I never thought I'd see the day where the word Pimp appeared in my blog. Once, during a therapy session with one of my clients, I made the offhand comment that promos for the movie The Giver seemed to be "Pimping TSwift pretty hard." Later, I worried so much this had been an anti-feminist thing to say that I emailed the client to apologize.
And now you know a little bit about what I'm like. Holla back y'all!
Okay, so lemme get straight into some Pimp Juice:
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| Be Still in a visual nutshell |
About Be Still
Living in the community of rural Fairfax, a town where sports are almost as important as church, and where a family's last name matters a whole heck of a lot, isn't easy for every teen. Fortunately for high school freshman Shelby Novotny, she has it all: basketball talent, a powerful family name, good friends, stellar grades. She's even earned the respect of her community through her unyielding patience for her mother, who struggles with bipolar disorder.
When Shelby's basketball coach, who's a longtime friend of her father's, takes an interest in helping her develop her talent, no one bats an eye. Everyone trusts Jeff Vogel. His last name has been part of the Fairfax social thread for generations.
Yet Jeff's interest in Shelby goes beyond her basketball abilities.
Shelby falls in love with Jeff. It's wrong, and she knows it, but it's meant to be, so she persists. For years, she lives a double life, maintaining her Good Girl image while also having as many trysts with Jeff as they can manage.
Three years later, Shelby finds out that her star crossed-destiny was all of Jeff's design. She learns that he has had student "loves" before her, and he seems to be working on the next one already.
Shelby finds herself torn. Report what she now realizes is abuse, and send a row of dominoes tumbling down: Dad loses his position as school board president. Mom goes into a depressive episode. Jeff loses his job and likely his family. The Novotny name, forever tarnished. If anyone believes her in the first place.
Yet if she sits on her secret, it's only a matter of time before the next girl meets the same fate as she and the girls before her.
Be Still is an 90,000 word YA contemporary fiction with series potential.
Q & A
What else does Be Still have going on?
- Snarky dialogue
- Parents who are doing the best they can
- Strong father-daughter dynamics
- A dad who moves from passively supporting rape culture to taking a stand against it
- A fantastically witty mom
- A creepy, complicated antagonist
- An adorable peer love interest for Shelby (not Coach! I'm talking someone her age)
- Rural, small-town culture
- Basketball! It's the backdrop for the drama... like how football was for Friday Night Lights
Who might like Be Still?
- Readers of Rainbow Rowell
- People who loved The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
- Anyone curious about what Nabokov's Lolita might have sounded like from the perspective of slightly older Lolita
- Lovers of One Tree Hill or Friday Night Lights
Why is it called Be Still?
The easiest thing about this MS was the title. "Be still" is something that Jeff says to Shelby with frequency. And there's more to it, but I want you to read the MS to find out!
Why did you write about such a dark theme? You seem like kind of a silly person.
I know, right?! Laughing is my favorite. I am 60% silly.
And then I'm 40% pretty hardcore.
I feel like this MS came for me. I really do. It happened in my day job, where I work as a psychologist in private practice. One day in my first year, a client disclosed that she had been in a relationship with her band teacher when she was in high school. Okay. I took it as an anomaly. The next year, another client came in and told me the same thing, only she'd slept with her 8TH GRADE MATH TEACHER (when she was in 8th grade). And now five years into my practice, I've heard versions of the student-teacher relationship story many more times. Spoken painfully, tearfully, shamefully. I thought to myself, "This is a story that's been untold. I want to give these young people a voice. I want society to understand what it's like to live in their shoes." Shelby was born out of this desire.
Why should you choose me as a mentee?
1) I will do what it takes to make my MS shine! I'm ready to listen to your expertise, and I'm ready to work. I'm willing to make major edits.
2) I am growth-oriented. Although I don't like failure any more than the next person, I accept that it's part of the process of getting better. I'm willing to take risks. I will be vulnerable with my mentor. My mind and heart will be open to your ideas. I see my MS, and indeed my very personhood, as always, always a work in progress.
3) I pick really good GIFS in Twitter conversations. I work hard at this. Though I do have a couple that I tend to really like and overuse. My pick for this post WAS GOING TO BE the Meredith Grey "Pick me! Choose me!" scene, because duh. But a lot of people already used that for their pimping. So I will choose another favorite:
4) I want to form a relationship with my mentor. I mean, of course I want my MS to get shinier through the mentoring process. But I love people, and I want to love you, prospective mentor. Not in a creepy way. Not too creepy, anyway. I probably won't window peep at your house or dig through your trash. But I might try to find out when your birthday is so that I can send you a card. Or find out your favorite stuff so I can Tweet all the right GIFs at you. And cheerlead your progress on whatever you are conquering these days.
I could have probably summed all that of that up just by saying I'M A HUFFLEPUFF, Y'ALL.
5) I am organized and task-oriented when the occasion calls for it. See my numbered list here? See?
6) I work hard. So, so hard. Rest and relaxation are actually harder for me to do than work. So if you want a worker bee...pick me. :) (also, if you want a poet, pick me. I guess).
What's your favorite color?
Seriously, that, of anything you could ask, is what you want to know? Fine. It's blue-green, the color of the Caribbean sea.
What's your other favorite stuff?
That's better.
I love my husband and my kids. And my kitties. And Stranger Things.
See us? Bunch of dorks. But man, we're the best dorks. (The kids haven't actually seen Stranger Things--we don't think they're old enough-- but we made them pose for the card anyway.)
I love Harry Potter. Maybe a little too much. (Is there such a thing?) I recently defeated my very HP-oriented group of cousins in HP Trivia, one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. My cousin with the Dumbledore tattoo was PISSED.
Other loves:
TV: Parks and Rec, Silicon Valley, Downton Abbey, The Office, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Mozart in the Jungle, West Wing
Movies: HP Series, LOTR series, Beauty and the Beast (both), THE FIRST PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. ONLY THE FIRST ONE.
Music: The Head and the Heart, First Aid Kit, Lumineers, OK-GO, Strumbellas, Florence and the Machine, HAMILTON SOUNDTRACK, Garth Brooks, Queen, Tom Petty, Cake
Hobbies: I'm a baller (league volleyball), voracious reader, loving gardener, and enthusiastic karaoke singer.
Books: (*cracks knuckles*)....where do I even begin?
All the books by Rainbow Rowell
Outlander Series- Diana Gabaldon
All the books by Tana French
The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Small Great Things- Jodi Piccoult
The Night Circus- Erin Morgenstern
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce
East of Eden- John Steinbeck
Bellweather Rhapsody- Kate Racculia
The Sun is Also a Star- Nicola Yoon
The Forgotten Garden- Kate Morton
The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky
Broken for You- Stephanie Kallos
The Time Traveller's Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
via GIPHY
Big shout out to Brenda Drake for putting on Pitch Wars, and to Lana Pattinson for hosting #Pimpmybio!
