Guest Post: A New Year, A New Set of Ramblings by Jessica Park

I've got a guest post visiting today for the New Year.

I read her book, Relatively Famous, a couple months ago and loved it. Since this post is about her ramblings I will cease mine and without further ado, here is what Jessica Park has to say:

A New Year, A New Set of Ramblings

It’s a new year. Ugh. All this pressure to turn ourselves into better people via lofty resolutions? Yeah, I don’t think so. That sounds like too much work. Instead of “resolutions,” I prefer to go with “absolutions.” I will absolve myself of guilt for looking forward to so many less-than-honorable upcoming events of 2011. Like the fact the Britney Spears has a new album coming out. Seriously, I’m practically peeing with excitement. Although this is not nearly as exciting as the time that she shaved her head, because that was ridiculously entertaining. I mean, in a sad, mentally unstable, scary way. But nonetheless… it was awesome. I still dream about it… the way her eyes bugged out of her head as she wielded the electric razor, flashing her new tattoo all over the place… Bliss! Oh, so maybe there will be an equally thrilling celebrity scandal this year! Maybe Khloe Kardashian will shave her head next. Or beat up Kim and Kourtney. Or start spelling her name with a “C” the way it should be because she has finally had enough. She’d have a spectacular breakdown, yes? So I absolve myself of any delight that I might take in any celebrity firestorm.

“American Idol” is starting soon. I’m gonna watch. I know, I know. It’s a tragedy, but I don’t care. It’s the only reality show that I can’t quit. Jennifer Lopez is so hideously annoying, and her singing makes my ears bleed, but both of these factors mean that I will not be able to tear myself away from this disaster. (Side note: Was “Jenny From the Block” not the most annoying, self-serving song ever? “Hi, I make millions per year for being an idiot, but I can tie a rag on my head, throw on some big ol’ hoop earrings, and pretend that I’m just a gal off the streets!” Barf.) And Steven Tyler is… Well, look, he’s Steven f’ing Tyler. I just have to see how he ended up on this show. So, there. I will not feel badly about myself for cranking up the volume while watching AI.

Also, despite getting my coveted Wii Fit, I will not hate myself if I do not workout seven days a week. Or even five days. Or four. Fine, four would be smart, but setting goals only sets one up for failure.

I want to try to blog more, but the world will not come to an end if I don’t. Author Heather Webber has the right idea by doing short daily blog post. If I weren’t so lazy, I might be able to muster up the wherewithal to get this done. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but I won’t resolve to this. Speaking of Heather, I am totally looking forward to the third book in her Lucy Valentine series, Absolutely, Positively. Lucy Valentine brings psychic powers to her job at her parents’ matchmaking business. I probably have some sort of writer crush on Heather, but I honestly adore everything she writes, and this series in particular is so adorable and perfect for all ages. Romance, mystery, charming characters, paranormal elements (done very well!), and plenty of humor. Anyhow, she does everything right, so I should model my blog behavior after her.

Other guilt-inducing behaviors that I will absolve myself of:

-Eating chips with salsa and guacamole as a meal.

-Shoveling the bare minimum amount of snow to just squeeze the car out of the driveway and then fretting that the neighbors think that I’m a lazy jerk who does not care that her driveway looks wretched. Tough. Shoveling stinks, and I usually cry at least once while hacking away at a snowplowed pile of ice chunks. Bare. Minimum. And I will be proud of that.

-Reheating the same cup of coffee thirty times in a day. I like doing this. Yes, it’s gross, but I find it comforting for some reason. Sue me.

-Checking my Amazon sales numbers 56 times a day. Pathetic, yes? Go ahead. Ask anyone who has self-published and they’ll tell you the same thing. We’re all addicts. I like knowing that on January 1st I sold three copies of Facebooking Rick Springfield, one copy of Relatively Famous, and two copies of What the Kid Says. It’s fun. Traditional publishing doesn’t give you that minute-by-minute information, so we are all glued to our accounts hoping for big numbers. Um, not that those are terribly big numbers… but one can hope. I won’t be embarrassed about my obsessive logging in.

-On a slightly more serious note: Being a slow writer. It takes me a long time to plan out a book, and an especially long time to write the first third. I’m slow and methodical, and I like to write cleanly. I envy writers that can whip out a book in two or three months, but I have to accept that I just don’t roll that way. When I really get into the book and have the feel and pace down, I can crank it out like nobody’s business. But the early stages for me are dreadfully slow, and I have to stop beating myself up about that. Right now I have a book idea that’s been stewing in my head for quite some time, and it’s finally ready for me to really map it out. I’m simply not going to rush myself. It will take however long it takes.

In the meantime I will be busy absolving myself of my other sins. Now, pass the salsa…

-Jessica Park

Jessica's Blogs: http://yaauthorjessicapark.blogspot.com/, http://whatthekidsays.blogspot.com/

Her Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/Jumby24

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JessicaParkYA

Her Cafepress Store: http://www.cafepress.com/RelativelyFamous

You can also read my review of Relatively Famous HERE.

And my character interview with Dani HERE.

Thanks Jessica!!! I hope you all enjoyed Jessica's post, I know I did. :)

I'm not a big resolution fan either, I figure it's just a way to set yourself up for failure, or at least some guilt if you don't do it. How about you, what do you think about New Years and Resolutions? And what are your thoughts about Jessica's post? I'm sure she'd love to hear them. :)

Happy Reading!!!

♪♫Ambur