QUAD

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

A day in the life of CG Watson:

8:30 - drop my daughter off at camp
9:00 - call my husband to see if he can tell me why I can't send emails any more (he works 30 miles away - like he'd know from that distance what's wrong with my f-ing computer!)
10:00 - drop my son off at camp
10:15 - go to B&N to buy "Love, Meg"
10:16 - kill an hour
11:30 - go back to my daughter's camp for the morning class's puppet show (for the record: cute!)
12:40 - zip back across town to meet the dishwasher repairman (for a part that was recalled eight years after we had the machine installed; and even though we've experienced zero problems with it, they told us to stop using it immediately until it was fixed.  I told my husband, "Oh, HELL no!  I am not hand-washing dishes for three meals a day for four people who are on summer vacation!!")
12:45-1:45 - talk to the tech support people via telephone to see why I still can't send email
2:00 - pick my son up from camp
2:15 - finish interrupted phone call with tech support to complete server switch-over process so that I can once again send email
2:30 - 4:15 - continue painting my daughter's room because for some insane reason, giving her room a complete "big girl make-over" seemed like a really good idea ... at the time!  (and, yes, I am cheating on my chiropractor with Benjamin Moore)
4:30 - pick my daughter up from camp
4:45 - go get allergy shots
5:00 - go home, start dinner
6:30 - continue painting
7:30 - pass out on couch

Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.
Trés glam, non?

Becuase Censorship Pisses Me Off ...

I am not a prude - just an attentive parent.  And I know there will always be censorship in the name of protecting "family values," but in my opinion, that's the worst kind of censorship because it's usually hypocritical (you'll see why I say that in a minute).  So I've written an Open Letter to anyone who thinks that banning a book in the United States of America is ever justified:

"Dear (you know who you are),
    Here's a little quiz - check any that apply:
    • my kids are fed a steady diet of cable TV (which is basically soft core porn & hard core violence),
    • my kids have an iPod and/or are allowed to download songs that I am unfamiliar with (because a lot of what's out now is pornographic, or is hateful, intolerant, or supports violence against women)
    • I have allowed my under aged child to see a PG-13 or R rated movie
    • my child owns even one Bratz doll (I mean, puh-lease-who are we kidding?  While we're objectifying and hyper-sexualizing our kids in the name of good clean fun, why not just be honest and call them Slutz Dolls instead?) 
    • my kids have access to any type of gaming system that allows them to play the many, many misogynistic, racist or just plain violent video games (Santa might have brought the actual box down the chimney, but he sure as hell doesn't provide your kids with all those violent game cartridges)
• I regularly give in to my kids' materialistic whims (cell phones with unlimited texting, skimpy or inappropriate clothing, etc.) because it's so much easier than saying no
    • I haven't talked to my child sufficiently enough about the reality and potential of school violence
    • I haven't discussed the impact my kids' words and actions might have on school violence
    • I don't regularly go into my kids' bedroom and see what's up
    • I don't know my kid well enough to be reasonably assured that he won't go to school and open fire on his classmates
    • (BONUS:  you haven't gotten rid of those "hidden" guns yet; because --let's face it-- even your five year old knows where they are!)

Here's the dealio, folks ...if you have answered "yes" to ANY of the questions I posted above, then you:
    • have not earned the right to call for the banning of a book, mine or anyone else's
    • have not earned the right to put the onus of your kid's mental state in my hands as a writer, artist, musician, filmmaker, TV producer
    • are now obligated to pull your kid out of school and start home-schooling.  You have no choice.  Because I absolutely guarantee there is nothing in any banned book that your kid isn't seeing, hearing, doing or falling victim of at his public school. 

And BTW private schools aren't any better, they're just better at being covert. 
Sincerely, Author of a Controversial YA Book" 

Another year older ...

Since I last checked in, I've turned another year older.  Am I wiser?  Richer?  Closer to Nirvana?  No, but I do have a published book to my name.  Not everyone can say that.  Apparently, I'm nervier too.  Today, I pimped myself out at Barnes & Noble.  I was looking for my friend Leigh Purtill's newly released book, Love, Meg, when this girl walks up to me and starts telling me I should be reading whatever book Meg Cabot  released this month (with no disrespect to Ms. Cabot - who can keep up??)  Here's how the rest of that conversation ensued:
Me:  You know what book you should read (I pull a copy of QUAD off the shelf).  This book is a really good read.
Girl: What's it about?
Me:  Well it opens with a school shooting but then it goes back and traces the events leading up to the shooting.
Girl:  Oh, so it's like Bowling for Columbine.
Me:  ... Uh ... no, not really.
Girl:  But kinda.
Me:  Well, no.  Not at all.
That'll teach me.  She put the book back, saying, "I'm always looking for something new to read," and by then, I was so disturbed, I didn't even want to tell her I was the author!  So then I go to the service desk because I couldn't find Love, Meg and here's how that conversation went:
Me:  Do you have Love, Meg?
Clerk: Is it fiction?
Me:  Yes, it's Young Adult.
Clerk:  (searching, searching, searching, then...) I can order it for you.
Me:  Are you going to be carrying it?
Clerk:  No.
Me: Gasp! (I'm not normally a big gasper; but if ever a situation warranted a gasp, this was it)  Why would you NOT carry that fabulous book at this store???
Clerk:  No one has asked for it.
Me:  I'm asking ... !
The moral of the story is, if you want to see your favorite author represented at your favorite bookstore, ya gotta ask or they just won't know!  That and check out Love, Meg by Leigh Purtill.