Take a Look at my Book on Nook
For you handful of characters that went with B&N’s also-ran instead of the Kindle, my novel The Sleepless Nanny is now available for your device of choice. You can get it here.
And check out the new cover designed by art hotshots Paul Steed and Ryan Kinnaird. I love it so much I want to have some IRL books printed up with paper and shit.
New Book Cover!
They like it! Hey Mikey!
Some reader reviews have come in for my novel The Sleepless Nanny and they’re pretty darn good. Check them out, and keep ‘em coming!
I laughed, I cried, I was glad I never was a Nanny!
The lives and escapades of these Nannies will make you laugh and cringe. Clearly the author has lived in NY and known or been a Nanny.
An emotionally honest story of a 19 year old’s experiences leaving a broken home, looking for adventure, acceptance and love in NY. Brilliantly written with excellent characterizations, it will tug at your heart strings as the main character explains her thoughts and feelings behind her decision making process as she makes some good, but a lot of bad choices with her young life. You can’t help but root for her to succeed. Should be required reading for all High School Seniors!
I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It grabbed me hard, pulled me in deep, and didn’t let go until I was finished! Can’t wait to see what else this author has written.
The book is well writting and well edited. There are no major formatting issues with the Kindle edition.
Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)
This review is from: The Sleepless Nanny (Kindle Edition)
Oh damn, I wrote a book!
It’s called The Sleepless Nanny and you can get it here!
If you don’t have a Kindle, you’re crazy! But you can still read my book on just about any device through Amazon’s Kindle app. The app is free, the book is $4.99 in the US. It’s also available in the UK and Germany, but my brain doesn’t do price conversions. You can also download a sample of my book for free.
What’s The Sleepless Nanny about?
It’s about a girl who drops out of college and moves to New York City to work as a nanny. Sound boring? Only if you think sex, drugs, rock n roll, violence, lies, secrets, aliens, time-travel and espionage are boring. Okay, those last three aren’t really in there. Well maybe a touch of espionage if you count eavesdropping over a baby monitor.
Is This Real Life?
Those of you who know me well remember that I was indeed a nanny in New York. Twice, in fact. My experiences as a nanny in the late 1980′s early 1990′s definitely inform the story, but this is fiction. New Yorkers, if I worked for you, was friends with you, or wiped your ass during this time period, I promise: This book is not about you.
Aren’t Nannies Goody-Goodies with a Stick Up their Ass?
You don’t know any real nannies do you? My protagonist is somewhere between Mary Poppins and Peyton Flanders. Not Practically Perfect, but no murderous intent either.
Give it a shot and let me know what you think here in the comments! Or review it on Amazon.com or Goodreads.
My Day in Tech aka HOLY SHIT
My days are filled with technology that I’ve come to take for granted: my two bands of wireless internet, streaming movies on Netflix through my Xbox 360, taking video with my cellphone and instantly uploading to Facebook, YouTube or Tumblr. Yawn, I EXPECT that stuff. And if it isn’t working, I am pissed off.
Today though was a day where I sat back and said “DAMN that is COOL.” I’ll tell you why:
1) Skype + Android + NASA + UStream + ROCKET TO JUPITER
As I mentioned in my last post, the Gunny is at NASA for the Juno launch. The launch was delayed for a few hours as I learned by monitoring his Twitter feed. It took massive willpower on my part not to hate him when he got to see Bill Nye the Science Guy speak. But I overcame it. Suddenly a video call came in on Skype. It was Gunny on his phone, from the Tweetup “Twent”. I could see the other lucky bastards milling around and he took the phone over to a woman who follows me on Twitter (I assume from my Xbox days). She smiled and waved and said “Hi Trixie!” So I pretty much met someone I only knew from Twitter through my husband’s phone via Skype. For a moment, I was THERE. Then I watched the launch on NASA’s UStream channel with about 18,000 other nerds. If you can listen to a Mission Control checklist and hear the words “We are go for launch” without getting nerdwood, you are dead inside.
Later, Gunny got an autograph and photo with Bill Nye. I’m still battling the hatred on that one.
2) Roku 2 + Wireless Interwebz + iPad + Amazon + Netflix + Pandora + PayPal
When the baby and I visited Gunny in his new apartment outside Baltimore last weekend I became enamored of his Roku. When he first described it to me on the phone (It’s a little box that streams content to your TV) I was kinda “yeah yeah whatever”. But I actually got a chance to use this and really liked it. It’s got Apple-easy UI, it’s cute and simple and dumbass-proof. And it’s powerful!
Anyway, when I got back to Redmond I ordered a Roku 2 XS for myself and it arrived today. I plugged it in and went through set-up 1, 2, 3. Then when Roku needed an update I ran into trouble: It couldn’t connect to get the update. I tried three times and started to get frustrated. So I pulled up Roku.com/support on my iPad and started a livechat with a support agent named Mai. She had me reset the Roku (toothpick in the hole), and then everything was fine. I linked Roku to my Pandora account on the TV and then used the iPad to link my Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts. The thing that most impressed me–when asked for a credit card (for any Roku purchases) PayPal was an option! A delicious option! Roku is super cool and easy and I heart it. My ‘zoinks’ tech moment was that while setting up the Roku on my bedroom TV I didn’t have to leave the room. My iPad was there for support and account linking, and the PayPal option meant I didn’t have to go get my credit card out of my purse.
3) Dusty-ass papers + youthful ambition + USB Portable Diskette Drive + Amazon + Kindle
In 1992 – 93 I wrote a novel. I had a new baby and was going to college part-time. Somehow, without the aid of amphetimines I wrote for one hour a night on a borrowed PC and after 10 months or so I was done. When finished I sent it to exactly one publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell. They told me no thanks and I said “okay then.” And this novel –The Sleepless Nanny — sat for nearly 20 years. One hard copy gathering dust in a box and the digital version on a floppy disk. Yesterday, I learned about Kindle Direct Publishing via a Facebook post. What’s this, I said… I can just upload a damn Word doc and hit ‘publish’? Like a freaking blog post?!
Thinking it would be a fun trip down memory lane I started re-typing the book into a fresh Word document. After five pages, my fingers said “fuck this shit.” As I no longer have a hole that will fit the 3.5″ floppy (three kids you know…) I ordered a USB Diskette Drive and paid the $3.99 extra for one-day shipping.
This magical portal arrived today and there it was, unearthed like Tutankhamun, my novel in some version of Word so ancient it might as well have been Linear A. I had to disable all kinds of shit meant to protect my computer from antediluvian 0′s and 1′s, but eventually my version of Word made nice with its great great grandma and I had my novel in a file I could upload to Amazon. So… it’s uploaded. It’s currently “in review” but in less than 24 hours it should be available for any curious Kindle owner in the US to purchase for $4.99 and enjoy. It will take another day or so to be available in the UK and Germany. My dusty paper, youthful ambition and Diskette Drive can now say “fuck you” to Bantam Doubleday Dell and an even louder “Fuck YOU” to my younger self, for giving up so easily.
My husband, the spaceman
My Gunny was selected to attend the NASA tweetup at the Juno launch! He’s at NASA as I type this. Follow him on Twitter @reighvin for NASA goodness!
This is why you suck
[Begin hateful, bitchy, but sincere post]
These topics are not interesting for the people who interact and/or follow you in the social media universe. And I’m doubly certain they are even less interesting in person. People bring up the “I’m pooping” tweet as an example of oversharing. But I’d rather you tumblr your dumps than the following subjects:
You're the only one that cares this much.
Your Illness
I’m sorry you don’t feel well, really. But Jesus Christ on a Cracker, I don’t want to hear hourly updates on your headaches, your backaches, your mysterious emissions and the relative viscosity of your mucus. Examples:
“Woke up with a headache. Again. Sigh.”
“Another night of no sleep. How will I get through the day?”
“Ugh, feeling like shit. This flu is a killer.”
I also don’t want to hear about: vomit, ladybits, scrotal issues or the strange rash you found blooming on your ass. Don’t be a goddamn whiner.
Exceptions to the Rule:
- Battle with cancer or other life-threatening serious illness.
- Pregnancy. Yes, I do want details of every doctor’s appointment and photos of every ultrasound. Just please take it easy if you’ve got morning sickness… (see ‘vomit’ notation above)
Your Diet and Workout
Good for you for getting healthy! Now shut the fuck up. I get that you think that your adoring fans and supporters will ‘hold you accountable’ if you make your progress public, but they won’t. Because if you fall off the wagon and injest an entire Cheeseriffic Pizza a) you’re not going to put that in your Facebook status and b) even if you did no one is going to say ‘way to go, fatass!’
Your diet and excercise is your business. This also applies to you folks with ‘special needs’ aka vegans and glutenhaters and whatever else. No one gives a shit. If you think people care that you’re down 1 pound since last month you are a narcissistic fuck.
Exceptions to the Rule:
- You lose a shit-ton of weight. Great! Well done! Just include us on the triumphant END of the journey, not every ounce on the way.
- You’re training for a marathon. Go ahead and post how far you ran and in what time. It’s okay
- You’re re-learning how to walk due to a horrific injury. Hey, knock yourself out.
Your Bad Relationship
It could be your significant other, or it could be your family. Don’t post your dirty laundry. Your pathetic updates and vague tweets are not charming. They are obnoxious and they will drive away not only the person you are trying to oh-so-subtly give a message to, but anyone else who might otherwise have wanted anything to do with the contents of your pants. Emo is the anti-sexy.
Exceptions to the Rule:
None.
10 Things I Hate About E3
I don’t have to go anymore, and I’m relieved. Here are the top ten reasons why:
- The pre-E3 madness. When I was at Xbox, nothing and I mean NOTHING got done that wasn’t E3-related for weeks. Marketing and PR just went dark for all other matters.
- Having a back-up plan for every possible disaster–except the ones that actually occurred.
- Being jostled and groped by a sea of sweaty, near-orgasmic nerds on the show floor.
- Booth babes. A living reminder of what a woman’s primary place in the games industry still is.
- Drunk text messages at 3am.
- The hot, crowded back rooms where lowly Xbox.com writers had to work.
- Getting busted for ‘leaking’ something that was presented in the press briefing final rehearsal because space couldn’t be spared for the ‘real’ briefing. Real conversation later in hotel lobby: Important Guy: “Nice leak, Trixie. You gonna leak the name of the next console too?” Me: “Yeah it’s the Xbox Kiss My Ass.”
- Having my boobs banned from the website.
- Not being able to go to any parties because I had to be on camera the next day. (I’m OLD, folks. I look worse than you can imagine without sleep).
- Being really excited to share news with the world and having snarky game ‘journalists’ shit all over it in an attempt to seem cool.
So glad I’m not there. If you still think E3 is Christmas and your 21st birthday rolled into one, enjoy! I’m over it.
Update: #11 Leaks. You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but one of the most popular websites in the country has been scaled down over the years to a skeleton staff <5 full time employees and a handful of vendors and contractors. These are smart, hardworking people who love Xbox and gaming. Hire more people to write, edit and produce? Naw, the powers that be decided to hire a wide swath of overpaid middle managers who go to meetings and kiss ass (this is called ‘strategy’), while cutting resources for the people who actually do the work. Smart. What really sucks is that these few folks that actually DO something besides fluff up their careers will take the hit for this leak, not the assholes who by bad decision-making and horrible leadership made it happen. I say to my friends and former teammates at Xbox.com: Don’t let the bastards get you down.
Freedom, part one
I am free. Free from billable hours, scrutinization of my personal social networking activities, commuting, and parking fees. Free from feeling like shit when I leave the office at 5pm to pick up my kid at daycare and feeling like shit if I have to stay home because she’s got a fever and can’t go to daycare. Free from having to be anywhere at any given time.
It feels GREAT.
Let me ‘splain: I quit my job and am now in business for myself doing freelance and consulting work. I’ve had people say “wow that’s a brave/ballsy/crazy thing to do!” But it’s not as brave/ballsy/crazy as you might think. For starters, I did not just say “fuck this!” and leave my well-paid, medically-insured, secure job. I made sure that I had enough work lined up that I can pay the bills and feed my spawn. And as soon as the contract was signed on the big client that pushed me over the edge of “I can do this in my spare time” to “I can make this work all day every day” THEN I said “fuck this!” and quit.
I have three clients: A big one, a medium one, and a small one. I’m doing different things for each of them. For one I’m doing copywriting, for another I’m serving as the community manager for an upcoming video game, and for one I’m providing social media strategy and guidance. I set my own hours and can work from anywhere. My clients are in three different time zones and I can work for all of them from my apartment in Redmond, at my family’s beach cottage near Santa Cruz, or my husband’s military base.
My new endeavor is not only freedom FROM the things I mentioned at the beginning of this post. It’s the freedom TO: pick up my daughter early on sunny days and go to the park. Run errands during the day and not incur anyone’s side-eye. Skip the make-up and stay in my sweats all day. Pack up the laptop and baby and go spend a week or two with my husband. Have lunch with friends without watching the clock and having to account for my time. And last but not least, I have the freedom to take on as much or as little work as I want. The more I work, the more money I make. I can take it easy and keep my income at a sustenance level or I can rock that shit and have ducats for a vacation or a new car. My paycheck doesn’t depend on a yearly review and if it’s ‘my turn’ for a promotion.
Freedom is good. Trixie likes.
He’s Home! Thank you so much!
I’m thrilled to report that my Gunny is home safely from his long long LONG deployment.
I also want to express my sincere thanks for all the love and support through it all. Blog readers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends and IRL peeps have been a tremendous source of support for my family. I want to thank you and share with you some photos of the homecoming.
Daddy's home!
I also want to put it out there that while military families welcome and appreciate the outpouring of support, maybe we –and by that I mean society–should be supportive of folks whose challenges don’t end after nine months or a year. People who are out of work, struggling to feed their kids, fighting illness, caring for disabled or elderly relatives. These people need love and support even more than military families do. Military families have the military to prop them up and a ready-made club of people who are going through the same thing.
Take a minute and think about what you can do to bring one bright moment to someone who really needs it and probably feels all alone. A high-five, a ‘hang in there’ or an offer to bring over dinner or babysit or just listen.
Thank you again for everything.
