Are We On The Way To Another Depression?

Sunday, my aunt and uncle gave me my mom’s old photograph album that she had made in the 40s of all her high school friends. They said it was time I had it. So we browsed through it and I recognized a few people that turned into Mom’s lifelong friends and whom I grew up with. A couple pictures sparked conversations. Uncle Bill told us how although he was very young in the 1930s during the Great Depression (he was born around 1924) he remembers some of how it started. Unfortunately, you won’t be surprised. He said it was very similar to now with lots of companies folding, people losing jobs, other companies laying off workers and/or cutting back hours, and everything going into a downward spiral that was devastating to everybody. If you read my blog post last week, Thursday’s or Friday’s I think, you’ll have seen that my husband’s company is cutting everybody back to 4 days a week. Uncle Bill told us today that my cousin Jerry might lose his STATE (government) job as an architect, that the state had to borrow money to make payroll this week. I read where Borders (where I’m sitting right now as I write this) either just did or will soon cut back their work force to 80% of what it was. It looks as if they already did. The ladies room is filthy. The poor lady behind the counter is alone and bombarded with work. I’ve read two related but conflicting pieces of information, both observations by publishing professionals. One was an interview with an e-publisher I which she said her company is receiving fewer submissions. Her guess is that a lot of authors have had to go back to a regular job to make ends meet and thus have less time to write. That and stress because of the tough economy. That makes sense. Then I read an agent’s blog where she reported getting way more submissions than before this economic downfall. Her guess is that people are dusting off old manuscripts and submitting in the hopes of making extra money selling books. I know my husband is getting a lot more people requesting umpiring jobs because they’ve lost their day jobs. So far, softball at least, seems to be alive and well. They’re adding new teams, new tournaments, and more games. Maybe people just want to whack balls to get out their frustrations. Sounds good to me. So getting back to the question about manuscript submissions, which is it? Why is the agent seeing way more submissions and the publisher way less? (Maybe we should introduce this particular agent to this specific publisher???) Personally, I’m trying to speed up my writing and submission (although I’ve always tried to do a lot in this regard) so I can earn more money to pay bills. At the same time, the stress of everything is getting to me, so some nights after I get home from an extra long day at the day job, I’m too tired and stressed to write even though I want to). As this economy goes more downhill, those of us who still have jobs have to work harder and longer to make up for deleted positions. As I work in customer service, I also have to deal with more stressed out customers who think it’s okay to snap off my head (I guess) because to them I’m just a disembodied voice on the phone, or as far as they know a robot without feelings, or at least an unimportant peon. So what are we to do? How are we to survive? Back in January I narrowly avoided personal disaster but am still one of the lucky ones. Luckier than a lot even if my husband will lose a big chunk of our income and even if my daughter still can’t find a job. My aunt said people in the 30s planted gardens to have food. It’s against my city’s ordinance to have produce gardens. I might be able to sneak in a small one behind my flowers. Somehow, I don’t think that will be enough to solve the economic woes. I don’t know that I can write any faster. Some of you may have noticed I’ve been a less frequent visitor at your blogs. This is so I can write more, not that I don’t want to socialize (because I love to socialize). There’s limited hours in the day. Supposedly my grandpa (Mom’s and Uncle Bill’s dad) got up at 3 in the morning so he could stoke coal and wood in fires and then he sold Fuller Brushes door to door to keep food on the family table. He worked long hard hours and just scraped by. I’m starting to feel like that although I’m still in the day job I’ll have had fifteen years come May ’09. Besides working harder and planting gardens, what else can we do? You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Things I like about being on vacation

Thirteen Things I like about being on vacation 1.... I can sleep late. 2.... I get to relax. 3.... I don't have to listen to screaming kids (or coworkers). 4.... I can do what I want, when I want. 5.... I get to visit with family and old friends. 6.... I get to see new places. 7.... I get to do new things. 8.... I don't have to dress up. 9.... I get to eat what I want. 10... I can play on the computer at different times of the day. 11... I don't have to do housework (much). 12... I don't have to fight rush hour traffic. 13... I get a feel for what my life used to be like. HOWEVER, I really miss my kids, my pets, and my other friends back home. Sue me. :) Why can't everyone I love be in the same place altogether???

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Home Sweet Home

I'm back! First, I want to congratulate Amarinda Jones, winner of my Fantasies Contest and the $20.00 Amazon gift certificate. Amarinda, please email me with your email address so I can have it sent to you. We had a great time watching my cousin get married, visiting with family we haven't seen in years, meeting new friends, and just getting away. I've not been away in forever. Sometimes I think the rest of the world's fallen into space and only Florida is left. I don't get out of Florida for years at a time. We're at the bottom of the state and thus we can't just hop over state lines for a quick Sunday drive. This was my first time to visit Port Orange or Daytona Beach, Florida. I liked Port Orange better than Daytona, to tell the truth. We were fascinated, however, by the Drive-In church in Daytona. The computer's not cooperating and letting me upload my pics, so I'll post them soon. My daughters were gorgeous all dressed up and my younger daughter was glowing since she met a really cute guy her age that she danced with all night.

Drama Queen, cost of groceries, and contest news

Isn't a drama queen supposed to be a female?

In my house it's the 13 year old monster - male monster. He's blond and cute as can be - when he's not having a melt down, accusing everybody of trying to kill him and spewing other hatred.

I recently awoke and I'm already worn out. Whew!

He was at it again - accusing his oldest sister and her friend of saying they were going to kill him. I'd be concerned if I took them literally, which I don't. I also know the little monster usually starts the fights by doing and/or saying mean things. He's the baby of the family and he takes it to the extremes.

Calgon take me away!!! Why oh why didn't I beg, borrow, and steal so I could go away for the week to RT with all the other romance writers, cover models, and readers and have a blast instead of this??? (That ear surgery that never happened, that's why).

Yesterday, I went to the grocery to get a FEW items - juice, yogurt, bread, fruit - and spent $67.00! I shopped at Walmart, the supposedly cheap grocery store. Okay, I also got milk, cereal (only 1 box), cheese, and 1 box of lean pockets (which the 13 year old monster ate before I could get even one of them), 2 jars of Prego sauce, and 2 cans of ravioli. Just a small grocery run for our family of 6.

That took almost the entire royalty check from one publisher - a publisher where I had a book in the top 10 seller list the month that check was from.

Guess I have to produce even more books just to stay afloat with my army of eaters.

No way could I quit the day job and be a SAHM - we'd starve. That's probably my biggest fantasy - to be a SAHM. But then of course, the 13 year old monster would drive me even crazier than he already does.

Speaking of fantasies, we now have entries in the Favorite Fantasy contest so the contest is on! Start voting for your favorite fantasy. Send your friends and family here to vote. Let's make it a real contest.

If you've not sent your fantasy to me, be sure to send it now so I can post it. The longer it's up, the more chance you have to accumulate votes.

One rule I forgot to state is that the first person to send a fantasy to me is the one that will be posted. I had two today that I read at almost the same time so I posted both. But I had to differentiate them - what else could I do? - so I listed them as #1 and #2. If you're the person who gave me that fantasy (and that was the only fantasy you gave to me) - you're welcome to send another fantasy to me.

And here is the deal again for anyone who didn't read it yesterday:

In honor of my soon-to-be released book WILD FANTASIES, I'm going to hold a second contest for the month of April 2008.

Tell me what fantasy you'd like to live out if you had your own holodec? Would it be to make love with a werewolf? A vampire? Or something completely different? (Mine are listed quite vividly in WILD FANTASIES. :) )

Whoever has the most fun or erotic fantasy (as judged by the most votes in the poll) will win a $20.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com from me. I'll post your fantasies in a poll for the month of April for my readers to vote on. Whoever gets the most votes, will win. I'll announce the winner at the beginning of May. Email it to me at: chinara@aol.com or leave it in a comment on my blog at: http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com/ (As my email box fills up some days I'm at the day job, make sure you get a reply from me or resend again if you haven't heard from me within two days. The sooner you get your fantasy in, the more votes you can accumulate. This means tell your friends and family to come and vote for their favorite fantasy, too.)

Also, don't miss my regular monthly contest at my blog. To win a free download book, leave me at least one comment during the month of April on my blog at http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com/. It's that simple.

Remember, if you vote, to leave a comment. That way you're entered for the second, monthly contest. The more times you comment, the more times your name will be in the hat and the better your chances of being selected.

Also, y'all pop over to http://www.workitmom.com to see my recently published parenting articles - under my name of Ashley Ladd. One was just posted today.