marketing a book/ imagination/ Post Secret

Jul. 5 Marketing a book: Ginny Grimsley sent me this article about how to market a book like send it to a contest.  If it wins, you can put that award on the book cover so book stores will put the book out and people will read it.

http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2013/07/article-marketing-book.html

Jul. 7 Secret Life of the American Teenager: I was reading in the Globe and Mail that Molly Ringwald from the movie The Breakfast Club has recorded and released a jazz album called Except Sometimes.  It said she ended her run as a mom on the TV show Secret Life of the American Teenager after 5 yrs. 

Me: What the show is cancelled?  I have to look it up.  Here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/secret-life-of-the-american-teenager-canceled_n_1953905.html

Here are a couple of comments that dissed the show:

Rockgirlkeh: I am suprised this show was canceled, but I can't say I'm unhappy about it. My teenage sister used to watch it, so I caught a handful of episodes. I feel like the show was damaging to young girls. Though it might have been created in the hopes of discouraging teen pregnacy, I feel it greatly missed the mark. The show portrayed a girl having a baby and then keeping it, supported by a strong network of friends and family. It also showed this girl having a dramatic love life and social life.

As someone who has had several close friends and family members become teen moms, the show's version of reality is not at all accurate. Though I'm sure it wasn't intentional, the show's message was less "being a teen mom is hard, so don't become one" and more "if you become a teen mom you'll have this baby that loves you and you'll gets lots of attention and everything will be fine." Young girls see this and don't have the ability to understand that it is entertainment. They just want to have an exciting life like Amy and a baby that will love them unconditionally. I think shows like this, including the whole Teen Mom saga, are detremental to the young women who watch them. Glad to see it go.

Ccrafty1: I am glad to see this show go. I watched this with my neice and was surprised at the story line again and again. I don't believe that every teen is talking about nothing else but engaging in gossip, back stabing or having sex to the point that it was protrayed in this show. It was never about anyone who would actually study, participate in sports, care about grades or do one thing for their community. No one had one single thought that wasn't connected to sex....not realistic.

Me: I haven't seen this show since the 2nd season ended.  I watched the first season and read the twop.com snarky comments when it came out in 2009 on City TV.  Then City TV cancelled it and then I watched it on Youtube and read the comments.  Then I stopped.  By then it was 2010 and I was busy doing productive and important things like looking for a job because it was The Year of Unemployment.

Of course, I continued to watch TV, but good shows like The Vampire Diaries. 

Imagination: I was working all day at the restaurant and my mind wandered.  I was thinking about that out-of-control- teenage girl on Jenny Jones again.  The one who got pregnant at 13 and had an abortion.  What if the mom was able to find a really rich adoptive parents?  The adoptive parents could then pay for the bodyguards to watch the 13 yr old girl 24/7 to make sure she doesn't smoke, drink, or do drugs, or hurt herself.

If the mom was able to find rich parents who are desperate enough to put up and support  this girl for 9 months.  It's mainly the bodyguards who will deal with her.  But then I thought: "What if the child grows up and wants to know about her birth mother?  What do you tell her?"

I guess: "You birth mom was a really young teen mom.  She was 13 yrs old.  This is a closed adoption."  Maybe the baby will turn 18 yrs old and hire a PI to find her birth mom.

There is also finding the adoptive parents who will pay for this 13 yr old girl to be watched.  After dealing with her, they may think: "Do we really want to have a kid?  What if the baby turns out to be like her?  I know it's nurture vs. nature, but what if we raised our baby in private schools and all that, and she still ends up out-of control?" 

I would ask: "How desperate are you?  Are you in your late 30s and hear your biological clock ticking?  How much money are you spending on IV to have a baby?  What if it has birth defects?  Do you want to adopt kids internationally?  That's expensive.  How much time, money, and effort are you willing to put into getting a healthy baby from a 13 yr old girl?"

It's hard.  There are probably lots of adoptive parents who would say: "I will take my chances on IV and other adoptions."  It's like finding a needle in the haystack to find parents to pay to take care of a pregnant 13 yr old girl.

Post Secret: I found this secret of a 2 yr old girl and she only has a thumb on one hand:

"I wish you could forever be the 2-yr old that thinks they come over and stare, because they want to play with you."

Email:

Frank,

I just wanted to let the parents of the two year old know that it will get better.

I was born without a hand, and I know my parents had many fears as I grew up. This world is scary enough even with "normal" kids. They empowered me to try anything I wanted to, made it a non-issue, and kept people in my life who embraced me for who I was.

People will always stare and talk and decide for you who they think you will become, but with encouragement and love, we all can overcome the things that make us different whether visable to outsiders or not.

I've found someone who loves me for who I am and have had a healthy eight year relationship with him, I have two degrees, I can play the violin, and when people ask what happened, I smile and tell them. Curiosity is in all of us, and likely satisfying that curiosity and moving in stride with confidence is all it will take to silence those who doubt her.

When I look at that picture I don't notice what's wrong with her, I see a beautiful little girl with the potential to accomplish great things.

Jul. 8: To add to the pregnant 13 yr old girl: Who puts 24/7 surveillance on a 13 yr old girl?  You would if you are watching a newborn- 2 yr old because a baby needs to be watched constantly.  In this case of a pregnant 13 yr old girl, you have to watch her.

If a woman is in her late 30s and has a baby, the baby will have a higher chance of birth defects like autism and down syndrome.  If the 13 yr old girl is healthy, takes her prenatal vitamins and care, doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs, there is still a risk the baby isn't going to be healthy because the mom is so young.

The baby could be born premature and underweight.