Change of Plans, but Still a Celebration

Well, we weren’t able to make our trip to VooDoo Donuts today due to a sick kid, but Im still carrying on with giving away with FREE DOWNLOADS of a couple of my books to celebrate. If you go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ED928G for “Paying the Piper” which is my newest or http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0084HETDA for “Face In the Rear View Mirror” which is the book that I dedicated to the 100 Monkeys for inspiring the change we are celebrating, then you will find the links that will give you the free E-Books. 

Made my first major sale yesterday to Cafe Delirium here in Gresham and it felt wonderful! I hope it is the start of many great things. My copyright certificate that had been wandering around the postal world finally showed up yesterday, so I am proudly getting it framed like the big ole nerd I am, and I took extra pride in the fact the first two letters of its certification number are TX as if to proudly proclaim, “Yeah, a Texan did this.” 

Ive been working a lot and staying busy, we are moving this week because due to some issues with the new place we had to push some things back which actually ended up working out for the better. I am going to actually turn the dining area into my office/writing area, and im looking forward to having a real desk and space to get my stuff up  and situated in. 

The Website is looking great and we are adding more and more to it as we have time and things to add, including the logo of the place that was my first major buyer. Check it out and let me know what you think at my guestbook. www.jenniferdscroggins.com but most of all, make sure you get your free downloads, also available on my “Writings” page.

Celebrating a Monkeyversary By Giving Books Away

On Saturday July 28th, It will be 2 years since the 100 Monkeys concert that brought us up here. While I wish I was going to be spending the day getting ready to go rock out at another 100 Monkeys show, we all know that sadly, that is not going to happen. 

My kids and I an some of or friends will be returning to Voodoo Donuts that morning to remember and celebrate and rejoice in the small joys that brought us all together, and hope that brighter days guide those boys back to the sunshine. 

If you are in Portland, come join us. We are going to pretty much relive that day the exact same way it happened the first time around, riding the Max down and wandering the streets til we get to that familiar pepto bismol pink building, though this time we will hopefully this time have a few extra bucks in our pockets so we can afford to actually buy more than one donut, one bottle of water and one Dr. Pepper, but even if we are broke again, we are in a much better place. I am walking into that parking lot a woman who can talk to people about things, and who is a three times over published author who has held a job for almost a full year, and who actually can talk to people above a whisper without stammering most of the time. My son stands up tall and proud and is in acting and he learned to play guitar and write music watching those same boys we were there to see that day. My little girl? The one who thinks that young Mr. Rathbone hung the moon and lit the stars? Well, yeah…she is still convinced of that, (even more so now that hes a daddy and seems happy about it), and she has managed to endure the loss of the band with quite a bit of sadness and by praying that,”Maybe, someday, they will figure it all out.” but as for herself? She is growing like a weed and she has taken off and FLOWN! Shes in the Gifted and Talented program and she still draws pictures for him, but not knowing where to send them she just hangs onto them for that “Someday.” She looks after the other boys in the band as she comes across them on twitter and while she hasn’t really found any other music or bands shes crazy over, she has been teaching herself to play the piano. 

The really big change this year is the fact that the two missing people from that first concert will be with us, my two sons that my ex had kept. They are coming with to celebrate a show they wish they had been able to see, and they still feel ripped off that they never got to see their favorite band before things went sideways, but they love to hear the stories and watch the videos from that day and they know that,”The Best Day Ever” really made things a lot better for all of us.

We are celebrating that day in another way as well, I am going to put my latest book,”Paying the Piper” and the book that I dedicated to those boys in that band who inspired so much, “Face In The Rear View Mirror” up for free download all day on July 28th. 

If you go to my website(www.jenniferdscroggins.com)  on that day, go to the page that is titled, “Writings” and click on the links by each of those books, you will be taken to the E-book download site.  If you would be so kind, I would really appreciate it if you would stop by my Guestbook and say,”Hello.”  If you have a tale of the 100th Monkey Effect, please, share it there too. My little girl kinda thinks its like Tinkerbell, that maybe if we all believe hard enough, that someday…

 

Dear Roger: This Month We Think Of Gratitude

Stevie’s favorite picture from the,”Best Day Ever!”

Summer is a time of reflection for me. I woke up this morning on my nice new leather couch in my comfortable living room without anyone yelling at me,(other than Spencer, my dog), and I realized that I have been in Portland for almost 2 years, at first with just two of my kids and then a year and a month later, with all of my kids. Its been two amazing years of changes. I still have my issues, some days are better than others, but I have been steadily employed for almost a year, I am a published author x’s THREE and I have FRIENDS that I actually hang out with on a regular basis. I still stay in the house more than I go out, and I still struggle with hyper-vigilance, my stammer, headaches and my temper, but I go more days wanting to be here than not.
I am enjoying my life more. I’m not ducking and dodging and worrying about appeasing anyone so they didn’t hurt me or my kids.I struggle and scrounge to keep my kids clothed and fed, and we don’t have extra anything, but we are HAPPY. My eldest son is now learning how to drive thanks to my new friend, and I got to go see a movie in the theater with another adult and we acted silly and hooted and hollered and OBJECTIFIED the hell out the men on the screen and I walked out of the first movie I had seen in almost a year, laughing.
I’ve gotten tougher I think. I stood my ex down and told him to leave when he showed up here in Portland thinking he was going to bully me into supporting him and putting up with his crap again. I went “Keep Awake” on him and I managed to get just the right amount of “scary psycho chick” look in my eye and he scurried away to go mooch off someone else, leaving us with debt we didn’t need, depleted cupboards, a cat with worms and fleas, and junk in storage I just managed to get hauled off yesterday. He kept the damn van, deciding he needed it more than me and the four kids.
Its taken us a bit to recover from his,”Visit” and even his paltry contributions of 100 here or there when the mood strikes him haven’t done too much to ease the stress of it all, but knowing he wont be back would be more help. I’ve finally filed for child support, because after his last call where he told the kids he had spent the last two weeks sitting on the beach reading while we were scrambling trying to find money for milk and bread, I knew something had to give. I decided that nothing motivates a man to get busy like threats of going to jail or losing their drivers license. I don’t do this lightly, but when it has been years and years of nothing but excuse after excuse for not supporting his kids, for failing them, and being a lazy slob, then something has to be done. Hes not disabled, hes just lazy and its time he gets some proper motivation. My eldest son wants me to go after his father too, and while that scares the hell out of me, he says its time he finally does the right thing as well.
Its going to be an even busier year this next one I have a feeling and hopefully just as upwardly mobile. My kids are happy and safe, I feel mostly happy and safe and I am proud of the progress I have made these past two years. I have grown a lot as a person and I am alive. He has not won, and in spite of his attempts to continually pick at my insecurities and bring me down, he is the one who is essentially homeless and who has done nothing for himself or his kids. I have clothed, fed and sheltered them on my own and I have managed to hold down and job and publish THREE books while all he has done is criticize me for following my dream, but the voice that use to roar right in my face with the straight razor at my throat is now just a whisper at my heels.
My little girl is creating an event on Facebook and inviting people to our “Two Year Celebration of Life” on July 28th at 10 am, if you were there, you know the places. She is stone cold serious. If you can, come join us, it wont be fancy, but it will be happy.