How I Protested...
In case you were wondering!
Yesterday, organizers prepared for 12,500 demonstrators and 50,000+ showed up. My husband asked me if I’d ever been in a protest.
I haven’t demonstrated, and I hate crowds, but I did once make a protest. And it got results. At least, I think it did.
Back when I was a college student in the ‘70s
Ball State University used to hold a Miss Ball State pageant. Billed as a scholarship pageant, the entrants were expected to take part in a swim suit strut, walking in front of the judges and the audience. I felt this was wrong. If it truly was a scholarship pageant, what did parading around in a bathing suit have to do with anything?
And that got me thinking. If the pageant was held for Mr. Ball State, would they ask the young men to take a stroll in their Speedo swimsuits? Not likely.
What’s sauce for the goose
The more I thought about it, the madder I got. Eventually, I convinced a bunch of my male friends on campus to hold their own Mr. Ball State pageant—complete with swimsuits. After all, if the women were being asked to reveal themselves, why not ask the same of the men?
Word got around. There was a buzz.
Was I effective?
Now I can’t say for certain if my protest was the catalyst, but I can tell you there was no swimsuit parade in the Miss Ball State pageant that year. (No men were hurt in the process, either. LOL. They didn’t have their own pageant.)
Is today Friday?
No. I missed posting this on Friday, but I had a good excuse. Honest! I managed to drop my keys down an elevator shaft. Yeah. I watched in what felt like slo-mo as the lanyard and the ring and the keys slithered down a deep cavern. Imagine my horror! It gets worse. The cost to retrieve my keys would be $350. So I did what any enterprising fiction writer would do. I lied. I borrowed a key and had it duplicated, which I’m sure was never the intent of the keyholder. The total cost was $6 and change. Plus, and get this, when I returned the loaned key, I was told that maintenance would be coming by later for another job so they would retrieve my keys at no cost to me. Thank goodness I hadn’t panicked and popped for the $350!
Need a free read?
I bought a potato today. It cost me $1.03. YEOW!!! Good thing authors are very, very generous!
https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozymadness-apr/45wyzn4l0u
Reviews are coming in
For Wednesday Wicked Ways!
We’re now at 4.6 out of 5 stars. Here’s an example of a 5-star: The Friday Night Mystery Club will appeal to anyone who likes the 80s era, female sleuths, and mysteries with found family.
And a 1-star by April that I truly do appreciate: I can already tell that I will be dragged from book to book where: 1) the inheritance is still in limbo, 2) she’s still waiting on a married cheater, and 3) she can barely make ends meet. I absolutely cannot stand when authors do this.
I sincerely DO appreciate April because she’s right. I don’t want to write about a loser, and I don’t want to yank my readers around. So…thank you, April! I heard you! I might even write Book #5 right away so I keep your valuable response fresh in my mind.
What do the rest of you think? Should I hurry up with #5? Should Cragan have a few wins?
Mystery Monday Party
Here’s the party address: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1602372550058785
Heather Baker Weidner will be with us at 8pm, Eastern, Monday the 7th. Her new book is Murder Strikes a Chord: A Pearly Girls Mystery (Pearly Girls Mysteries, 1)
And that’s it for now, so I’m sending a lot of love—
Joanna