Two checks for Bucket Item #1!

So much craziness in what feels like such a short time...grad school has officially begun!

As is the tradition of higher education, the first three days have consisted of reviewing the syllabi and class expectations, so I can't give a review of how classes are just yet. Thankfully, my classes are too big for those awkward, first-day icebreaker games. Unfortunately, my classes are too big to feel like I can really get to know anybody (save for Biblical Hebrew, which has only five people in it, but we're not supposed to speak much English in that class). So, updates on that will have to come later.

Now, I have bigger news. Halo Publishing likes my new manuscript, and wants to publish it!! That makes two self-published books in one year, and one very, very broke graduate student. Trust me, I do not intend to make this a habit; the plan is still to get my name on the New York Time's best-seller's list so I won't have to keep paying for self-publication. I can imagine the responses already...is she serious? Is the expense really worth it? I believe the answer is yes, and no, it's not just to have the glory of seeing my name in print once again.

The same day I received an acceptance email from Halo, I de-friended from Facebook a college friend who "joked" about going to rape his wife. Believe me, I like jokes as much as the next normal person; but threats of violence are not joke material (as discussed in my analysis of Daniel Tosh's tasteless comedic comments of a similar vein). This is why the new book had to be written: because rape culture is a wide-spread epidemic that affects even the most well-intentioned people.

Just for the record, I don't believe my friend really intended to rape his wife; but that he thinks the idea is worthy of a few chuckles is enough to prove my point. The jokes, the laughs, and the trivialization of rape don't cause it to happen. Only the rapist is responsible for rape, but making fun of it just makes it extremely difficult for victims to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that is hard to understand unless you or someone close to you has experienced it.

So, will my little novel really make much of an impact? I don't know. I'd like for it to at least bring comfort to those who have survived assault of any kind, and give them hope. I'd like readers to come away with a better understanding of what consent is and what it isn't; that there is no such thing as 'asking for it' with clothing alone; and that it's not at all unusual to still have feelings for someone who hurt you like that, because most of us want to believe the best about people, and feelings don't come with a light switch.

There is so much I could go on about, but maybe it's better to save it for the press :) There is no official release date yet, but I will post information as soon as I find out!

(Oh, and I do recall promising some mountain pictures. This isn't the best one, but it's from my beloved Estes Park):