The Gospel According to Gabby

Finally!  Just in time for the holiday shopping season!  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO GABBY, my new young adult novel is now available!  Get a copy for your favorite teen readers today!https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/256434

Next goal

Now that I'm shopping around GABBY for a new publishing home, I'm concentrating on finishing the writing of KIDS OF 8 MILE HIGH. The goal is to have it done by the end of summer. Wish me luck.

The Balance

Being a full-time mom and teacher, leaves me only a certain amount of time to write. Most of my writing gets done as a "football widow" on Sundays, when my husband is glued to the television. I just now had to fight to get on the laptop to work because he had to check his fantasy football scores. As if that's more important than getting KIDS OF 8 MILE HIGH finished.

My son has a friend over for a playdate and the giggling and screaming makes me smile and remember that all dreams can come true. It's never too late to believe. A child's laughter is all it takes to realize that.

What's New

While waiting to hear back from an editor about GABBY, I have been back to work on KIDS OF 8 MILE HIGH. It's a story about a good kid living on the wrong side of the tracks--this "track" having to be 8 Mile Road in Detroit, Michigan. Being back to work teaching at-risk youth is going to limit the amount of time I have to write, but my goal is to have it finished by summer 2011.

Finished!

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO GABBY is finally finished. It's a young adult "fish out of water" story about a public school student who is suddenly transferred to a private Catholic school when her parents die in a car accident. Now it's time to find my baby a new home.

Detroit Unplugged

TIME magazine said that,"Detroit is a city on life support." Come on. Don't pull the plug on us yet. Support us. It's true we are hanging on for dear life. Our former mayor is a joke and an ex-con. Our brand new, fancy casinos are built across the street from abandoned, burned down houses. Our schools are among some of the worst in the country.

Violence, poverty, unemployment are at an all-time high. Our automakers are struggling and many of our residents are illiterate.

Help save a dying city. Detroit needs a rebirth...a renaissance. We have one last breath to take.

Let us breathe. Let us survive. Help us to thrive.

Tough city, tougher people. The city of fighters. We will resurrect once again.

Next book updates

As The Gospel According to Gabby grows page by page and comes closer to being completely finished, you will hear it here first. Over 130 + pages written and on target to be completed by this summer.

Twilight?

I so didn't want to jump on that Twilight bandwagon! I haven't read any of the books but caught the movie on HBO the other day. I liked it. Shhh...don't tell anyone.

Charlie Sheen's Domestic Abuse Case

Calling all watchers of Sheen's show, Two and a Half Men! Now we know who is really the half a man, if a real man at all. Real men do not threaten women with violence.

It's time to boycott Sheen's televison show. Put in calls to CBS and get this show off of the air. It is supposed to be a family sit-com, well there is nothing funny about domestic violence. Charlie Sheen does not deserve this job, his lifestyle, or his beautiful children. Those poor kids. The children suffer the most when a mother does not leave a domestic abuser.

Wake up Brooke. Save your family.

Shoe shop for a great cause!

Good news shoe lovers! Throughout October, which is NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH, Marshall's stores is donating $1 for every pair of shoes you buy to the National Domestic Violence hotline.

With domestic violence reports up at an alarming rate, every $1 counts! So run to Marshall's and stock up on your Maryjane flats and cute and toasty Ugg boots.

New shoes & helping a great cause? Everybody wins! Especially the victims of domestic violence!

The Only One

My son is an only child. I plan on not having any more children. Many people tell me he needs a sibling. My usual response is that I can barely manage the one I have, so why would I want to have more? Being a full-time teacher and trying to keep my active four-year-old boy busy this summer with plenty of activities, has left me no time at all for myself.

Here's the thing: I am suffering from Mother's Guilt of having an Only Child. Taking care of one child is difficult enough and I can't imagine how the millions of other moms out there with two or more children find enough time in the day to do everything that they need or want to be done.

Should I do laundry or play with my son? Is it okay to relax and read a magazine for twenty minutes and let him play by himself? It's hard to make a phone call without my son clamoring for my attention. My computer time is only after he goes to bed. My days have been centered around playdates, t-ball practices and games, swim lessons, running errands, cleaning house, etc.

Why do I feel guilty if my son is not busy doing something every second of the day? How do I sneak in more Mommy time before I go completely bonkers?

How do you moms of an Only Child do it?

No Jail Time For Chris Brown!

I am so irate that singer Chris Brown did NOT receive any jail time for beating his girlfriend, singer/model Rihanna. Why is it that celebrities can get away with SO MUCH in this country? I can honestly say that I am not surprised, but just saddened by this recent news that Brown skates by unpunished for his crimes by serving probation, community service, and attending domestic violence classes.
His community service needs to be at a domestic violence safehouse. The victims can give him the punishment he actually deserves. Someone to do the same thing that he did to Rihanna.

Don't make any more records, Chris. Don't buy them people. Don't go to his concerts. Please, Oprah, don't have him on your show again.

Good-bye, Chris. Find another career.

To read the entire article about Brown's plea agreement:
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=415548&GT1=28102

School's Out!

Remember that old Alice Cooper song, "School's Out"? To quote the former Motor City classic glam rocker, "School's out for summer! School's out forEVER!" Love it, love it, love it! That song was playing at the exact perfect time and at the exact perfect moment when I left the parking lot of my high school last week. "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!"

This teacher will have to learn some new dirty looks over the summer. My students rarely even bring their own pencils and books! Don't they deserve my dirty looks? You betcha.

Ah, summer---the best season of all for us living in the Rust Belt. So much to do, so little time. My son is my number one priority this summer. Have fun and play with Xander is at the top of the list. Yes, I know it's been 2 1/2 years between books! I need to finish writing THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO GABBY, my long overdue follow up to CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL.

Reality often gets in the way of our dreams but not if you let it.
Find your balance. Find your passion.
Don't lose sight of what matters the most.

Published Authors Who Use Cafemom

I have been mentioned, along with CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL in the Daily Buzz of Entertainment on cafemom.com. Just a lil' recent news since there has been no recent news.

http://www.cafemom.com/dailybuzz/entertainment/5146/Published_Authors_Who_Use_CafeMom

Mom vs. Writer vs. Housekeeper

So now that my one and only (and last) precious child is almost four, he demands much more Mommy time, which means much less ME time for this Mommy. As time speeds by at an eerily fast pace, any stolen minute or second that he is napping or sleeping must be used for the greater good. But how much can one really get done in an hour, hour and a half tops of toddler napping? It involves some serious choices. Hmmm...should I mop the kitchen floor that has been neglected since Christmas? Do you know what spiced eggnog does to natural hardwood in six months? It's not a pretty, or unsticky sight.
Or should I work on that novel that I started almost a year ago and never finished? Has it really been over two years since the last book was published? By the time I'm done writing this one, my son will probably be potty training his own kids.
Or...should I just take it easy, watch some Oprah, curl up with a good book (the same one I started reading at Christmas time while drinking the previously stated egg nog), or should I vent about it and thus waste what little time I have left because too much of it was thinking how to spend it, and write a new blog post?
Hmmm...

Rihanna & Chris Brown Update

With the alleged beating of singer, Rihanna, by her "boyfriend" Chris Brown, I think it's time for her to step up as a spokesperson for Domestic Violence Awareness. I sure hope the marriage rumors are false and that Rihanna is not struggling with "battered woman syndrome" by hooking back up with that monster.
She is a role model for young women and needs to be seen as a survivor, not a victim, and a voice for her many young fans who are staying in abusive relationships. Any form of battery by any man, or anyone is not acceptable. By Rihanna staying with a woman beater is bringing the fight against domestic violence to a screeching halt. If a beautiful, successful, young musician continues to love and accept her significant other, what kind of message is that sending to women all over the world who are trying to claw their way out of abusive relationships?

You deserve better Rihanna. This batterer deserves to be behind bars.

If anyone needs help in a abusive relationship, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.

Top 10 List of Life's Little Irritations

This is a good writing exercise...come up with your own top ten and then choose one of your "irritations" to write an entire piece.



10. People busting out with their checkbooks to pay for their groceries. People still write checks?

9. Husband's dirty clothes on the floor. Umm..we do have a closet, dresser, and laundry bin.

8. My mother's 10 minute voicemail messages. Can't you just say, "Call me back," Mom?

7. The same telemarketers calling over and over and over and over....no, I still do not need to know how to lower my credit card bills.

6. Chain emails. I'm sorry but if I get bad luck for not forwarding the cartoon with "Somebunny loves you" to 10 of my friends, it's your fault for sending it to me.

5. People who eat other people's food out of the "community" refrigerator. How did my half eaten turkey sandwich taste?

4. No more casual Fridays! Why does one skank with her thong peeking out of the back of her pants ruin it for everyone?

3. Cell phone conversations in the movie theater. Rent a DVD and talk at home. By the way, you owe me $8.75 for my movie ticket.

2. People who say "who?" instead of "what" or "pardon" when not hearing and/or understanding something.

1. Two parking space hoggers. Does your Mini Cooper really need two spaces?

Advice for Wanna-be Published Authors

recent article I wrote for www.shared-self-publishing.com


After three frustrating years, one promising literary agent let down, and dozens of rejection letters, I decided to go the "indie" route and self-publish my Young Adult autobiographical novel, CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL.First, I researched and found a reputable POD publisher in WRITER's DIGEST magazine and sent in my complete manuscript. Being a high school English teacher by day, writer by night, I edited the book myself. I had the option with my publisher to choose a pre-formatted cover design, pay extra for a custom designed cover, or design one myself. A self-confessed control freak and what seems like decades carrying around a vision in my mind of my book cover, I, of course, had to design my own.My publisher sent me 10 author copies of my baby book and that is when the real work started. If you think writing is challenging enough, wait until you begin the long journey of marketing your book on your own. My publisher's marketing department helped with a press release form, book reviewer and book store contacts, and other various strategies to help me sell copies.Having an author website set up and networking on various social websites helped me to promote and sell many books. What teen doesn't have a MySpace page? Being a young adult author who writes mainly books for teens, I am now quite proud of the fact that I have over "700 friends" on MYSPACE. A big NY literary agent even found me on www.myspace.com/readmichellekane to propose a new book idea he was interested in having me write!My dream has always been to publish a book. Although I did not get a six figure advance and Jennifer Aniston isn't starring (yet!) in the film version of CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHHOLGIRL, I am very glad I self-published this book. I even have a charity tie-in and have been featured in local newspapers and magazines that announce the fact that I am personally donating 25% of royalties from sales of CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOLGIRL to domestic violence shelters. The satisfaction comes from not only receiving my royalty checks in the mail, but by giving back to my community and knowing that I am doing SOMETHING to help the fight to end domestic abuse in the USA.

Visit Michelle Kane and Confessions of a Catholic Schoolgirl.

Back it Up!

I have learned my lesson the hard way from a nasty new computer virus killing off all of my Word documents and jpegs.
Back it up and save everything and anything important someplace else. We all know that right? But do we remember to do it every single time we should be doing it?

I have not been saving my writings religiously to my flash drive like I should be and lost an entire chapter of my new novel. I freaked when clicking on my document saved to my hard drive and saw not my treasured, time consuming typed words, but ugly, sickening blue letters reading: FILE ERROR 22001.
Gone are my yet-to-be-published essays, articles, and book chapters. They have been replaced with white space and a file error message.

This is a freelancer's worst nightmare. This could also be a personal identity thief's wet dream.

No one has yet to crack the code on this new vicious virus. If you find a way, please pass it my way.

In the meantime I'll be searching for my lost words.

Bye-bye Black Friday

With the recent killing of a 34-year-old New York man who was trampled to death while opening the doors to Black Friday shoppers, I ask you: do we really need a Black Friday? I understand it is the "official kick off" to holiday shopping, but with a senseless death caused by eager, manical shoppers has the Black Friday hype gone too far?

I just don't get how something like this could happen. This should not have happened. This was not an accident. This tragedy did not happen at a rock concert. This man was a worker at Walmart, he was not stage diving into a moshpit. He was simply doing his job, but the shoppers were not doing theirs. Fueled by saving a buck or snatching up a hot ticket item, these brainless, selfish people let a man be trampled to death so they could brag to their friends about "how they made out" with the bargains on the biggest shopping day of the year.

I get up for work everyday at 5.am. The only place I want to be is warm and snuggled safe in my bed the day after Thanksgiving. The turkey and apple pie is still catching some zzzs in my belly, so you will never find me out there at 5 a.m. in the dark, frigid chill of a retail store parking lot. It is not worth it to save a few bucks or a few hundred bucks.

Someone lost a son because of it.

Black Friday has proved its name true. A day of death. Stay home on Black Friday next year. Stores do not need to open early. It is senseless, just like the Walmart worker's death.

To read the entire story, visit:


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081129/walmart_trampling_081129/20081129?hub=World