Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Brother Problem
by Dana Hammer
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GENRE: Middle Grade Greek Mythology
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BOOK BLURB:
Dion Isaacs (the reincarnation of Dionysius), Athena’s brother, is wreaking havoc. After to an unfortunate bee-venom poisoning at his wine business, he is down on his luck and crashing at Athena’s place. But the former god of wine, feasting, and excess is a bad influence on Fanny’s best friends, with his partying, wacky business schemes, and general debauchery. Sure, Dion is a fun guy. But there is such a thing as too much fun, and Fanny seems to be the only one who sees it.
Meanwhile, Fanny’s mother is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, which basically means she pukes all the time, because she’s pregnant. With her mom unable to work, her dad is taking extra shifts to make more money, and things are getting tense at home. Fanny is excited to be a big sister, but all this sickness and stress over money are starting to take their toll on her.
Can Fanny save her friends from Dion’s negative influence, while also solving her family’s money problems? Of course she can. She’s Fanny Fitzpatrick.
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EXCERPT TWO:
I hope Mom doesn’t have breast cancer. She would have told me about that though, right? You don’t hide cancer from your only daughter. That would be messed up. I get out of bed and pad down the hallway until I get to the bathroom. The puking is louder now, and I can hear Mom gasping between retches. I knock on the door.
“Mom? Are you OK?”
“I’m fine, Sweetie.”
Then she retches again.
“No you’re not Mom! You’re sick! Do you want some Sprite?”
Mom gives me Sprite when I’m nauseated, and it usually helps.
“Mom? I think you need to see a doctor. You’re not getting better.”
“Fanny! Go away!”
I don’t know what to do. My dad has already left for work, so he can’t help. I think about calling an ambulance, but then I remember that 911 is only for emergencies, and I don’t think this counts as an emergency.
“Mom, I’m gonna call an ambulance,” I say.
“NO!”
“But Mom—”
“Fanny, go decorate the tree!”
This stops me for a moment. Decorate the tree? Why?
“Why?”
“I’m not feeling up to it. Go decorate the Christmas tree. It’ll be a big help.”
I stand by the door, not knowing what to do. Is Mom trying to be tough, like the time she hurt her ankle and refused to go get X-rays, and she just limped around the house for a week until it swole up to like twice its size, and Dad finally made her go to the hospital, and it turned out she’d FRACTURED IT? Should I be like Dad and put my foot down and call an ambulance?
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GUEST POST:
Ways to Deal With Rejection, as a Writer
I once heard that Stephen King saved up all of his rejection letters and pinned them to a wall, and used them as motivation to succeed. All due respect to the master, but that would totally demotivate me, and absolutely crush me.
Of course, rejection is a major part of writing professionally, or doing any kind of art professionally. Absolutely everyone who submits writing will get rejections; I don’t know a single writer who has not. And this is where the weak are weeded out. Because to survive as a writer, you need to be able to handle rejection and NOT GIVE UP. There are some qualities and processes that can help you with this. Here are a few.
1) If you’ve ever been emotionally abused, use this to your advantage.
People from happy homes, who form loving, healthy relationships with romantic partners and friends are at a serious disadvantage when dealing with rejection. They have no idea how to take hurtful comments, negative criticism, or silent dismissal. But not you, you lucky damaged writer! You have built up a thick membrane around your heart. When a publisher or agent says “This does not meet our needs at this time” you remember that time a man who “loved” you called you a trashy idiot cunt, and suddenly “not meeting their needs” doesn’t seem like such a terrible insult.
2) Have an enormous ego.
I would argue that most artists have big egos. This is not a design flaw, it’s a feature. In order to create and send your creation out into the world, you have to believe in yourself, and believe that you have something important and fresh to bring to the world. When you get rejected, your ego will protect you. Your ego will tell you that these agents and magazines and publishers don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t appreciate your genius. You will think of all the artists who were not rewarded in their time, and you’ll count yourself among them. Is this an attractive quality? No. But it is an important one, and you should absolutely cultivate your gigantic ego. Just don’t let it show on the outside, because people will not like it.
3) Know that judges and gatekeepers are not gods.
I sometimes enter screenplays into script contests. This is a fun thing to do, and it helps you network and sell scripts. You get to go to film festivals and have your picture taken on red carpets and meet interesting people. But, in over the course of attending several film festivals, I started meeting screenwriting judges. And not judges for small festivals, for BIG PRESTIGIOUS festivals. Here’s the ting. I always assumed that to be a judge for a prestigious film festival, you had to have special skills, or some kind of experience in the industry. You don’t. These judges are just…people. Usually they are people who have some kind of screenwriting experience, but they are not producers or professors or even professional screenwriters. This doesn’t mean they are bad; just that they aren’t necessarily better than you. So take their rejections for what they are — one person’s opinion.
4) Have a sense of humor about yourself.
If you can’t laugh about your rejections, you are bound to experience a lot of internal darkness and anger. There’s a story I sometimes tell about the time I got drunk and wrote a short story and immediately submitted it to a VERY prestigious publication. Without editing it. I will not name this publication, but you’ve heard of it. Of course, it was rejected, because, drunken, unedited writing is not my best work. Also, it was about Chairman Mao and Ghandi in a three legged race at a church picnic, so you know…not a crowd pleasing premise. Was I ashamed of myself the next morning, when I woke up and realized what I had written, and where I had sent it? Um, yeah. Yeah, I was. But you know what made me feel better? Reading that god-awful short story I’d written, out loud, to my friends. We all had a good laugh at my expense, and I WAS OK WITH THAT. Not only was I OK with that, but it made me feel a whole lot better about the whole thing. If you can laugh at it, you can live with it, right? Right.
If you are in a creative field, you are going to experience rejection. It’s just part of it. But if you keep going, you will probably find your markets, and your people. And if you don’t, at least you know that you had the fortitude to try.
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AUTHOR BIO:
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Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Dana will be awarding a $10 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner's Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
Thank you so much for hosting today!
ReplyDeleteI like the blurb and excerpt. Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI really like the cover!
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of this story.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a good read.
ReplyDelete