Monday Book Review: Overturning Wrongful Convictions

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 1 Comment

I grabbed this book on a quick slide through the true crime section on a day where my library trip needed to be lightning quick. It was slick and glossy and not too fat, ideal for my weekend trip. Overturning Wrongful Convictions by Elizabeth A. Murray, PhD was indeed slick and glossy all the way through. Much of the content was written for the completely ignorant segment of the population who has never before read anything on the criminal justice system, gone to a class on US Government or seen the constitution. In fact, I think you would know a good measure of the information in this book if you had even watched an episode of Law and Order.

However, I cannot poke too much fun at someone who attempts to educate. It’s a noble calling. And one that is desperately needed.

The other portion of the book contained stories of wrongful convictions and how the innocent ended up in prison and how they eventually got out. It was interesting to me. I’ve always struggled to balance what I want to believe is a true justice system with the knowledge that there are bad apples in every bunch. I need reminders about my tendency to slip on rose colored glasses. I’m reminded.

A lot of the statistics in this book are full statistics, by which I mean they tell you each percentage and what that group covers, rather than laying out one number and allowing you to infer whatever you like about the rest. The one that stuck with me the most, and there are a lot of haunting stats, is this one: Of the 87 exonerations recorded by the National Registry of Exonerations in 2013, nearly one third involved alleged crimes that never even took place. WTF? Bad enough to serve time for a crime someone else committed due to incorrect witness identification, judge or prosecution or police misbehavior, but to do the average of 13 years (how long an innocent serves prior to release) for a crime that didn’t even happen…

The cases presented run the gambit from convicted on circumstantial evidence to prosecution or police had evidence that proved the guy/gal on trial didn’t do it and they hid that evidence.

℘℘℘℘℘ – I’m torn between five and four pages on this one. It is a well written book. I did read it in one sitting, although at 107 pages that’s not saying much. The cases presented are sobering, frightening, and make me wonder why people always want to take the easy way out. As in “let’s just convict the ones we have in custody rather than doing the leg work.”

I will quote another statistic as I close, it is estimated that around 2% of the population in prison is innocent of their charges. Which means by in large, most of the people in prison were guilty of the crimes they committed. So does the system work? I’m going to say not very well, because if Bob is arrested and does time for Neil, what is Neil up to in those intervening years? Well according to research by the NRE; more murders, rapes, car-jackings, etc.  What do you think?

Fiendish Friday – That Girl

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

I wasn’t always as accepting as I am now. There have definitely been some years in my life where I was way more judgemental. The problem with judging others though, is one day you might wake up and discover you have become them. I will provide examples for your amusement.

One in late February or maybe early March back when I lived in CA, I met a friend at a park for our kids to play. She showed up in jeans, uggs, a sweater, and one of those down vests.

In  my head I thought “Yep, the skinny girl’s winter uniform.”

So the other day I go run some errands and then over to a friend’s house for our kids to have a play date.(different friend) And as I unzip my down vest and kick off my uggs, I realize I’m wearing jeans and a sweater. Yep, skinny girl’s winter uniform. How the bleep did that happen?

I am also the cliché who asks for and gets fitness gear for Christmas.

I am also the cliché who knows which salad dressing has the least carbs. It’s blue cheese by the way.

I am the cliché who bakes and sends Christmas cookies to friends and family but keeps none for herself.

I am also the cliché who makes a list of goals at the year end but refuses to call them New Year’s Resolutions. LOL

I am also the cliché who makes fun of herself for the enjoyment of her reading public.

What cliché have you woken up to discover you have become?

 

2016 Goals

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 7 Comments

With the new year in front of me and my first free giveaway just behind me, it seemed like a good time to consider where I want my writing to go next year.

A quick recap of the free giveaway. On one hand, 282 people downloaded Scripting the Truth while it was free and I already got a new review, here’s hoping for 281 more, LOL. But in the grand scheme of things I am bummed. Reddit never allowed my posts, which means my advertising was minimal, only word of mouth and Facebook friends. Which means my positional gains on the best seller list were minimal. But I can do another free run in three months, which leads me to item number one on my goals list.

  1. Research marketing locations for the next free giveaway for Scripting the Truth. Figure out the Reddit problem. Fine tune my categorization on amazon.
  2. Write 2500 plus words per week on my 2015 Nano novel til completion. (Only another 5-6 weeks to go on that, I think.)
  3. Participate in one flash fiction challenge per month.
  4. Prepare and teach “Nano to Publish”.
  5. Edit my 2015 Nano Novel for 2016 publication.
  6. Any time I am not actively working on my 2015 Nano Novel, write 2500 words per week on my spy novel until it is done. (After four years, it’s time to put this mess to bed.)

Other non writing goals?

  1. Prepare and teach two classes at the coop for the 2016-2017 school year.
  2. Take better care of my body, ie. stop compulsively painting, crocheting, and writing until my back or shoulder is so tore I can barely use either. Which leads me to …
  3. yoga daily.

I’ve made it a point to keep my goals things that are within my control, more or less. I would love to make have 10,000 followers my goal or sell 5000 copies as a goal but those are dependent on other people. And with my mind control abilities on the fritz these days, shrug, gotta focus on what I can directly do. Which brings me to my last … thought? I hesitate to say goal.  I need to reconsider my twitter ban. I just don’t know if I can go there. sigh.

So tell what are your goals for the 2016 year? Or even one goal? or even what you think of my goals? What do you think of Twitter?

 

Monday Book Review: Thirteen Hours

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

I can’t be glib about this review. I happened upon this book by sheer chance and took it with me to the carib. I have to be honest, it is not vacation reading for most people. It’s heavy work. But once I had a few days of relaxation under my belt, I was ready to tackle 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff and the Annex Security Team. I pretty much plowed through it in one day, taking it with me everywhere on this ship.

Whatever you may think politically about Benghazi, you are free to keep thinking it. This book is the work of one nonfiction writer who researched everything he could get his hands on and then spent serious time interviewing the people who were there, in the thick of it. Then he smoothed it out into a narrative that made me cry for the loss of good men who didn’t need to die.

The book covers the run up to the events of 9/11/12 in Benghazi, discussing the CIA Annex GSR team’s backgrounds and a bit about the historical political situation in Libya. Then it slows dramatically to an almost minute by minute coverage from the moment the attack began until the last man got out on a plane to Tripoli. 13 hours.

It is well written. It’s slow paced. Zuckoff makes you really feel the grind of waiting, not the way the men did, but as close as you are gonna get from your arm chair. I can only describe what happened there as a study in bad decision making where the focus was not on what I feel should have been a priority. Choice after choice were detailed and made me slap my own head. I don’t know what decision makers were thinking, my husband has his own theories, I can’t even.

But setting all that aside, the book is really the story of a small group of men who do what most of us pray we will never have to. And those of us who know we might have to someday, just hope we can do it with as much honor as these men do.

℘℘℘℘℘℘ – 6 pages, almost. I hesitate to give this rating because I am not on my way to the library to get everything else this author has written, in fact, I haven’t even checked into his other works yet. But I carried this book all over a ship in the Caribbean so I could read every second I could find. I had to know.

I know I said I wouldn’t be glib in this review and since technically the review is now over, I will be just a bit glib. This book is my writing wet dream. Interviewing the prime operators, combining that with research, and providing a smooth narrative….I have fantasies about doing just that.

Best of me…

~ tahenryauthoress ~ Leave a comment

So I see that a best of the year post seems to be a popular thing to do this year but I never like to follow the crowd, so here’s my version of that. My five most popular blog posts, based on likes and comments combined, the five posts that did the worst, and the five posts I actually liked the best, er make that seven because I couldn’t pare it down any further, what can I say, I amuse me.

Your Favorites -Comments and Likes-in order of popularity

1. Nano 2015 – The End

Love and support makes for a happy Nano Winner.

2. It was beginning to look a like lot Christmas

Everyone loves a free give away. My book is still a free download through today. Pop over to Amazon and grab it while you can.

3. Nano 2015 #4

You meet the deputy: he’s practically a mute and totally unimportant.

4. Nano 2015 # 19

Fun excerpt of the my 2015 nano novel and a bit of grousing about people with obscenely high words counts. LOL

5. Nano 2015# 1

We discussed names for my lead detective, who is smoking hot. I forgot how cute he is.

Your Least Favorite Posts by Lack of Comments and Likes

 

1. Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies, tell me lies (0)

Why I haven’t been editing or blogging and the death of ABNA. boohoo.

2. Client=Fool? (0)

Is repping yourself a good idea? Should you indie publish or get an agent and go the traditional Route. This was good information.

3. Virtual Book Tour (1)

I explained what a virtual book tour was and asked if anyone wanted to host a stop on my tour.

4. I tried (1)

Laptop ate my changes. I actually thought this one was funny.

5. Come Monday (1)

Why Norwescon was a game changer for me.

 

 

 

 

And Finally, my Favorites based on how long it made me smile when I read it today – in no particular order. 

 

Why I love my husband

This one should be self explanatory.

It is my son’s sixth Birthday

reasons I love my kiddo.

The pitfalls of writing over a long period of time

Made me laugh heartily when I reread it this morning. I am a goof.

People are strange when they’re friends

Amusing anecdotes about beta readers.

Anyone caught discussing books

 

Pure me.

Nano 2015 #25

Laughed my bleep off.

Just smile

Barring my soul for the masses for the first time.

Happy post Christmas. We took down all our decoration yesterday. They’d been up over a month. It was time to get read for the future. (Yes I am alluding to a 2016 goals post that is coming up shortly.)

How long do you let Christmas linger?

 

 

 

Fiendish Friday – 5AM

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 2 Comments

So a couple of weeks ago I started getting up at FIVE AM.

I am not a morning person, in fact I rarely come alive until after dinner, so what prompted this insanity?

I realized I am not unhappy with my life. In fact, my life is pretty much fabulous. Hate me if you like. LOL. But I did realize I was the only person in my house not getting their needs met.

My dog is pretty simple: 2 meals a day, belly rubs, ball throwing, an hour walk, and once a week massive hike. √

The hamster: clean it’s cage weekly. feed it about weekly.√

My hubby: good food, clean clothes to wear to work, a happy wife, and a healthy amount of mumble mumble (move along folks, nothing to see here). √

My kiddo: home school, good food, coop, specialty classes, play dates, cuddles with Mommy, and Legos. (Never underestimate a six year old boy’s need for Legos.) √

Me: yoga, writing time, reading time, crafty/TV watching time.

Yeah – I guess I ask lot given I am a stay at home mom. LOL. For those of you not in the know, stay at home mom means no time alone.

So I started getting up at five, oh god, I’ll say it again, five. So I could write, yoga, then walk the dog and start my day. I am still not a morning person. But what it comes down to is this, I can be either “not a morning person writer” or I can sleep in. Because you have to actually write to call yourself a writer and not much of that was happening post Nano, pre five AM.

So now I am writing. 500-1000 words each day on my nano novel. It’s progressing really well. I think it helps I ended Nano with my novel at the all down hill from here point. But still, words are accumulating. Some days, when I don’t have anything planned for the morning, I actually take two whole hours to write and then yoga after I walk the dog. (kiddo likes his morning TV, don’t judge.) It’s kind of nice to have the time to be flexible and to prioritize my writing. I used to just shoehorn it in where ever I could fit it. Now it has it’s own space.

How do you give your writing (or substitute other passion) it’s own space? Do you go to extreme lengths? Or lengths that feel extreme to you anyway? LOL

And Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Happy Friday to those who don’t. My book, Scripting the Truth, is still available for free download until the 27th.

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 12 Comments

It snowed this week. I love it when it snows at my house. My son got out his sled and started sliding in the back yard in two inches of snow. It’s fun for us because we don’t get nineteen blizzards each winter. But it’s already mostly melted away. sigh.

The stockings are hung by not quite by the chimney, the TV is there, so we put the stocking in a huge window by fireplace. The tree has been up and decorated so long we don’t even bother to turn the lights on every day now. LOL The presents are wrapped and waiting for Friday. I’ve been to the grocery store. I’ve baked multiple times this month. Christmas is ready and we are waiting….

And now it’s time for me to do a little something for you….

So what am I doing for you for Christmas? Thanks for asking. My book Scripting the Truth is a free kindle download for the next five days. Go get it. Read it. Tell me how much it diverted you when you wanted to strangle your Aunt Bet for getting ratty on spiked Egg Nog.

Be safe this Christmas. Enjoy your family, even if they drive you crazy. I hope you still believe in the idea of Santa and practice all that he stands for.

Monday Book Review: Laying Down the Paw

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This is another series I grabbed from the library on a desperate day with my son. Laying Down the Paw is the third in a series by Diane Kelly, which features the adventures of a K9 police office, Megan Luz. The books are all easy reads, what I would call a bathtub or beach read. It’s a brain candy which is a nice break from the health food non fiction I consume most of the time.

In the latest book, Megan catches her first dead body. The detective assigned to the case lets Megan get involved because she works hard, wants to learn, and comes with a monster german shepherd named Brigit, who can sniff out drugs, among her many other uses.

It’s a good detective book (series) that tends to focus on how hard it is to actually solve most crimes. You need a lot of hours of shoe leather, pounding the pavement, and a bit of luck to figure out who done it.

Diane Kelly writes in what has become a popular style for detective books, one chapter from the cop, one from the criminals point of view, alternating back and forth. The best part though….she adds a chapter from Brigit’s point of view each cycle as well. I love it. Brigit is awesome. Makes me want a german shepherd who will head butt rude men in the balls without me even telling her to. Oh, on second thought, maybe not.

℘℘℘℘℘ – five pages. Read it in one sitting. Will continue to pick up this author’s works whenever I see them in the library. Might even get around to sussing out her first series as well.

Flash Fiction Challenge

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

This morning while drinking coffee and watching my boys play Mario Galaxy I got a burr up my butt to participate in Dan Alatorre’s Flash Fiction Challenge, and for once, I had the time. Although the way things are going, I think I might have the time more often these days. There will be more on that later this week.

This challenge had some questions, then the story call…

YOUR QUESTIONS…

Naughty or nice?

LOL. Do I have to be one or the other? I got a prize for bringing niceness to the world at our Nano wrap up party, so does that mean I am nice? Or that my Nano compatriots really appreciate the baked goods I bring?

Under the tree I want to see…

I wanted only two things for Christmas. A) to lose the last 45 pounds I am schlepping around. That won’t be under the tree, it’s still on my -, well anyway, it won’t be under the tree. B) to raise my Amazon ranking on Scripting the Truth. I am launching a free give away in three days so maybe, just maybe, I might find a better ranking around Christmas, or maybe right after, LOL.

Do you open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Christmas Day and we have a routine. I’ll give an example. First person opens a present and gets a new lego kit. We all assemble the new lego kit, play with it, find a new home for it, and pick out a toy that will be donated in it’s place before the next person opens the next present. If it’s a movie, we watch the movie. If it’s a book we might read the first chapter or two out loud for the kiddo. If it’s a game, we play. You get the idea. Makes opening presents last all day and sometimes into the next day.

A visit to the relatives involved (you go see them or they come see you)

My son was always a little complicated. He learned to army crawl, elbows down, dragging his body when he was just four months old. He learned to walk/toddle by seven months. He completely skipped the crawling stage until his first Christmas. We went to stay with my in laws and my husband’s cousin, his wife, and daughter were visiting from the Netherlands for the holiday. The little girl was only two months older than my son and boy could she crawl. When he saw how that the girl could get everywhere faster than him, within a few hours my kiddo was crawling.

Go to Church?

No thanks. I’ve been, my in laws are Catholic, midnight mass was a big thing.

Big family dinner?

Not lately. We moved out of state a couple years ago so now Christmas is quiet. I used to do alternate big in law gathering on Christmas or Christmas Eve, open house at my house the opposite day. Where we lived before a lot of people were isolated, no family, or issues with their family, so we had an open house. Up here, people are closer to their families it seems. I don’t know anyone in this area with no where to go on Christmas so I don’t do an open house, I switched to a Sinterklaas Party, Dec 5.

big family brunch?

Not for Christmas. For every other family gathering with my in laws though, LOL.

Booze??? Anybody cross the line every year?

sigh. I’m not sure I should talk about this on the web but there is a member of my extended family who gets drunk every year and pisses off my husband with his inappropriate commentary, looks, hugs, etc towards me. LOL.

Anybody cross the line under the mistletoe?

No mistletoe. See above answer.

Best Christmas EVER – you have 1,000 words to tell us about the best Christmas you ever had. Make us misty eyed for your personal Rosebud sled! Great writing has to be personal.

It was hot, over ninety but the air conditioning was turned up to make the house a chillier sixty five. We all were wearing our Christmas sweaters over sun dresses and shorts. The decorations had been hung with haste not care but each of us smiled to each other as we shoved them here and there. All bets were off on the standard agreement that gifts would be only for the children, possibly because there was no time to organize a Secret Santa for the adults. We baked traditional dutch goodies, paper nochen and bitter ballen. My husband fried up some Ollibollen even though they are more for New Year’s than Christmas. The talk by adults when the children were not in the room, only emphasized the unreal quality of the day. “It was ridiculous we were doing this because she was going to beat this thing. She beat it before. She would beat it again. But she wanted Christmas in June so we would give her the best Christmas in June ever.” Smile. Laugh. Sing carols by the roasting fire. “But we’d all be back in December when she beat this and we would do it again for real.”

When all was ready we wheeled my mother in law out in her wheel chair. Her grandchildren clamored to sit in her lap. My son got there first and she granted him the spot of honor. He always was her favorite, though she took pains to hide it. While the kids got fun toys to play with in the hot afternoon sun, and the adults opened funny little gifts, slipper socks and second hand books, I watched the family. And when everyone went out to play, I got something more infinite. I got the time to sit with my mother in law and ask her about her relationship with my son. To jot down everything she said about him. To show her pictures of him and her and write down what she said in response, her memories, her love, her dreams for him. To make a scrap book for him of his precious Oma.

She didn’t beat it of course. Or this Christmas wouldn’t have been so precious. The last Christmas my son got with his Oma. The Christmas I got to immortalize the special love this kind woman, who would never have admitted she had a favorite in life, had for my son.

 

Fiendish Friday-Ridiculous Obsession

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

Apparently this is going to be a thing, at least until I run out of things to poke fun at myself for or you revolt and say no more, I am scared of you now.

A few years back I found this TV show on Netflix called Revolution. Maybe you’re seen it, maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe you think I’m an idiot for watching it.

It lived in my queue for a number of months before one night, bored and tired, I wanted a quick episode to put me to sleep. This sounds familiar, but I won’t digress. The basic premise of Revolution is this: it is fifteen years after anything requiring a power source has stopped working. (There are no zombies running about.) Everything from our old world is just laying there waiting to be picked up and used, if only we could power them.

I thought that was pretty cool. It could actually happen someday, which is why I think the show was unpopular. People don’t like to be scared by realistic apocalyptic situations these days. I bet if Stephen King was trying to get his start today, the Stand would not sell, even in it’s abridged version.

I got sucked in of course and watched eight or ten episodes in a row that night. What I liked was the reality of it. They start out to walk to Pennsylvania from Indiana I think. It takes them eight or ten episodes to get there. Yeah, it should take flipping forever to walk that many miles, while dodging the militia and catching your own food, finding water sources, etc.

Then there’s the character development. Each episodes focuses on one character. In slices, probably after what was each commercial break, you get where they were just before the power went out, just after, how they survived since then. But on top of that they do two other things with the characters, first, they grow them in front of your eyes. You get to watch people change under extraordinary pressure. It’s awesome. And second, which is probably more controversial, they kill off people. Major people. People they have made you connect with. They kill them. Why do I adore that? It’s real. You cannot have people in a society with no modern functionality and have them skip through the roses. No meds means asthma, tetanus, or a cold can kill you. And it does in the show.

So why is this on my Fiendish Friday post. I watched the first season in two nights. I made my husband watch the first season, he said meh. Then the second season came out on netflix. I couldn’t watch it. I just knew it would suck and that would ruin the whole show for me. In my head the show was perfect and amazing and definitely a top ten for me. But if I watched Season Two and it sucked, which it probably would since the show got canceled after season two, all that would change. So season two sits in my queue waiting for me to rip the band aid off so to speak. But I can’t do it. I just can’t.

Anyone out there watch Revolution? Tell me Season Two doesn’t suck. Tell me it is as amazing as Season One. Tell me I won’t be sad and disappointed. Or tell me I’m right, who doesn’t like to hear that? LOL