About last night

Ugh.  I’ve already mentioned one idiot actor on this blog, and now I’m about to foul it up with another one.  So yes, everyone is talking about fake Margaret Thatcher’s ridiculous, hammy performance at some stupid awards show last night.  Boo hoo, actors are sooooooo vilified!  By the way, back in November I wrote a…

By Elaine Arias January 9, 2017 Off

Digital Libraries

If you’re lucky enough, your county’s library system might have a “digital library” or a website where you can check out eBooks (usually with DRM applied).  I have a library card from my previous residence (on the West Coast), and that county library uses Over Drive.  My local library has a digital library but they use…

By Elaine Arias December 28, 2016 Off

Oh hell no!

  Oh no no no no no.  NO.  I read the following paragraph a few days ago and saw red: That said, it does seem counterintuitive to advocate that there be less sex in YA and I worry that people will lump me in with the moralistic, puritanical voices of those who are likely to…

By Elaine Arias December 22, 2016 Off

Unhappy Endings

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Divergent saga.  You’ve probably heard of the films, but they were based on a trilogy by Veronica Roth.  The premise – teenage girl lives in heavily segregated post-apocalyptic Chicago, learns to fit in with another group while learning how to “fight” and falling in love with some guy –…

By Elaine Arias December 12, 2016 Off

On writing tough things

So I need to get back to writing.  I really do.  I did do some work on Nemesis yesterday, but then got sidetracked into doing a related side-project.  In Nemesis, the main character, Tara, is captured by the US government and is taken to an underground facility.  She has a number of amazing abilities, including the ability…

By Elaine Arias December 6, 2016 Off

Hey snobs – you’re on notice!

One of the things that pleases me greatly about this past election is the complete and utter repudiation of the snobs in our society.  You know.  The ones that live in big cities and on either coasts.  Some of them are Canadians living in Toronto or wherever.  Any cosmopolitan, brightly lit city – that’s where…

By Elaine Arias December 2, 2016 Off

Why I am self-publishing

Shortly before the election, I found this on Reddit:  Racist YA novel receives backlash.  This was posted at the cesspit known as Oh No They Didn’t, a LiveJournal community dedicated to celebrity gossip.  I used to visit that site frequently but after the 2008 election, I stopped, and I haven’t really missed it since. I…

By Elaine Arias November 30, 2016 Off

Happy Thanksgiving

I am grateful to be an American.  I am grateful to have been born in this great country, and I am grateful to live here. I have Native American ancestry on both sides of my family, and I still feel this way, regardless of what happened in the past.  No nation has a perfectly peaceful,…

By Elaine Arias November 24, 2016 Off