and found myself lifting the bottle to seriously consider this twelve dollar purchase (and if you knew how cheap I was, you'd be impressed). Then I did the next most ignorant thing possible and looked for the model promoting it.

Yes, I know they're all air brushed and they--like me--have pores, but I was in the mood to be suckered and I was hoping to see a grinning Ellen DeGeneres or a lovely Andie MacDowell sporting noticeably reduced fine lines. Instead, I got a thirteen year old actress.

Okay, she wasn't thirteen. She wasn't an actress, either. She was famous, though, and I'm honestly not sure if she can legally vote. THIS is who they use to sell wrinkle cream? For real?

Actually, no. She was promoting the neighboring anti-zit foundation. Still, as I checked out her plastic skin (I don't care how young you are, no one's skin is that perfect) I started thinking about how beauty is marketed. We're given the most gorgeous spokeswomen (who are then photoshopped) to demonstrate the marvel of whatever product is being pushed. Do any of us really think a twelve dollar bottle of cream is going to turn us into Eva Longoria? Why do we want that, anyway?

I read this article (sorry, I don't remember when or where) that said an experiment was done in a remote community to introduce women to commercialization--TV, magazine ads, etc. They said that, surprisingly, there were no issues of violence or questionable morals, etc. The only major change that occurred was that an overwhelming majority of these women developed self-esteem issues.

Okay, I butchered the details here pretty bad, but the message is the same. And that makes me sad...

The Elect for FREE!!!

Beginning 9/23, The Elect will be free to download as a Kindle copy directly from Amazon! If you're interested, get your copy anytime this week--promotion ends Friday!

This is hard to admit, but...

As it turns out, though its entirely possible to do EVERYTHING myself, it is perhaps not the best idea. After querying various artists and graphic designers and just seeing what's out there and possible, I have to admit that I am not the best person to create my own covers.

Book covers can be terribly expensive. Some designers want over a thousand dollars, and I may NEVER be able to afford that! Still, I lucked out in teaming up with a German art student, Celairen, who has created the most beautiful covers I could never hope to make myself.

What do you think of the new "face" of The Elect?

I'm terribly impressed with Celairen, who endured my changes and critiques with absolutely no complaint and didn't ask me to take out a second mortgage to cover the fee...

Books 1 & 2 Available Now!!!

Obviously, I'm not a professional graphic designer. I toyed with images for the books for MONTHS. I knew what I wanted as my source material, and I knew what I wanted it to look like. This is what I ended up with. Surprisingly, no one has yet guessed what these pictures are actually of...

First Time...

Everyone says a writer should have a blog, so I went ahead and got one. Course, it occurs to me now that though I've read hundreds of others, I never paid a whole lot of attention to what goes into a blog...like, at all.

So, here's hoping I don't suck at this!