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You Are A Writer. Act Like It.
I just watched Row vs. Wade get overturned in the supreme court. This means states have the right to choose to legalize, or ban abortion individually. I started my day off listening to how open carry applies to all states. This is a time of great change, and we are all terrified. There’s been a lot of talk online about “Today we grieve, tomorrow we stand and fight.” But not all of us want to go and stand on a street corner holding a sign, and we know if you have two brain cells, you’re not going to storm the capitol. So I offer you this: You’re a writer. Act like it.
Yeah. You. Following this blog. Your words can inspire change. People listen to you because you can string entire sentences together in a semi-intelligible format. Your community respects you as a creative because you’ve published work. (Traditional press to Wattpad, it doesn’t matter.) I was floored the first time someone quoted one of my infamous pro-hemp rants on social media. You have power, you have a voice, you have the resources.
This is not the time to think about throwing bricks. This is the time to start writing letters, gathering information, educating yourself, and time to build arguments that can actually hold water. This is the time you need to look around and say “How can I help my neighbor?” This is your time to crawl out of the woodwork and make your voice heard.
If you follow me on social media you’ve seen me holding up pride flags. One of my young mentees had rocks thrown at him for wearing a pride shirt. I’m done being quiet. You’ve seen me repost pro-choice rhetoric. I am here because one of my ancestors chose not to have an abortion. I want to make sure my grandchildren have a choice. I hate talking about the deaths of children in any capacity, but my silence is compliance if I don’t speak up. And yes, I feel we could be replacing many paper products with [THC free] hemp. I’m Christian, but every day I watch groups of Christians, much louder than I am, jam popular culture with hateful messages. Being silent in my love for my brother [sister, or sibling] was not how I was taught to be a Christian. I want the LGBT+ population to be safe, because those are my neighbors; I want people who can become pregnant to have choice because God gave me free will first; I want renewable goods, because I was taught that being a Christian meant being a steward of the earth. And yeah, I’m a Wyoming girl. I rather like guns. God put mountain lions in my home town. My mother chased a black bear off her front porch a week or two ago, using only the power of her “mom voice”, and I would’ve been much more comfortable with that situation if she had grabbed a gun first.
We can’t all wield the raw power my mother has, so some of us write. Alone you are just one voice. Together, we are many. Today I helped put stickers on a newsletter with a group of children. They were fascinated by how the pile of papers raised where the sticker was placed, and couldn’t believe that something less than a centimeter wide could cause a hill in a stack of freshly printed paper. You are an important contribution. I, by no means, mean to tell you what to think. I’m only telling you to write. You’re a writer. Act like it. Stand up for what you believe in. Also, if you are an American, you need to vote.
I’m Bad About Talking About My Books, Part 2: The Tooth Fairy
Well, I guess I’m doing these posts in the order of which the books were published. The Tooth Fairy came to fruition in June of 2021. I’m so bad at talking about my books no one really knew it existed until I went on tour in 2022.
The Tooth Fairy is its own thing, and has nothing to do with Gishlan. Forget about Gishlan. No Gishlan. The Tooth Fairy takes place in Olsen County Wyoming in the heart of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. The main character Marlene wonders around rotting fields in July because it was more profitable to leave crops where they were, than try to sell them. Her family is a victim of cattle poaching, because everyone was starving, and the meat processing plants couldn’t operate. In trying to confront the thief she learns fairies are real, and dropping “you’re not my real mom!” at the woman who raised her in a fight is a little too close to home. Marlene is a changeling– a fairy switched with a human in their early childhood. There is a girl wondering around Fairy with her face: Krysathia. Marlene comes to realize life with the fae isn’t as idealic as it first appeared and takes it upon herself to free Krysathia.
Ooh, where to start on this one. This one was my crapshoot project that became baby. I run an advice blog. I wanted to self-publish one book, just one! So I could help other people reach their goals more effectively. I know. So noble. But where do you think I put all my rage and grief over living through 2020? This baby is irrevocably mine. It looks like me.
Frankly, I had so much fun making it I’m writing a second one where Marlene is back in Yuma. Krysathia has a boyfriend now, and the trio share one brain cell. Marlene’s house is haunted, there’s an evil witch, and a nice Irish girl. This project started in 2021, and takes place in 2021, and one day, I hope to see how the rough draft ends.
At any rate, I’m getting far too far ahead. Back to book one, The Tooth Fairy. In spite of its title, it is not for children. No, really. It is not for children! I tell kids they can swear like me once they pay bills. All stories are driven by conflict and there is no shortage of it in this book. I believe there is a lot less violence, but Krysathia is a victim of human trafficking. When I mention this, people tend to get extremely uncomfortable, and people have gone so far as to tell me I shouldn’t write about such things, as if they aren’t happening to people every single day, right in our own front yards, on our interstates, at our gas stations. I can’t tell you how many sweet grannies I’ve met who’ve told me they were trafficked when they were younger, and I want to honor their survival by creating a character who has to live with that, but also, it’s not the end for her. The scariest thing is, that the same tactics have been used to trap female presenting people for hundreds of years! I own a book called Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls or War on The White Slave Trade, copyright 1911. It’s not going to get better if we pretend it’s not happening. In essence, Krysathia had someone she should have been able to trust use her for personal gain.
Although I really do love YA as a genre, I love to write it, I love to read it; Not worrying about poisoning young minds was very freeing. So was cursing like that in public. And let’s be honest, after saying all of that, I feel freer. It’s weird to know my friends from church are reading my little covid project, but so far no has chastised me for it. (Dear Jesus, I am so grateful I found this church!!!)
Although I am quite shy about this book, you can read it if you want to. I got all things that are good. I’ll keep it here for ya.
Helen M. Pugsley 