The Kids Are NOT Alright (A #Mancode Essay)

When kids get sick, do men believe it?


That’s the question of the day.


In my home, it takes proof. Otherwise, my husband ships them off to school. Kinda like the army: Be all that you can be, five-year-old! No excuses here, sixth grader!


What IS that?


Let’s deconstruct.


The other day, the little guy (age five) felt and smelled warm to me (I know. It’s a chick thing). Husband looked at me like I was nuts. YOU SMELLED HIM? After much eye-rolling, he said, “He played T-ball. Of course he’s warm. Relax. He’s going to school tomorrow.”


Against my better judgment, we sent him. And…we got the call after naptime. Keep in mind, this fella NEVER takes a nap at school. 103 degree fever. (Of course, I’m not in the least surprised.)


I take him right over to the pediatrician. Strep, baby.


Sigh.


Why do I listen to my husband? He of the ‘until he has a fever of 103 and tests positive for strep he’s not sick’ camp? Clearly, I had pegged it. Clearly, mom knows best. My gut knew. My nose knew.


Why do guys ignore the sick?


When it comes to illness: are men from oblivion and women from recognition?



I don’t mean that my husband is an idiot, cause he’s not. Let’s not get pissy here, people. But he intentionally ignored my son’s symptoms for the sake of getting on with the day. It’s as if he believes he can power through nature just by willing it so. Which, um, excuse me, is just soooo uber-Mancode.


It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Cause dude, it never freakin' works. Mother Nature knows.


As do mothers. #der


Chicks, on the other hand, will nurture that person through their illness. Do what we can to care for that baby, make him feel better, nurse the symptoms, do whatever it takes to make it GO AWAY quickly; and then get on with life.


I recognize that not all men are like this. My dad is not like this. He’s kind of a hypochondriac to be honest (love you Daddy :-). At the first sign of any of his three girls being ill, we were all stuffed with massive amounts of Vitamin C, tea, Hitchcock, and bed. We loved being sick with Dad. Mom was the one who’d tell us to get our asses to school, dammit (though if we begged, she’d make us awesome matzo ball soup).


To be honest, my guy wasn’t always like this. No, wait--yes he was. I forgot. He’s a dude. Even when HE’S sick, we all have to pretend he’s not; until, ya know, he’s so sick I practically have to hospitalize him and by then, we all have to wait on him hand and foot cause THAT’S WHAT GUYS DO (remember Maby, Baby?)


What’s your take on how men recognize – or fail to recognize – illness? Surely it’s not just me living in my own little Mancode bubble? #pleasegodsayitisntso


If it is, then yea. I’m fucked.




Please share your opinion, comments, and stories with me below. Retweets and mentions appreciated and loved.

Remember, you can purchase me eBook A Walk in the Snark on Amazon (no Kindle required) for only $2.99. 5/5 star reviews, you will laugh and cry. Even dudes love it.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, here...anywhere but the kitchen.

You know, I also teach social media to writers over at the Indie Book Collective. Check me out over there, baby.

IN DREAMS #IIChallenge

My @IndieInk challenge this week from @Kat: A drunk man sits next to you in a bar, thinks you're his buddy and starts confessing "the truth". Write about what "the truth" is.


I decided to write a little short fiction piece. Please let me know your thoughts below.

IN DREAMS


When Jack entered the bar, he noticed only one available stool. Hoping another would open up by the time his date arrived, he took it quickly. He liked this bar. It was dark, quiet, out of the way. No one would bother them here.


When a stool next to him opened up, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Now, if only his date would get here. As he signaled the bartender, a man approached him—drunk, incoherent, sliding onto the barstool as if it were his usual spot. Perhaps it was. It certainly looked like home for him. Yet, something about the man seemed familiar. Jack couldn’t quite tell what it was.


At first, Jack didn’t recognize him. He could hardly understand him, given his slurred speech. He would realize later it had been years, of course, since he had last seen him; time hadn’t been kind to the poor fellow, mumbling on about his long, lost love.


The man’s appearance was rumpled, his hair, though gray, was thick and full. His eyes however, were a bright clear blue; that struck a chord with Jack. As the man started to speak, Jack tried to focus on his words but kept staring at his eyes. He knew those eyes.


Jack tried to focus on the man’s words. Something about the man was eerily familiar. The man’s speech became harder to figure out, more desperate:


The man spoke directly to Jack first. “She was the one, man. I blew it. All those years ago. Will you tell her? Can you tell her?” he asked Jack in a plaintive voice, clearly full of pain.


Jack, thoroughly lost and taken aback at the man's directness replied, “Who, man? Why do you think I’d know who the hell you’re even talking about?”


The man continued undaunted, “Because you know her. And she was so pretty. I loved her eyes. Everyone loved her. Those green eyes. I was a fool.”


Jack just shook his head. “Okay, buddy. Help me out here. You got a name?” he asked.


But the man seemed lost, almost talking to himself. “So goddamned beautiful. Raven. Her name was Raven and she was the most beautiful girl I ever knew. And she loved me. She was gonna marry me. Til I fucked it up and left.”


Jack sat there in stunned silence. No. It can’t be! Now he understood. Now he knew who this poor creature was! But wait --how was it even possible that this ghost of a man was sitting right next to him?


As Jack sat there with his mouth open, the man continued. “She never knew the truth, did she?”


Jack took a moment to speak, contemplating the best way to answer this clearly broken man. “No. Maybe. I’m not sure,” he said haltingly. “But she kept looking for you.”


Suddenly the man’s eyes seem to clear as he asked Jack, “Did you know?”


Jack looked down. “I suspected,” he replied, adding “Do you still have it?”


The man only shook his head. “No. I gave up the chase years ago. Wasn’t worth losing her. Took me awhile to see…but, I know where it is.”


Jack looked up at the man sharply, glancing around furtively before speaking in a low, urgent voice, “What? It was supposed to have been destroyed! As were you.”


The man reached out a hand, deceptively faster and stronger than his looks let on, grasping Jack’s shirt, “Tell me one thing: is she still alive? I just need to know. Then I’ll give you – and them – everything they seek,” the man pleaded with him.


Jack looked around nervously. He thought all this was over years ago. This could not be happening. He didn’t want Raven hurt again. But he needed to know where, or if, what they sought for so long could still be found. It was the key to his – no, to all – of their futures.


Taking a look at the door and still not seeing his date, which was really starting to freak him out, Jack responded in a hushed tone, “Yes. She’s alive and well. Sad, but well. I’m not sure she ever truly recovered after you left. That’s all I can tell you. I don’t care about them. But I need to know--where is it? I need to know the truth!”


Just as the man opened his mouth to speak, a pane of glass broke just where Jack had glanced only seconds before, a bullet piercing the man’s right temple, barely missing Jack. As Jack pulled the man down, the man whispered strange words in Jack’s ear with his dying breath: in somnis veritas (in dreams there is truth).


The chase was on.



 Comments welcome, retweets and mentions loved.
 
Please purchase my book A WALK IN THE SNARK for only $2.99 on Amazon (no Kindle required). Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Goodreads or the IndieBookIBC where I teach writers cool stuff about social media and indie publishing. Come on. You know you wanna.

BLOG TOUR DE SNARK, Baby

UPDATE: Tues, 4/26

The contest is now CLOSED, my lovelies. We can no longer honor the Blog Tour de Force free eBook giveaway (it ended midnight last night).

I so appreciate all the wonderful visits to my blog and it's been an absolutely fabulous week of new and current readers showing support for which I'm incredibly grateful. Please keep coming back and read updates here on my current work in progress or just my general craziness. xoxo Rach
Winners will be announced on the IBC blog talk radio show tonight at 4:30pm PST so tune in!

 
My book A Walk in the Snark, my humorous take on the lives of men and women a la’ Mancode and Chickspeak, takes on George Pappas’ Monogamy Sucks, an explicit look at the ultimate male fantasy.


Who’s your daddy, baby? Er, mama?


That’s up to you, our incredible (and might I add, attractive) readers to decide. George and I um, go at it, so to speak, Tuesday, April 19, 2011 as part of the Indie Book Collective’s hot promotion, Blog Tour de Force Cage Match where your comments decide the winner each day. Two authors each day for five days, and whoever gets the most comments moves on to the semi-finals.

But let’s be clear: both of these books are HOT HOT HOT. Monogamy Sucks has lots of sex and a great story. It IS a great book and I enjoyed it immensely. George is a deft writer and he tackles a subject most people are uncomfortable discussing but probably have thought about (come on, you wanna know): the swinger’s life. He handles it with grace and humor. However, it’s clear that his character Jake is the epitome of the Mancode, right?


You’ll definitely have to read his novel to find out!


Then, after visiting George's blog, hop over to here to my blog RachelintheOC.com and A Walk in the Snark, where Jake (his book's main character) would clearly lie in a state of confusion at what the heck Chickspeak is all about. He probably believes a woman when she says “I’m fine,” which is why he’s still swingingly single and convinced monogamy sucks. No judgments here. Just a few drops of sarcastic wit with your coffee, sprinkled with some poignant tales of my past relationships. Hey, it’s not all martinis and beaches here in the OC, ya know.


Can you handle the snark?


What I love about both books is that we dared to tackle subjects that make many people uncomfortable: sex (well, lots of sex); suicide, abuse, alcoholism, and the battle of the sexes – well, maybe not the battle so much as misunderstandings and the dichotomy of how we deal with them. Both writers break down the stereotypes and get their hands dirty where other writers wouldn’t have dared.


Are you game?


At least there’s one thing you can count on with both books: we’re a sure thing. Both have glowing reviews. Head over to our Amazon pages to see for yourself.


SO, HOW DO YOU WIN?


1. Leave a comment here and receive a free copy of my eBook (no eReader required)! Tell me your favorite essay from anywhere on my blog and don’t forget to LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL SO I CAN SEND YOU THE COUPON CODE (via Smashwords).


2. Pick your favorite review of A Walk In The Snark (My Book Fetish, Immortyl Café, The Pen Muse) and write THIS phrase: I can handle the snark! And I’ll enter you into the drawing for my Snark gift baskets, a $25 value (last tour’s recipients LOVED theirs).


3. Every original comment counts as an entry toward the FREE KINDLE so tell your friends, neighbors, family, cats. (Besides, we don’t want to let a BOY win, do we? #naw)


4. Retweets and mentions on Twitter and Facebook also count as Kindle entries so shout me out, baby! Just shoot me the link so I can count your entry.


5. Follow my blog (via Google Friend Connect, Facebook Network Blog, or Feedburner) and receive one more entry in the gift basket giveaway! Again, let me know you've done so!


Ultimately, though remember this: we both want your love, attention, sales (if you don’t want a free copy, my book costs just $2.99 on Amazon, no Kindle required :) and comments, but mostly we want you to experience ALL the fabulous writers on this tour, hand-picked for their excellent books and amazing ability to tell you a great story:


Kimberly Kinrade’s Bits of You & Pieces of Me, a truthful and poignant tale of her devastatingly violent first marriage; award-winning author Ann Charles’ terrific thriller Nearly Departed in Deadwood; Cyberpunk author John Sundman Acts of the Apostles; Suzanne Adair’s Paper Woman; AM Harte’s Hungry for You; suspense writer Gary Ponzo’s A Touch of Deceit; and of course, our opening day authors, Carolyn McCray aka Cristyn West with Plain Jane and Amber Scott with her latest, the tantalizing Fierce Dawn. Discover new writers; you will be impressed.


And guess what? Each comment gets you not only a free eBook from all of us but a chance to win a FREE Kindle, baby! Oh, yea. Check out the Blog Tour de Force site for allll the detes.


So let’s play, rumble, get dirty. Let’s show the boys just how many pairs of black heels will be stomping all over their booties (of course, they’ll probably like that)…


Sigh. #Mancode

Wanna Play?

Check out this Indie Book Collective hot promo for next week's Blog Tour de Force Cage Match, baby.

My day is Tuesday, April 19th, when my book, A Walk In The Snark goes chick to dude with author George Pappas (aka @GPWriter ) author of Monogamy Sucks.

What does this mean to you? For every one of you who comes here and leaves me a comment, you receive a coupon code to download my book FREE from Smashwords that day only. Yea, baby. In addition, you're automatically entered into the IBC drawing to win a FREE Kindle. #happydance

PLUS, whichever author wins the most comments that day moves on to the semi-final round. I know you all want to help Chickspeak win over Mancode, right? Preach the snark, folks. (You're also registered to win a gift basket from each of us. Of course, mine rocks. :)

Are you, dear readers, going to let George's swinger win over my 19 years of paper towel scrunchies? I think not.

Word.



Be sure to follow all the updates about the tour on the IndieBookIBC stream and Facebook fan page! Each author will be giving away gift baskets, plus you can register to win all sorts of cool prizes, as well as enter to win the FREE Kindle.

Monday, baby. Join the action!

Prince Charming

Write a horror story that takes place at Disneyland. @IndieInk Challenge by @Wendryn.

PRINCE CHARMING


I could hear his voice loud and clear. Well, we all could, given how loud he was yelling. Normally, if you hear shouting at Disneyland, it’s either squeals of delight or crying children, exhausted from the day. But this…this was something entirely different.


This got our attention.


In the large, crowded area outside the Haunted Mansion, on a sunny, bright day at the Happiest Place on Earth, a small little man took his hand to a precious, round-cheeked child.


“Get your ass in the goddamned stroller, you fucking kid!” a clearly out of control, angry parent yelled at his small, helpless, frightened little blonde Snow White. It didn’t take long for my ire to rise, nor those of the mother warriors around me. Funny how it’s the chicks who take control in situations like these.


As I began to step over that invisible line that said DON’T GET INVOLVED, ignoring my husband’s arm pulling me back, a large mother in shorts that did her no favors and tattoos that in this case, most certainly did, grabbed this grizzled little pissant by his shirt collar and asked him in a surprisingly even tone if he’d like the stroller permanently stuck in parts south of his border. As his legs dangled from the ground, he managed to squeak out a “No, ma’am,” before she tossed him down to the ground like the garbage that he was.


We all clapped.


Someone called security. As we dispersed like oil drops in water, leaving the greasy, mealy-mouth man there to explain why his princess’s cheek was bright red, she clung to her mother, who had remained silent through it all.


This is what I think. There are lots of scary monsters at Disneyland. It’s not All Happy, All The Time. You go there expecting it to be fun and joy, but many children, including mine, find themselves terrified of the evil stepmother, Captain Hook, or even sweet and silly Chip n’ Dale. Put a person in a costume with funny teeth and hey, that’s enough to scare even an adult. You expect the scary. It wears a face, it lurks in the open.


This is what I’ve observed. I’ve spent enough time at the Tragic Kingdom to learn a few things about human nature: when people become overwhelmed by crowds, are hot, frustrated, or tired, or are dealing with hot, tired children, they lose their problem-solving abilities. Add to this that there is a certain percentage of the population that has absolutely no business whatsoever having kids, let alone taking them to a crowded, hot, frustrating, tiring place where said parents lose their shit.


This is what I know. It is a horrible thing to watch a child beaten like that in a public place. It is even worse to see an adult stand by and watch it happen, feeling her helpless yet knowing rage and humiliation wash over you in waves as she silently calls out for help to the complete strangers around her, begging with her eyes for someone, anyone to come to her aid; hoping against hope that you don’t, knowing she can’t say a word or he will beat her and/or her precious princess into submission. Or worse. And knowing she made that choice doesn’t make it any easier to walk away.


I'm not exactly sure who was more helpless that day.

I do know Prince Charming was nowhere to be found at the Happiest Place on Earth.  




Comments welcome, retweets and mentions loved.

Please go check out the wonderful writing by all the writers involved in the Indie Ink Challenge by searching on Twitter with this hashtag: #IIChallenge or going to the @IndieInk site on Fridays.



You should follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, or the Indie Book Collective where I help writers learn social media skills to sell more books.

Got three bucks? Go buy my eBook A Walk In The Snark on Amazon (no Kindle required)...5/5 star reviews, recently took the #3 spot on the Humor Parenting/Family list (unseating Jenny McCarthy, baby); and read this Huffington Post Books piece about me and the IBC that just posted today by Twitter Powerhouse author @2morrowKnight!  

KEYS, PLEASE (A #Mancode Post)

Keys.


Why do men have so many freakin’ keys?


I have one, count em, ONE set.


My husband has fifty gazillion. It’s just soooo Mancode.

He’s very proud of all his keys, with their different tags and sizes, kept in their different color-coded boxes. “There’s a system, you know,” he tells me authoritatively, as if I’m paying attention (insert eye roll here).


Usually it doesn’t bother me. I let him revel in his key superiority, writing it off to his y-chromosome, male-testosterone need to be able to, at all times, open shit up. Except…


When I need to find a key, of course.


Then it just pisses me off.


I don’t question his need to keep the keys to the luggage we purchased nineteen years ago for our honeymoon --disregarding that the luggage is long gone, of course. But if my baby wants those tiny little useless bendy keys for no apparent good reason, who am I to question his sanity? Sure, we could need them one day, honey...(for a time capsule project maybe).


No, he’s not a hoarder. He throws lots of junk out. Just not, ya know, keys.


Is this some kind of Mancode trait that chicks just can’t relate to? Surely, it must be. Kinda of along the lines of my obsession with black shoes, black tops and pants. Oh, and finding the perfect nude lip gloss. Right?


He’ll argue that all his keys have a purpose – and I’ll give him that it IS better to organize them than have them in a jumble. But really, an entire drawer full? I’m ready to sign him up for Hoarders: Key Edition.


He doesn’t find this funny.


He’ll argue that there’s no reason for me to have so many black shoes but hey, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out my system.

I say this with determination.

I tell him that all my black shoes, particularly my pretty Prada heels, organized on my shoe shelf according to height, all serve a very specific purpose.


Yea, um...when I figure out what that is, I’ll let you know.




You should follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, here, and please purchase my eBook A Walk In The Snark on Amazon (no Kindle required) just $2.99.

Highly rated (all 5/5 star reviews), funny, poignant, my collection of non-fiction humor essays recently unseated both Jenny McCarthy AND David Sedaris (I know!) on the Kindle Humor charts, reaching #3 on the Humor, Parenting & Family list!

Want to take a walk with me? Can you handle the snark?

Are you a writer or reviewer? Come on over to the Indie Book Collective @IndieBookIBC. Lots of cool stuff there, too. We want you, baby.

Warmth

This week's IndieInk Challenge from the Ah-mazing MissAshTuesday: How is a craft (you pick) like some sort of lesson in life?

I encourage you to read the other Indie Ink Challenge participants -- search on #IIChallenge hashtag on Twitter or go to IndieInk.org for deets. They rock.

WARMTH



She looked so small, in that very large, very white hospital bed. Wearing a white wool knitted cap on the tiny, bald freckled little head she desperately didn’t want anyone to see even now, when she was so close to her last, ragged breaths.


The cap wasn’t special to her. She’d made thousands like it over the years; gnarled hands clicking away in her comfortable leather chair, knitting knitting knitting through storms and death, smoke and pain.


The men…well, they’d come and gone but she…she’d always had her knitting. The point was to complete the task and move on. Create something you could hold in your hand.


Her mama had taught her when times were tight; it had come in handy during the Depression when she’d had to knit her own family's warm clothes. Even sold some. Pennies, that was something back then. Pennies could make soup for a week, she’d tried to tell us. But we just wanted to watch TV shows and chew gum. Pick the red paint off her porch and watch as it crumbled into dust, staining our palms crimson for days.

We didn’t care about the knitting. It was too complicated, not fun for little kids.


She didn’t seem to mind, sitting us down with our own packs of Doublemint Gum and childish coloring books, not noticing her cigarette smoke swirling past our noses as it rose up to the ceiling where it would hang in heavy white clouds, mocking our discomfort.

We loved our grandmother because we were supposed to, despite the fact that she was a terrible cook who made us watch Lawrence Welk while we chewed, in that awful, small little room; her knitting needles clicking clicking clicking away. She made slippers mostly with little colored poms-poms on the top, donating them to the hospital where she volunteered, pushing her wares on family members hoping to ease the pain of critically ill patients not long for this world.

She wasn't a warm, loving woman. As I grew older, I understood more of her life and what made her that way, despite the fact that more than distance had caused us to grow apart. 

"I know you!" she exclaimed with surprising vigor when she saw me that last time, sharp as ever.  

I said my goodbyes as she lay dying, finally, of lung cancer; I realized that her knitting was perhaps what kept her alive those many years.

It was her way of giving warmth.


Comments welcome, retweets and mentions loved.

If you haven't already, please purchase my eBook A Walk In The Snark for just 99 cents the rest of today as part of the Indie Book Collective's Bestseller For A Day promotion.

Help propel me to the top of the Amazon chart! (I've already moved to #3 on the Humor Parenting/Families list, successfully kicking Jenny McCarthy's ass. Yea, baby.)

Follow me on Twitter or here. Thanks cool peeps.

Bestseller For A Day TODAY VLog, Baby

In case you've been living under a rock, maybe you don't know that today is my BESTSELLER FOR A DAY. Where my eBook A Walk In The Snark (that you don't need a Kindle to purchase *eyeroll*) is just 99 cents).

So I promised a vlog where I'd answer some questions.

Let's do this thingy:

Forewarning -- it cuts off at 10 minutes and I don't get to my favorite things question, darn it.

Suffice it to say, I like spicy food, vodka and coffee #der, kids, husband, writing #der, walks on the beach, short visits with family, vacations in warm places, not cooking, smart people, engaging conversation, music, wine, massages, books, turquoise, and when someone else cleans my house for me.

I hope you've enjoyed this. You made it worth putting on makeup.

Please purchase my book and then come on back over here and enter to win my contest for a $50 Amazon gift card by leaving a comment with a quote from the middle of the book (to confirm purchase).

Thanks for your love and support. xo



My Bestseller For A Day, Baby ... It's On



So THIS Wednesday, April 6th is MY day for A Walk In The Snark, when my humorous collection of essays is the featured book for BESTSELLER FOR A DAY, which is the awesomely cool promotion by the Indie Book Collective designed to propel me (well, my eBook—but it’s a good visual don’t ya think?) up to the top of the Kindle charts, baby. (Don’t have a Kindle? So what. Don’t need one.)


What does that mean exactly?


Lots of cool stuff. For you the reader, it’s really easy three-fold fun:


1. Go to Amazon and purchase my eBook A Walk In The Snark for just 99 cents (starting today!) through Wednesday ONLY! The normal price is $2.99 so you save two bucks. Hey, you never know -- that two bucks could save your life one day. Or at least buy you a big cup of coffee.

Remember, NO KINDLE REQUIRED. Just download any of the FREE Kindle apps for your computer or smartphone.


2. Your purchase helps show the big boys of publishing what indie authors can do! Every purchase improves my ranking on the overall Amazon chart. Our goal is to get my eBook, out of the billions and billions (oh wait, that’s stars)…okay, millions of eBooks, onto the KindleTop 100! I’ve already hit #17 on the Humor/Parenting & Families chart, which is awesome. But I need your help to make it onto the Big Daddy chart.






Please shout me out to your Twitter stream, Facebook friends, email your friends and family, even your puppy. Who doesn’t want to laugh, enjoy a hilarious, consistently 5/5 star-rated book, and share it with a few hundred of their friends?






I don’t ask for much. :-)









3. Once you purchase my book, head over to the Bestseller For A Day site to enter to win up to $50 in Amazon Gift Cards – my way of showing appreciation for your support and effort!






4. There’s more – I lied. How about a 2 For 1 Bonus Buy? You can also purchase another amazing collection of non-fiction essays along with mine for just 99 cents (SAME day, SAME time) by author Kimberly Kinrade -- Bits of You & Pieces of Me – and when you head back over to the Bestseller site, fill out your confirmation code in the rebate box and Kimberly will rebate your purchase price!






5. And to show more #redheadlove, here’s my BIG news: purchase my book, head over to me here at RachelintheOC.com and leave me your favorite quote from the middle of A Walk In The Snark (to confirm purchase) and I will throw my own little Amazon Gift Card party here on my blog.






Yep. Prove to me your undying love – okay, okay just show me you purchased my book – and I’ll enter your name into my own RachelintheOC.com drawing to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card! I will randomly choose TWO more winners so that’s $100 worth of reader love. Who says you can’t buy love #Ijustcrackmyselfup






Sound like fun? If you’re still not sure you should part with that buck and maybe win $50 in Amazon stuff, here are thirteen 5/5 star reviews that may change your mind. I realize it’s hard to part with your cash in this economy. I get it. But look at it this way: your 99 cents is an investment not only in me, a snarky redhead who makes you laugh but –in all seriousness--also in all indie authors trying to prove their worth.


Any questions, let me know. I appreciate all the love and support you’ve shown me these past few months and can’t wait to see what Wednesday will bring!


Let’s do this thingy.

Please email me if you have any questions or comments at RachelintheOC@gmail.com or come visit my blog anytime RachelintheOC.com or Twitter or Facebook or Goodreads. I’m everywhere (except, ya know, the kitchen).

I also cofounded the Indie Book Collective (along w/ founder Carolyn McCray and cofounder Amber Scott ) and teach writers ePublishing, social media and other cool stuff—find me on the @IndieBookIBC stream every day.