Let's talk about my boobs

Okay, really this is about a bra reconstruction project, but it like involves my boobs.

I have really BIG boobs. I measure a 36F. See. . . BIG. This means I have to have a really supportive bra. With back pain and arthritis, it's basically a medical necessity. Recently, I've started keeping my boobies under control with my bra straps crossed in the back. It helps so much. Even the tank tops I make and wear have their straps crossed to hide my bra straps.




My very favorite bra is the multi-way strapless bra from Lane Bryant.

Yeah, they're expensive. The limitations of the straps that come with them also annoy me. Normally, you get one the color of the bra and a clear strap. I really hate clear straps. They feel funny.

So obviously I needed more straps. I found these on Amazon, and I love them:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Bundle-Monster-Womens-Adjustable-Colors/dp/B00847T35E/ref=cts_ap_2_fbt

They're a great price, and I have all kinds of colors now.

So now I have lots of straps, but I needed more bras to put them on. One of my favorite bras before I discovered bras with the ability to mess with the straps was this t-shirt bra. 

The only bad thing is the straps stretched out on me all too quickly. Let's face it, my boobs are heavy. That's another reason I love that I can now just replace my straps. It's way cheaper to replace my straps every few months than it is my bras.

But anyway, I love my t-shirt bra. It made me sad to stop wearing it, so it was the first candidate for me to try and turn it into a copycat of the LB bra. Now, I can't wear it without straps like LB's bra, but I can change out my straps and wear them crossed in the back.

First, I chopped off the straps.

Next, I needed something I could hook my straps on. I chose little strips of t-shirt. Ribbon or any other material would do just as well though. 

Because I picked t-shirt, however, I doubled it and stitched it to make it a bit stronger.
Then I just stitched the pieces over the four spots where the straps had once been attached.

And then I was done.

I added some of my of my removable straps and stuck my huge boobs in there. It works great. I've been wearing my new bra all week.

As for a story update, the stories for 13 are being beta read. By Friday, you might get to see the first book trailer for the story collection. They'll be a short teaser video for each short story, so 13 in all. I'll be working on book swag for contest soon, and I'll be posting pictures of some of it here.

Don't forget to subscribe and “like” my Facebook page. They'll be contests coming soon, how-tos for some of my other reconstruction projects, and updates on my writing.

When Life slips you a Jeffery

So as you've likely noticed my blog makeover somehow required the use of a furry background. Yes, that's fur. Purple fur. Now, you may ask why in the hell I picked a furry background for my wall. Like everything I do, I have lots of reasons. The first involves one of my favorite movies Get Him to the Greek. If you haven't seen it, you need to do so. End of story. You owe it to yourself. In the movie, Araon Green (Jonah Hill) is given a joint laced with all kinds of different drugs. Araon starts to freak out, because let's face it that's a lot of shit to deal with at once, and believes he is having a heart attack. Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) then calms Araon by having him stroke the furry walls of the room they are in. Because really, if you're going to get slipped a Jeffery, you have to do it in a room with furry walls. Check out the scene: 

 

See! It's funny!

The scene even inspired a song by Aldous that was at the end of the movie: 
  


The lesson here?

When life slips you a Jeffery, stroke the damn furry walls and try not to freak out. Life has slipped me a Jeffery (metaphorically speaking), so I needed some furry walls. It was either furry blog walls or glue a shag rug to the wall of our house. I doubt my husband would have been cool with that.

My novel A Broken Howl also deals with werewolves and a few other types of shifters, so furry just seemed to fit. There, however, is not a purple wolf in A Broken Howl. Sad. I know. There might need to be in the second book.

The background also like reminds me of the purple minion from Despicable Me 2, and who didn't like that movie. . . .

I also just really like purple. In fact, I've had purple hair before, and if it wasn't such a pain in the ass, I'd have it again.

And that is the reason my blog has purple furry walls. Besides that little peek into my strange mine, I have sneak peak for you!

Not only do you get to know the name of our new publishing company, but you also get to see the logo my husband made! Drumroll!

I know, my husband rules. He also designed the cover for A Broken Howl, but you don't get see that just yet.

I'd also like to announce that my blog will be updating not once a week but twice a week. You're welcome. Next post will be a recon project I used to avoid formatting the stories for 13. Sadly, I now have nothing left to distract me, so I'll likely be doing that this week. What a way to spend my spring break. I may need to stroke the furry wall. . . .

And yes, I'm aware of just how dirty that sounds. The real question is why did you notice.

Don't forget to subscribe and “like” my Facebook page. They'll be contests coming soon, and they will be announced here! I'll also have posts about some of my friend's releases, and I'll be asking them questions. And if you're good, I'll have trailers for 13 for you soon.

When stuff goes sideways. . . .

So after being told too many times that I need a blog, I remembered that I already have the blog I was required to make in one of my PR classes. Here it is. It has been revamped to show my writing awesomeness. It's also had a makeover that required the use of purple furry walls.

Many of you reading this likely know me in some way, and you also know that I was working with a publisher to put out an anthology titled 13 that contains some of my short stories and a novel titled A Broken Howl. I had release dates. I had covers. I had book trailers. I had a PR plan typed up for both works (thank you comm. degree). I was ready.

Then stuff went sideways.

Too bad my publisher kinda wasn't ready. Sadly, my publisher is no more. For reasons that had nothing to do with me that I don't want to get into, the company dissolved.

Tragic.

And it has left me with a whole lot of stuff and asking “Well, what the fuck do I do now?”

In fact, I cried that a few times.

I've been writing for over half my life. I've paid my bills and feed my children on money I earned from writing. When it comes to me and publishing a full-length novel though, something always seems to go sideways. Simply put, I've been here before. My first publishing offer years ago was followed by a life changing event that meant way too much other crap to do for me to put in the time my novel needed. And the novel itself. . . well, my toxic long-since ended personal relationship spewed all over that and destroyed a lot of what I had. What remains of that novel sits confined to a digital folder on my hard drive. And there it'll likely sit for a little while longer. Rewriting something that was lost is painful.

But A Broken Howl isn't lost. It's sitting here looking at me and asking just what I plan on doing with it. I cannot lockup another novel in a folder to just sit.

As for the short stories, most of them have been published before. The ones that haven't are rather special to me, and I want to share them. The previously published ones were published in small magazines or websites, most of which no longer exist. When my publisher mentioned having me do an anthology, I had pulled them from the website they were currently for purchase on. Undoing that would be a mess. So likely they too, would be faced with being locked up in a folder.

My Tomcat (aka my husband) was the voice of reason, or maybe that should be unreason because we're rarely reasonable. He suggested I self-publish. The publishing world is a lot different from when I first started writing. Self-publishing is a lot different. Many of my writing friends are self-published. There isn't anything wrong with being self-published.

But I'm really stubborn.

My reply to Tomcat was that I didn't want to be self-published; I want to be published by a small press. And then my husband said, “Then we'll make a publishing company.”

And then I realized just how stupid I was being. By this stage, I didn't really need a publisher. I could self-publish.

There will still be a company created because that just makes better business sense, and I really like to name things. In fact, we already have a name, but we'll talk about that in another post.

Both 13 and A Broken Howl are going to be published, and you'll get to follow along on that journey through this blog. Organizing a publishing company (even one that only publishes me) will likely cause many colorful conversations between my husband and me. Don't worry. I'll be sure to quote us often so you can laugh too.

But this blog won't be limited to just writing. Strange things happen to me when I venture out in public, so some of that might end up on here as well. And, as I've never formatted a book before (besides things in college), it'll likely stress me out and have me cutting up t-shirts. My best clothing comes from stress, so there will also be how-tos for some of my favorite reconstruction projects.

It's going to be a lot of fun, and you're not going to want to miss a post. Please subscribe and “like” my page on Facebook.