August 17, 2016

My Life Is Indeed Weird

'Tis a strange week that I've experienced so far.

As per the norm, a fresh post is up at I Are Writer!, and as per not the norm, an ultra rare post is up at Cedar's Mountain. Yes, you read correctly: a fresh post is up at Cedar's Mountain. For the first, and quite possibly the only time this year, I blew out the dust bunnies and wrote a fresh blog post at Cedar's Mountain. The why behind it is very simple: I was challenged by a meme that a Facebook friend posted in his newsfeed the other day about health insurance. Since I'm not one to let a particular topic that I know a little bit about go unanswered, answering it is what I did. However, since I didn't want to gum up my weekly blog with a one off that was seriously long on verbiage and seriously long on sarcasm and nor did I want to post it on my adult blog, Cedar's Mountain became the default choice. If you got the time, please check it out.

As for here, I like to write a short blurb about my lovely daughter Jenelle.

Jenelle is kind of like me at her current age (15 1/2) when I was growing up: smart, a smart ass, and someone who reads way above her age level.

Just about everyone here knows the age level kind that I gear my writing towards, and over the years I've made doubly sure that none of my writings made it to the astral plane that my daughter travels on. Being the responsible parent, I try my best to keep track of what my daughter reads (when she does read) and nudge her towards age appropriate material (he says with a straight face).

So you can imagine my surprise (no really, I was...semi) when she mentioned that she wanted to read my latest.

J: "Dad, I want to read your book."
GB: "Excuse me?"
J: "I want to read your book."
GB: "It's only available on Amazon and I have it listed as 18+, so you won't be able to buy it."

The next two minutes basically covered a few certain workarounds that those under 18 perform when they want something out of their age range. The next two after that had me explaining why it was listed as 18+. She kept up the pressure by saying she talked up my book to her friends. Finally I said this:

"Okay, here's the 3rd draft of the e-book, sans the 18+ story, and a postcard that you can share with your friends."

And thus ended the latest encounter/skirmish with my daughter, which I probably did not win (I rarely do).

We finish up this post by highlighting a non-fiction book that I read in which I plan on writing a scathing review on. I read an auto-bio by famed civil rights attorney Lewis M. Steele entitled "The Butler's Child." In a nutshell, in my personal opinion, this book from beginning to end is one ginormous apology for white privilege. Apparently Mr. Steele, whose family was the Warner Brothers movie company, suffered enormously from white privilege and spent his entire life apologizing and trying to make amends for it. I would say more about this, but the more I think about this book, the more angrier/annoyed I get. So I'll save my anger/annoyance for the 2 star review that I plan giving this book.

Tune in next week, when I'll have more pearls of wisdom to share with one and all, and quite possibly, a book review too. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this question: ever read a book that afterwards left a very strong negative impression on you?

(c) 2016 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.

16 comments:

  1. That's nice that your daughter is proud of you and wants to show off your book to her friends.

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    1. In a way it is, and somehow, a bit scary at the same time.

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  2. At least she's proud of your author efforts and spreading the news. One day those kids will be old enough to buy your book.

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    1. She's definitely is at that. Always prodding me to write something clean. And yes, someday they will be "old" enough to buy my book.

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  3. I would not EVER, EVER, EVER want to read anything sexual written by either of my parents. And may I just emphasize again: NOT EVER. I cannot possibly imagine anything more icky. And you know, I'm not puritanical or squeamish about sexual things. JUST THIS. Hahahahahaha

    As for your book question -- I once started to read the autobiography of a noted Canadian criminal defence lawyer whose skills I very much admired. The book was so full of misogyny against female lawyers and judges that I just threw it across the room in disgust. Then I picked it up with tongs and threw it in the garbage. The worst thing about it was that I had bought it in hardback, lol! That's good money never seen again.

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    1. Yeah, I can truly see your point about paragraph one. And it definitely bites that you had to find out the hard way about that well known lawyer.

      One time, I picked up a non-fiction book about the police/judicial system, and the blurb piqued my curiosity...until I read a quote from a notorious cop killer that Hollywood simply goes ga-ga over. Dropped that sucker so fast my fingers sizzled.

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  4. I don't keep reading books that are leaving negative impressions on me.

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    1. I normally don't either, but this one snuck up on me so gradual that by the time the negative impression was left, the book was finished.

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  5. My son did read a couple of my books but never really told me much of what he thought about them. Don't think they were quite his cup of tea

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    1. My son rarely read anything beyond a car magazine, so for my daughter to take interest in my writing is a plus. Her reading level is about where mine was at her age, as I was already reading adult fiction. Still, it does worry me a little.

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  6. I agree with Debra. I would voluntarily stay far away from any TMI overshares by my parents if I were a teenager. As an adult it wouldn't bother me quite so much, although it would still be weird.

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    1. That is my main concern with my daughter. I definitely think it would be WTMI for her to handle as it pertains to me.

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  7. My parents have read all of our books, including our latest one, which has not one but two (hilarious) sex scenes. It's a little awkward, but my parents said they really enjoyed the book. I think I'd much prefer that to them just having no interest at all. So long story short, that's awesome that your daughter has such an interest in reading your book.

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    1. I'm fortunate that my mother doesn't like to read books or magazines at all, because I don't think I could tolerate the weird looks and snide remarks that inevitably would come my way.

      My dad and grandfather got me hooked on reading, buy they mostly read men's adventures and westerns respectively.

      I think it is too, if only because she wanted to see how one of the stories that she did a beta-read for me came out.

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