Welcome to 2024!!! Life is like a dance, we take a few steps forward and a few back, and sometime run in circles. I'm more than ready to put on my dancing shoes. It's time to say farewell to 2023 and look forward to 2024. Normally, I don't spend a lot of time looking back and focus more on the future, but since 2023 was a big year I wanted to spend a little time on what was accomplished.

Contents

• The Look Back
• The Way Forward
• Picture Gallery

The Look Back

At the beginning of 2022 I had confirmed my decision to retire from the day job. Something that was essential to do for my overall well-being and I wanted to spend more time working on my passion projects. My timeline changed a few times and I carried over that goal into 2023. I had 3 major goals for 2023:

1. Retire from the day job.
2. Move (I wasn't even sure where exactly at that point)
3. Launch my debut MG series (Katie McCabe) with Vesuvian Books

Retirement:
Retirement is not for the faint of heart. Some people have a big adjustment curve they go through when they stop working. I had planned on an adjustment period because I knew there would be a lot of things administratively that would have to be handled before I could put into action the next step. The first week of January marked my retirement, but it took several months to get everything taken care, despite having planned in advance. I miss the people I worked with, but, even though I enjoyed my job, I haven't missed it one whit.

The Move:
Mentally, moving was my biggest challenge for the year. Just trying to wrap my head around everything that needed to get done and the how took several months. Overwhelm mode activated.. I had been searching for the right place on and off over the past few years and had even put an offer in on a house. But when friends checked it out, what looked good on paper turned to dust and the offer was rescinded. Since the housing market was in such bad shape with unrealistic pricing and rates that were too high, I made the decision to rent for the time being and I couldn't be happier.

I settled on the where, but then had to figure out how to get me and my stuff there trying to keep isolated as much as possible for health reasons. Then a brain wave hit … do a cross country train trip. It took a little longer to arrive, but I am still happy I made that decision. It is something I've always wanted to try. (A picture gallery is below.) I am now in a cozy apartment with my best friends close by and they have been SUCH A HUGE HELP, I can never thank them enough.

The Series Launch:
In the midst of going through everything, getting things packed, and making all the arrangements for the move, I released the first book in the Katie McCabe Series, Rain Falling on Embers. It has already picked up a few awards and positive reviews. I spent the beginning of the year with my editor polishing up the second book in the series, South of Happy and I'm looking forward to getting it out there later this year. All of 2023 was geared toward goals to support my writing habit.

The Way Forward

I do love a fresh, shiny new year. 365 days ahead to make things happen. Sometimes I achieve what I set out to do. Sometimes life throws a curve that makes me bob and weave, or completely derails the year to another destination. But I start each year with hope and plans and am excited to find out where I'll wind up.

The Plans:

• Write, write, and write some more.
• Go through self-edits on Going Up in Flames (Katie McCabe, Book 3)
• Work through the edits my editor will give me for the same (as hard as I try to send it to him as perfect as possible, he ALWAYS has a ton of things for me to think about and adjust.)
• Finish writing Book 1 in the Homeless Myths Series, The Secret of the Redy Key. I cannot wait to share this series with everyone. It has a lot of special sauce going on and I think the rest of the world will agree.
• Get healthier. I am currently in remission (YAY!!!), but my immune system is still shot, so want to work on several avenues to help boost the immune system and give myself more resources to go into battle with. I'd love for this remission to last several years. To that end, I am focused on:
  • Being more active. I have been pretty much housebound for a number of years, especially during the pandemic. So my plan is to get out more, take walks on some of the fantastic trails around me, and work up to using my vibration plate a total of 30 minutes a day (which usually results in my dancing on it if listening to music).
  • Improving nutrition
  • Searching out new treatments for dealing with cancer. I'm excited about the breakthroughs that are popping up with more frequency and have hope that one day, there will be a cure for mine.
• Find my next home, rates and real estate market willing, as the current apartment is meant to be temporary.

The Picture Gallery

I figured since I had so many pictures I wanted to share, that it would be best simply to create a gallery and provide a little commentary to provide a flavor for the move.

• 1. The day the stuff I was moving left. All my planning and preparation resulted in what was going and what wasn't. Everything that was making the move with me had been staged into two rooms, the first thing to be loaded were those items that were going straight into storage short-term, and the second room contained those things I needed in the apartment. The next day, everything that didn't go into the pods was cleared out and donated.
• 2-4. Fullerton Amtrak station on the day of my departure. Of course, when the freight train passed by with OOCL containers on it, I had to include them.
• 5. Arizona Mesa
• 6. Albuquerque, NM train station - one with a little style
• 7. Lamy, NM station - I couldn't resist the decorations.
• 8. Near Fort Osage Township, MO
• 9. Crossing the Mississippi river from Iowa into Illinois - we had a well-wisher waving as we hurtled by.
• 10. Amtrack, Chicago - where I felt like I might have dropped into a holiday gone wrong type of movie, but all was well in the end.
• 11. Entering West Virginia and nearly to my destination.
• 12. White Sulphur Springs Station - Cutest station on my route and where I got off.
• 13. My friends met me at the station and we loaded up the Grand Cherokee—AFTER they found me, because everyone else got off the train at the front, but they had me depart the train at the back. (I had stored luggage that had to be taken off the train.) We had quite the load.
• 14. But not ALL of the stuff was mine. While waiting to pick me up, they wandered into one of the boutique stores in town and just had to get the Christmas tree with bears climbing on it. I would have done the same.
• 15. The first thing I saw when I walked into my new apartment. My friends had been busy readying the apartment while I was traveling across the country.
• 16. My festive shower curtain. There is a light over the shower/tub so the fireplace glows when the light is on.
• 17-18. My view through my windows. My place in CA looked out on a parking lot and all I could see from my bedroom window was the apartments behind me. I am reveling in having trees and grass outside and enjoy watching the hills.
• 19. Still from my windows, but at night so you can see the lights from the space needle and the skybridge.
• 20. After my initial visit with my new doctor, we went for a ride, and had just been discussion how unlikely it would be to see any bears this time of year, when a bear family came through the woods, crossed in front of our car, and continued up the hill. I'm sure they came out just to welcome me.
• 21. It's not a holiday unless I decorate, so my fridge quickly took on some holiday cheer.
• 22. My stuff arrived from CA and the place is starting to take on a homey feel.
• 23. Essentials for any writer.
• 24. My living room rug with an Amish made cherry wood cedar chest.
• 25. My Christmas Day rainbow.
• 26. The space needle decorated as a Christmas tree (and I caught the flashing star on top)
• 27. Just because I love the shadows on my wall at night.
• 28-33. The fireworks display at the space needle. I have the perfect apartment for viewing.

The post The New Years’ Dance appeared first on Be the Cat.

As November draws to a close, so does the quest to win NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I put win in italics because the prize is primarily self-satisfaction or bragging rights. Many writers participate the month was designed to get people to put words on the page. Any words toward the goal of writing a novel. The basic premise is to take a blank sheet of paper (or digital variation thereof) and have a shiny bright new idea, and starting November 1st write 50,000 words (averaging 1,667 words a day) by the end of November 30th—a daunting, but theoretically achievable task.

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO ALL PARTICIPANTS THIS YEAR! I SALUTE YOU!!!

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In the past, I have enjoyed cheering on anyone participating in the event. I missed checking up on how people were doing against their goal this year and hearing the excitement as everyone discussed their ideas with such enthusiasm. On November 1st, surrounded by boxes everywhere, I gave a brief thought to those who were dashing off their first words followed by a pensive pang because I'd miss all the excitement. I knew I wouldn't participate this year because the cross-country move I made mid-November put paid to any hopes of completing the task. I'm not an active participant in NaNoWriMo in any year … the self-inflicted pressure of writing a certain number of words or falling short of a goal halts my writing process … but I do enjoy cheering everyone else on.

As a writer, I don't have a daily (or even weekly) word count goal—either when drafting or editing. It may drive my agent crazy, but my process simply doesn't function that way and setting those concrete goals can put the creative brakes on more than it will ever spur me to achieve the goal. So how do I finish anything? It's all about knowing who you are as a writer and being true to your process.

Depending on the book, my process can either be fast or slow or somewhere in between. It depends on the story, the complexity of the plot, and primarily the characters and how well they communicate the story to me. The book I'm editing for what feels like the 3,000th time, South of Happy (Katie McCabe, Book 2), I wrote in 3 weeks, but it took me nine or ten months to complete the first draft edits. While the words simply flowed out of me and I wrote on average 5,000 words a night and between 10k-15k on the weekend days, the resulting manuscript had the makings of a story, but technically it was a big lump of clay that I'd thrown at the wall. A lot of clean up work had to be done to shape it into the story it is today.

By contrast my current WIP (Work in Progress), The Secret of the Red Key (Homeless Myths, Book 1), is taking longer for me to write than any other book I've written. Why? In an odd way, it is taking longer because I have learned more about the craft of writing and am far more deliberate about what I'm doing as I put words on the page. But that also means there will be a lot less mess to clean up when I'm done.

When writing South of Happy, I only knew it was a sequel to the first book, Rain Falling on Embers, and since I had lived with the characters in my head for a while, I merely had to plug in my headphones and turn on my music and the words simply gushed. At that point, I had no idea the story would develop into a five book series.

With The Secret of the Red Key, I have known from almost the outset that it will be a five book series. I don't know the characters quite as well yet, and the plot of this one is far more complex than with the Katie McCabe series. I absolutely love what is going on the page, the characters who keep popping up while I'm in progress, and the direction for the series, but since I'm getting things in a piecemeal fashion instead of linear, it is going to take longer for me to write. But it will be worth the wait.

Congratulations to all who participated in NaNoWriMo 2023 and best wishes as you complete your novel and polish it 'til it shines.

The post NaNoWriMo and Me appeared first on Be the Cat.

Writers tend to view things in scenes and chapters. While I enjoy getting into a flow state and immersing myself in a scene, nothing quite brings the same excitement as starting a new chapter. With a new chapter, you turn the page and choose a new direction. I'm always excited to see where the writing is going to take me. As in fiction, so it is in life.

Over the past few months, I've been immersed in prepping for my next big turn of the page and new chapter of my life—moving cross country from Southern California to Eastern Tennessee. While this is a big move, I'm looking forward to it as my next big adventure.

This has been a year of BIG change for me. Back in January, I turned a page and resigned from my job I worked for 30 years. I felt it was time to move forward into the next phase of my life where I can focus more on writing the books I love. Though I do miss the people I worked with, I don't miss the actual work.

I think back with pride on all that I accomplished in my job, but I look forward to all I need to accomplish with my writing. My to-write pile is out of control. And I can honestly say that I haven't even had one minute to spare to miss work.

The past few months have been chock-full of planning, prepping, organizing, disposing, donating, cleaning, and packing. For awhile I felt as if the boxes would revolt and I'd end up buried beneath them with arm and leg twitching. Fortunately, that didn't happen :), and now all that remains is to get ME on the way since all my stuff has already left.

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I have traveled extensively throughout my working career, but the thought of navigating an airport, the long flight in cramped quarters, and the inability to keep a bubble around me (for health reasons) bothered me. Then I thought of trains. While the train will take 3 days instead of a 7-hour flight (including layovers), I have booked a bedroom, so will have room to stretch out, relax, and ENJOY the journey. This gives me a nice transition between leaving and arriving, I've never traveled cross country on a train … and I've always wanted to.

Though I will miss family and friends, my reality has been the four walls of my apartment for the past several years with most the in-person contact being trips to the doctor and back. So in many respects, keeping in touch with friends and family will not change much at all. But being in the Smoky Mountains will give me a chance to take walks in more natural surroundings, I'll have different views from my windows, and wonderful new experiences.

So (for now at least) goodbye Southern California and hello Eastern Tennessee—it's time to start something new … and trust the magic of new beginnings.

The post The Next Chapter appeared first on Be the Cat.

I’ve never been big on making resolutions and probably worse at rehashing what has been … but I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on where we go from here.

To put it mildly, 2021 threw a few curve balls and caught me off balance. The biggest were to do with my health and having the chemo from end of 2020 / beginning of 2021 spectacularly fail. Fast forward to the end of 2021 and the new chemo plus radiation I had to undergo dragged me down so much I wound up in the hospital for a week with bilateral pneumonia caused by the chemo. I am incredibly sensitive to the chemo drugs and the treatments have been robbing me slowly of the ability to breathe due to inflammation in the lungs over the past few months. I still have two more treatments to go through, although at this point, we’re not sure whether I will be able to do them. We will give it a month and then try again. The health issues and fatigue played havoc with my writing schedule, so I’m well behind on what needs to get done.

But 2021 is now in the past. What did or did not get accomplished is also in the past, and it is time to look forward. And there is so much to look forward to. More than ever, I am certain of my purpose in life … and that is to write books for kids to connect with and enjoy. And, honestly, that is the only thing that is important to me. So while not completely ignoring all other aspects of life, the thing that I will put first is my writing. It is time for me to finish up some of the projects I’ve had on a slow boil and get them finished. No more back burner.

First up is finishing the self edits on Rain Falling on Embers (release date: October 3, 2023), which is book 1 in the Katie McCabe series. Next will be to get it to the editor who will rip it apart and help me make it what it is supposed to be. Rain Falling on Embers explores the question: How do you survive the worst thing that can ever happen? Especially in the past couple of years, kids are facing more upheaval than ever before — where things like school, which has been more of a constant than anything, has also changed dramatically. While circumstances will vary from person to person, Katie McCabe goes through coming to terms with her entire life being turned upside down. She struggles with accepting the changes and it is important for kids to know they don’t have to be perfect through all changes. That it is okay to thrash about trying to make sense of things that simply do not make sense.

The next project that will have my attention is book 1 in the Homeless Myths series, The Secret of the Red Key. I am so excited about this particular series because the storyline speaks to me so clearly. Five homeless kids struggle to survive the streets of Los Angeles and wind up as key players in a battle against mythological creatures to break a curse that will restore a fallen star and give humanity a second chance. It should be an adventure story for the ages.

At the end of 2020, during my reflective period, I came to a decision about my future … and that decision was that in order for me to pursue more completely what I need to do with my life, the day job had to go. It’s a decision years in the making, but the time has come and despite all of the upheaval of 2021, I have kept that goal firmly in mind. While I have not accomplished everything I have wanted toward this goal, it remains in place and I will see it through. The driving force? A few lyrics from Flashdance – What a Feeling spell it out for me. Take your passion and make it happen. In order to do that effectively, I need to simplify life a bit, which means letting go of something I have always looked at as stability and taking a leap of faith.

The picture at the top of this post has a great deal of meaning for me. 2022 is still all glittery and shiny and though we cannot see into the future (or down the path) the bright yellow haze beckons. One of my favorite flowers is the yellow rose, so I love that they are lining the path to the future. The color yellow is primarily associated with spreading happiness and joy, and it symbolizes moving forward with the joy of working on my purpose in life. And I hope to spread happiness and joy to those I meet. And purple has always been my favorite color and purple flowers are said to symbolize success. In this case, the flowers being campanula or bellflowers, the additional meaning of gratitude, constancy, support, and romance are present. Success for me isn’t defined in monetary terms, but whether or not I have achieved what I set out to do. Would I love to have a runaway bestseller? Absolutely. But if the book falls short of my personal mark, the number of sales don’t make it better. Success for me is crafting the book in my head as close as I possibly can. Success is reaching the small goals along the way to the big ones. And joy comes from achieving those things.

So 2022, here you are in all of your shining newness. I have identified my passion and all that is left is to make it happen. Let’s do this thing.

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The result of fear is a life half lived. We will never reach our full potential and we miss out on so much. Example: Hiking through the hills during my scouting years, I strode down the middle of the path, head down, eyes scanning the brush for snakes—due to ophiophobia (fear of snakes). I missed out on enjoying good times and laughs with friends, taking in the scenery, and all because I couldn’t get past my fear and enjoy the moment. My fear controlled me on those hikes.

The idea for Speak No Evil captured me from the moment it arrived. A teenage girl who had been through so much trauma, she became afraid to speak. Every time she spoke out about things that had happened to her, something worse followed. Melody’s silence was her fortress — the walls she put up against encroachment by the outside world. But it became her prison.

To say that I fell in love with the story immediately may be an understatement. I was itching to write it. The characters were fantastic. The story compelling. It haunted not only my dreams but also my waking moments. But other than capturing scenes and making notes, doing research, I didn’t write.

Why didn’t I dive in? I’m no stranger to reaching the end of the story only to realize while the concept is good, the words on the page are a hot mess and need a LOT of editing. I’m one of those writers who actually enjoys most (not all) of the editing process because that is what makes the work shine. But still I wouldn’t write it. I was afraid.

Afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle the story in the way I saw it in my head. Afraid the story was bigger than my talent as a writer. The LAST thing I wanted to do was to fail Melody — fail her story.

Any time I would think about starting a draft, the little gremlin on my shoulder whispered in my ear, but you’re not ready. I had allowed fear to stop me from sharing this story.

Then, after a couple of years and a swift verbal kick up the backside from Italia Gandolfo, I conquered my fear … well, conquered is probably too strong a word. I told my fear to hush because the time had come. Then I put the butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.

“You will never learn to fly if you let someone else carry your wings.”

My characters talk to me … and not always about the story. As I got to know Quatie Raincrow, Melody’s first foster mother, she said, “You will never learn to fly if you let someone else carry your wings.” It’s one of the first things she said. The context? A scene that never made it into the book. The scene itself wasn’t important, but the words were. They were meant more for me than for the story at that point.

It’s true. If you don’t strap on those wings and take a leap of faith, you’ll never learn to fly. It’s about having courage to do the things you’re passionate about. So it has become a personal motto of mine. When I hang back and don’t move forward into a new venture because I might fail, I take a deep breath and put my wings on. Am I going to fail? Yes, but I’ll dust myself off, and try again. Usually the thought of failure doesn’t hold me back, but when it does, I know I need to strap on those wings and reach for the sky.

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Up until that point, I either wore Mary Janes with a buckle, or my mom tied my shoes with laces. So I sat down, absolutely certain I would know how to tie my shoes without any assistance, and couldn’t. The shoelace wouldn’t behave. All the times I had watched my shoes being tied, and I couldn’t make my fingers do the right thing at the right time. FRUSTRATING.

I asked my mom, whose patience is legendary, for help and she showed me (loop, swoop, and pull) more times than I can count. I put shoes on my bed and practiced. Dad taught me a different way — two bunny ears. Stupid shoelaces. More than one way to tie them and I failed at both. I despaired. I’d NEVER get to go to school.

I sought out our next door neighbor — she’d be able to teach me — and learned to put my thumbs in the loop and pull. Except when I did that, I pulled the laces straight through and had a knot, but no bow. I experienced a gamut of emotions from despair and frustration to anger and self-loathing because I couldn’t figure out how to do what every other person in my life appeared to do with ease. Once in a while, I’d have a moment of hope dashed by subsequent failure. I’m sure I must have cried more than once, and I know I yelled several times, “I CAN’T DO IT!!!” and a shoe or two might have taken flight.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, there were several factors making this an exceptionally trying lesson to learn. I am dyslexic, though it has rarely impacted my ability to read, it shows up in other forms. I also have control issues fine motor skills which is due to arthritis. The combination perhaps made learning to tie my shoes a more difficult endeavor. BUT no matter how frustrated I became, or how many times I “gave up,” I kept trying. Why? Because my desire for success (the right to go to school) was bigger than my frustration.

Achievement of a goal is attainable only if you are willing to keep failing until you succeed. Succinctly put, failure is critical to success. My ability to tie my shoes is founded on failure after failure that I eventually conquered.

So what is the conundrum surrounding my arch enemy, the shoelace? Time marches on and with it improvements and conveniences have been created. We have shoes with velcro and bungee laces that don’t require tying. Parents (and teachers) everywhere gave a huge sigh of relief. No more do they need to have the patience of a saint while waiting on a kid (or several) to tie their own shoes. No more frustration in attempting to teach a child to tie their own shoes. HOW can this be a bad thing?

Learning to tie your own shoe is a child-level rite of passage. And while it may appear trivial on the surface, it is an important part of our development. Without spelling it out, it teaches us the value of perseverance. It teaches us the value of failure. It teaches us about gut-level determination. And it teaches us about the joy and pride of achievement.

Alternatives to shoelaces are a great boon for parents, but we’re robbing our kids of one of the first critical lessons they might remember. If we clear the path for kids so there are no obstacles that must be overcome to achieve a goal, then what happens when later in life obstacles have them boxed in? They have no experience with failure and learning how to cope with it and turn it into success. We have lost the ability to make an assessment of how much we value the success that we’re striving for and put a price on what it is worth to us to achieve.

Learning to tie your shoes when you are 4-years-old has a MUCH BIGGER pride factor that comes with it because you know you have achieved something great … you have proven you are no longer a baby, but a big kid. Learning to tie your shoes at 7 or 8 is not the same thing because there is the feeling that you should have been able to do it earlier. No one else thinks it is such a great feat either.

I am a fighter. When I see an obstacle in my path, my thoughts are on how to get under, around, or over the obstacle to achieve my goal. I don’t give up. Just as we need to exercise our muscles to keep our body healthy, and exercise our brain to keep our mind sharp, we need to exercise our determination. It’s the Tubthumping concept. If we don’t practice getting up when we get knocked down, we won’t achieve our goals.

It seems a bit contradictory, but we need adversity to achieve success. We need to practice failing to learn how to do things right.

What method finally worked for me? I closed my eyes and made up a story. A bunny running around a tree and diving into a hole (loop, swoop, and pull) to escape a fox, and then closed the door, by pulling the laces tight, so the fox couldn’t get in. Stories reign supreme.

The post The Shoelace Conundrum appeared first on Be the Cat.

In cases of sexual assault or rape, many don’t get to the trial stage for a variety of reasons. Only about 30% of the cases are reported and of those many are not investigated, some of the perpetrators, even though known by the victim, are never interviewed. Even when the victim reports the incident immediately and subjects themselves to the rape kit testing, being interrogated by the police, in many cases not being believed because they are confused — which is not an indication of lying — or being told there isn’t enough evidence.

For those cases that do actually make it to trial and there is a conviction in the case, there is a wide range of sentencing that occurs, depending on the judge in the case. For juxtaposition’s sake, let’s look at a recent (non rape) occurrence. A girl was filmed by her boyfriend opening a Blue Bell ice cream tub and licking it, while her boyfriend egged her on, and then put it back in the case. The video went viral and there are now copycat cases happening. The first headline I saw for the case was that the girl could face being sentenced from 2 to 20 years … for licking ice cream.

Now, I don’t want to downplay the potential seriousness of the crime — it is disgusting, extremely juvenile in nature, and has the potential for passing on communicable disease. If it had not been captured on video and shared, and no one knew about it, someone could have purchased the tainted ice cream. For someone with a strong immune system, should they have not recognize it had been tampered with, they may have contracted an illness, but something that could be fought off. For someone like me, who has an impaired immune system, depending on what the communicable disease was, it could seriously harm or even kill me. Not a laughing matter at all.

But the potential sentence the girl could face was determined based on violating the ice cream (yes, the account I read used that word), not on any aftermath. An aftermath in this case which will not happen as the tainted ice cream was identified and removed.

Brock Turner was caught in the act of assaulting an unconscious woman and was convicted on 3 counts of felony sexual assault … he was sentenced to 6 MONTHS and walked out of prison after 3 months. Shane Piche admitted raping a 14-year-old girl and was sentenced to zero prison time and 10 years probation. With both of these cases, there is no question … there is no doubt … they violated their victims and yet they both received sentences far lighter than a potential sentence for a girl who licked ice cream and put it back.

Let me say this loud and clear: They both willingly and willfully violated another human being and received a lighter sentence than what could be meted out for someone violating ice cream.

I italicized the could be in the sentence above because it is unlikely the girl will be prosecuted at that level as she is a minor and it will be processed through the juvenile system. However, her boyfriend, who is an adult, may also be charged.

Our justice system is broken, and how sexual assault and rape cases are handled truly highlight the many ways in which the system has crumbled. We have numerous safeguards in place to protect the accused, and while necessary, we seem to have forgotten about treating the victims with the same compassion we do the perpetrator. Case after case can be listed where the outcome for the victim is nowhere near close enough for them to think justice has been served or even to feel safe. Because I know for sure, were I the victim in the Shane Piche case, that he is on probation will not do one thing to reduce the nightmares of the event or the fear that since he is free to walk around without restraint, I may come face to face with him again. I wouldn’t feel safe.

Do these individuals who have perpetrated these offenses against other human beings need help? Yes, they most certainly do. Is prison the answer? Not really, because it isn’t doing anything to address the root cause of the problem. It isn’t addressing the issue that Brock Turner only wanted to have “outercourse,” but fails to recognize how wrong it is to do anything to an unconscious woman — except to get her help.

In this country, we still do not provide appropriate consideration for the victim. We still have blinders on when it comes to a defendant of specific socio-economic background, race, or gender. Protection of the defendant’s rights before prosecution, and throughout the course of the trial are imperative. But once a guilty verdict has been rendered, the consideration needs to shift to the victim and their circumstances.

As no harm came to anyone in the violation of ice cream incident, a light sentence to ensure the perpetrators recognize the possible severity as well as the gross stupidity of their actions and to serve as a deterrent against future acts of the same kind would be reasonable; however, the penalty for violation of a human being should not be predicated on the potential damage to the perpetrator, but on what is just for the victim.

The post Our Broken System appeared first on Be the Cat.

Let’s talk a little bit about what those numbers mean … like only 0.5% of the perpertators will wind up in prison. Or to put it another way, 99.5% of the perpetrators will remain free to sexually assault another person. What about the every 92 seconds? That’s 39 people every hour, over six of which will be children, and 939 per day, 160 of which will be children. That is 342,782 people every YEAR and of those 58,400 are CHILDREN. Roughly ONLY 1,714 will go to prison. My heart is breaking.

Another case rose to media attention this past week because an appellate panel overturned a judge’s decision not to try a 16-year-old as an adult. The judge’s comments in the case made me think … and I gained a new perspective, after calming down because frankly Judge James Troiano’s reasons for not trying “G.M.C.” as an adult enraged me. And let me be clear, it wasn’t the decision, it was the reasons given that were upsetting.

As background information: the case involved a pajama party where a 16-year-old boy who filmed himself assaulting an intoxicated girl and then texted the video to his friends. The legal definition of rape is: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

• Judge Troiano stated that in his mind there is a distinction between sexual assault and rape and further elaborated to state that traditional cases of rape include two or more (generally) males involved forcing the victim at either gun or knife point or threatening to injure the victim. I won’t go into the further inanities of his statements as to traditional cases of rape because his statement already shows he lacks the ability to perform as a judge in ANY rape or sexual assault case. He is a judge and as such his JOB is to hear the specifics and make a determination not based on what is in his mind but by what the law states. Yes, the law is subject to interpretation, but he wasn’t basing his decisions on what the law states, but on what he as an individual thought.
• The text sent to the friends stated, “[w]hen your first time having sex was rape.” To me, this indicates the he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. However, the judge dismissed it as “stupid crap” 16-year-old boys say to their friends. Do 16-year-old boys say “stupid crap”? Absolutely, and you can expand that to people of any age or gender. We have all said something stupid at one point or another. But this was not a case of stupid braggadocio — it was backed up with a video of the event and a girl incapable of giving consent.
• And the final bit of enraging rhetoric from the judge: The boy comes from a good family and gets good grades, so will probably be able to get into a good college. Which, of course, has absolutely NOTHING to do with whether he should be tried as an adult — the only determination the judge was supposed to be making. I feel like this needs a “You had one job …”

At this point, my brain was taking me on an emotional roller-coaster over how we as a society can allow these things to happen over and over again, how we need to weed out these judges who treat victims with such little regard because they are so worried about the impact on the poor perpetrator and how their life will be ruined for one mistake. But then when I went down the alley of “he obviously DOESN’T come from a good family or they would have taught him about consent, what it is and why you need to have it, and oh, by the way, no one from a “good” family would ever think it was OKAY to send a video of a sexual encounter to their friends whether it was consensual or not.

And then I stopped and realized what I was doing … blaming the family for the perpetrator’s actions. I don’t know them. They may be a good family indeed. They may have had all the right discussions with their son — who chose not to listen. But this is what happens. We hear of these horrendous events and start casting blame at society, the judge in the case, the family, the friends, and the biggie, the VICTIM, but we do not put enough emphasis of responsibility on the shoulders of the perpetrator.

In this case, do I blame the judge for ineptly executing his job? You bet. BUT I should be enraged at “G.M.C.” more than the judge in the case who made a decision not to try him as an adult. I should not automatically assume that the family has not tried to impart moral values to their child. They very well could have. Each person is responsible for their OWN actions and we need to start holding them accountable for those actions. But with only 0.5% of perpetrators being held accountable, we have a mountain to climb.

What struck me so forcibly about this particular case were the similarities to Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, which was published 20 years ago. In it, the main character, Melinda, had been at a party where she had a drink for the first time and was plied with alcohol by a classmate who then took her away from the party and raped her. While he didn’t video it and share it with his friends, she was made an outcast because sick and hurt she called the police. She didn’t speak about what happened to her because of her shame — her voice was effectively silenced.

In my upcoming book, Speak No Evil my main character starts the book having been silent for the prior two years because she felt silenced by the situations she encountered. Speak came out twenty years ago, and yet we still don’t listen and put the needs of the victim first. I wrote Speak No Evil to give Melody a voice, and as a survivor of rape myself, my greatest hope is that through reading the book others will find their voice and with it some peace.

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Here is a man who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl, yet because he doesn’t have any prior arrests for the same type of behavior, the judge was lenient and didn’t sentence him to any jail time. What about the jail time that girl has to serve?? No, not in an actual prison, but the mental prison and hell she is now in. I cannot imagine her mother’s pain at knowing he is free to walk around as he did before. Yes, he is on probation. Yes, he is restricted from interacting with anyone under the age of 17, but honestly that does not compare one iota to what the girl is going through?

He won’t even be listed in the online sexual offender database because the status is that of a Level 1. HE RAPED A GIRL! HOW is that NOT worthy of being listed in the database? What kind of message is that sending to EVERY OTHER 14-year-old girl out there?

We already have an issue with getting women (and men) to come forward to report rape, and even with the swell of support that has been evident in recent times, we are also seeing a backlash against those who have spoken up. With decisions such as these, we are teaching children that when something horrific happens to you, the perpetrator is basically going to be given a wrist slap and sent on their merry way. As a kid, I expected the justice system to protect the innocent. This is not protecting the innocent.

My heart is breaking for this girl. As I am getting ready for the release of my young adult novel, Speak No Evil this travesty brings the segments in the novel forcibly to mind. My main character, Melody Fisher is raped by her foster father when she is fourteen and she doesn’t speak out because she has been threatened with severe bodily harm if she says anything. And more than anything at this moment, I wonder how we give girl’s a voice when we continue to disregard the severity of their experience. For too long, Melody chose silence. The judge in the Piche case ruled as he did as it was a “first offense” … and I have to wonder about that. Is it truly? Or is it the first offense we KNOW about?

Does Shane Piche need help? Yes, he does. But my bigger concern is that we are failing another girl who took the steps to speak up about what happened. This is a personal issue for me, because I spoke up as well — being older and knowing nothing would happen. In the back of Speak No Evil I have a note to the reader which talks about how I came to write the book and my greatest wish for those who remain silent is that you will find your voice and with it peace. And that concept is so hard to believe in, that of finding peace, when the perpetrator walks free with the requirement to pay $375 in court fees and surcharges, plus a $1,000 special sex offender registration fee. Is that how little we value the girl who will live with that moment for the rest of her LIFE?

For anyone who would like to read my note to the reader, please click here.