What is Ty’s mother’s name?

Don’t forget to post your answer to the first question in the comment section of that post. And your answer to this question in the comment section of this post.

I’ll be off line for the rest of the weekend. Football tonight, and tomorrow I leave for a writer’s retreat. I would have left today, but can’t miss my boy’s game tonight.
Have a great one everyone and good luck in the contest!

Ciao,

K*

Hi Officer Friendly, I read about so many woman being killed by their abusers when they finally get up the nerve to leave them. It doesn’t seem that there’s anything they can do, except leave the state and live under an assumed name. What are any effective steps you think a woman should take? Besides killing him first.

Domestic Violence occurs among all ages, genders, races, religions, educational backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups. The actual act occurs when a family member, any family member, partner or ex-partner, attempts to physically or psychologically dominate or harm another. In most states, for the act to be a crime, a visible injury must be present. It is estimated that 2 to 4 million women are victims of Domestic Violence every year. 2000 of these assaults will result in death.

Taken from the California Penal Code: Any person who willfully inflicts upon a person who is his or her spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant, or the mother or father of his or her child, corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition, is guilty of a felony.
As used in this section, “traumatic condition” means a condition of the body, such as a wound or external or internal injury, whether of a minor or serious nature, caused by a physical force.

My recommendation is to leave any abusive relationship. When the decision is made, call the police for a civil standby so that you can be protected, while making your exit. If an act of violence has occurred, call the police and let them do their job. Ask for an emergency protective order. This will legally prohibit the offender from contacting you for a period of time, usually one week. Apply to the court for a permanent restraining order. Take what you need, take what you can get, and go. Staying in an abusive relationship only propagates the problem. Children who grow up in abusive homes grow up to be abusers or abused themselves. There are lots of agencies and groups ready to help. No one need stay in an abusive relationship or live out of their car to escape one.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is (800) 799-7233, or for hearing impaired, (800) 787-3224 (TTY).

Thank you Officer Friendly!

Two reminders. First: If you have a question for Officer Friendly please emial me at Karin@KarinTabke.com

Second: The Scent-u-ous contest began yesterday, be sure to check the previous post for scooby.

Have a great day everyone!

K*

Wanna smell good? Then read on!

So the Scent-u-ous Contest is officially under way. The rules are simple.
Over the next 10 days or so (it could be more or less, I am in revision mode and have less than 3 weeks to complete substantial rewrites) I will post four questions. The answers can be found on my website(you’ll have to dig) or in the pages of GOOD GIRL GONE BAD. Some are trick questions, so you must pay attention.

You must answer in comments. Your answer must be in the comment section of the question post you are answering (even if you figure out the answer days later). So if you post your answer to question one in the question three post, and even if you answer correctly you will not get credit for your correct answer. ANSWER MUST BE IN THE APPROPRIATE POST.

Now, there is no time limit to answer during the contest, however there will be a 36 hour deadline after the last question is posted to complete answering any of the questions. Then the contest will officially be closed. When I close the contest, I will write down the names of each person who answered each question correctly within the correlating post. If you post correctly each time, you get your name written down four times. I will not reveal the correct answers until the close of the contest. I will put all of the names in a hat and have hubby draw one. So the more times you answer correctly the more chances you have to win the prize, a sexy scent (up to a $75.00 value).

I will announce the winner the next day.

And the first question is:
What is the name of the cockatoo pictured sitting on Amy Knupp’s hand?

Good luck!

K*

I know I said I would post the guidelines for the Scent-u-ous contest today, but my head feels like it’s going to explode. So bear with me.

K*

It was so much fun. Lots of excited readers, countless friends and family, and so many new faces. My head is still spinning.

The restaurant did a fabulous job. Kelly my girl, you were awesome, thank you for doing such an outstanding job. I can see why my daughter is so good at what she does. You trained her well. The food was excellent and while it was early, 2 pm PST, it was five o’clock somewhere, and the ladies were taking full advantage of it. Martinis runneth over. (Veronica, you are a naughty girl.)

I could not have asked for a better book seller. Cindy from Barnes and Noble, you are awesome. Thank you. Her helper, Iris kept the line moving. Thank you.

A bunch of us stayed after and had dinner. What an eclectic fun group we were too. I’m still smiling. At one point our raucous conversation cleared the restaurant, but that didn’t last long. When we left, the noise level finally met ours. I didn’t want to go home.
When we did get home, I crashed for 3 hours.

I want to thank my family for showing up en force. My friends? You ladies and gents ground me. What would I do without you all? To the many new faces I met, thank you for stopping by and celebrating with me. It means a lot. I hope you all love Phil and Ty as much as I loved writing their story.
As always, Gary, I couldn’t do any of this without you by my side. Thank you, babe.

Hubby and FIL took lots and lots of pictures. When we figure out how to load them I’ll post them. But now, I have a cake to bake for number two daughter’s birthday, and a house to get ready for a cocktail party.

Ciao for now,

K*

I just got in from one of the most exciting footballs games I’ve ever been too. We tied the number 3 ranked team in Nor Cal. My throat is raw from screaming and my hands ache from so much clapping.
It’s the end to a very busy day.

I did revisions on my medieval and got those off at about 2 am this morning to my agent. Spent the morning on the phone with my editor chatting about revisions for SKIN, and she told me she would do her best to finish reading all of the contest finalist by next week. She also sent me a prezzy. The jpeg of the cover for SKIN. I can’t figure how to put it in this post, but if you go click the book link or the homepage link on my site and scroll down you can see just how damn sexy Pocket can get. I’m very pleased.

Tomorrow is my big launch party and signing. I’m really excited. Sunday is my youngest daughter’s birthday, and I’ll be tied up most of the day. We’re having a big family celebration, at a restaurant, thank god, but cocktails and munchies at the house before hand. Monday I begin the revisions on SKIN in earnest. I have 3 weeks to do them, and the revisions are substantial. Lots of culling and a few scenes reworked. But when you cull, you have to go back and fix everything else to match it. No biggy.

My editor is smart and she made some great suggestions.
I love the fact she is brutally honest and up front with me, and wants the best book out of me possible. I told her from the get go, she can beat me up and spit me out, I’m not afraid of revisions. Hell, I’ll rewrite the entire book. But that isn’t the case. Lauren really loves Reese and Francesca, so that is huge. I hope she feels the same about the revised version my medieval. I hope to have some great news there soon.

Okay, it’s late and I have an early call tomorrow. I’m going to have hubby take lots of pictures at the signing and will get those posted. You may see a familiar face or two!
‘nite.
K*

Dear Officer Friendly,

Do police officers refer to each other as “cops”? Would they say
something like, “He’s not much of a cop” or “He’s a good cop”?

Yes, cops will refer to each other as cops.

Is the interrogation of a suspect done similarly to how it appears on TV
shows such as CSI?

Because of show time restraints, the interrogations you see on TV are compressed into about 90 seconds. In real life it can take hours. Here is an example of what takes place, the why’s and the how’s.

I always got all of my ducks in a row before interviewing the suspect. I would take a statement from the victim as well as any witnesses to the crime. I would also check with the Crime Scene Technician (CST), to see if there was any additional info they could provide as well as observing the scene first hand for myself. At this point I should have a pretty good idea of what took place. I would also take a folder filled with papers into the interview to make it look like a lot of work had been done and would draw statements from that folder to give the impression that it was the working file.

In an interview you want one of two things to happen: First, to get a confession so as to get a conviction. Second, if you can’t get the confession, get a really good lie that the D.A. can tear apart in court and get the suspect to sign it, or commit to it as the truth. Then, confront the suspect with your evidence and give him/her the opportunity to change their statement to the truth which brings us back to our first goal of a confession.

Actual case: An under aged teenage girl had been having sex with a 32 year old male bartender. They had a fight and he struck her in front of witnesses. Her father found out about the sex and called the cops. The girl had kept a diary of her sex meetings and told me of the two locations where they had met. One was an abandoned house he used to live in and the other was the boat of one of his friends.

The interview: I got the suspect to meet me at the station under the premise of discussing the hitting incident. I got him to talk about his old residence and the boat that he was now living on to verify her info. I also got him to state that the girl had never been to either with him. We talked about the hitting incident and I got all of this on paper which he signed including a diagram of the boat. Then I confronted him with the sex and her statement describing in detail the old house and the boat. He was panicked. We went outside for a smoke. When we came back in I again confronted him with all my info and told him how stupid he was going to look in court with this signed false statement. He gave me a full confession. I arrested him and upon booking found a bag of meth in his pocket. This guy had “IDIOT” stamped on his forehead. The whole process of this interview took me about three hours.

Choose ME. Love ME. Read ME… (Oh yeah: and the go tell all your friends to do the same…)

This a really big week for our Divine Ms. K. Not only has her book, GOOD GIRL GONE BAD, debuted, and then hit #407 on the Barnes & Noble list, we’ll all be celebrating the book at her launch party this Saturday (In case you’ve just crawled out of a bomb shelter and don’t already know, it’ll be at Grazie’s from 2-4pm, 621 1st Street, in Brentwood, CA; and P.S.: that’s nowhere NEAR LA, but up in NorCal…)

Release dates, launch parties, and instore booksignings are heady happenings for an author who has put her heart and soul into her manuscript, found an agent and and editor who happens to love it as much as she did, then gone through the year-long process of birthing it into a published book. In essence, her book’s launch date is its birthday. And as its very proud mommy, she wants her friends–and total strangers, for that matter!–to love it as much as she does…

Which is why authors go through that very public gauntlet known as the booksigning.

Hopefully, our signings are well attended, and the few words we say about our books are witty enough to motivate all who attend to open their wallets and fork over the necessary coin of the realm to the kindly bookseller who hosted the event. You may find it hard to believe, but a signing is a birthing process in its own right.

Recently a newly-published author asked me what she should do in order to make her very, very first signing a success. I guess she figured that, since I had set up a 15-market book tour for my last novel, I might know a little something about it, right?

Maybe a little. But trust me, I’m still learning. One thing I can tell you, though for sure: every signing will be different. And another thing: No matter how much planning you do, something will ALWAYS go wrong.

What I told my newbie novelist friend can be read on my website (http://www.josiebrown.com; Heck yeah, that’s a blatant plug….but then again, I’ve got a book coming out soon, too, and I want you to read all about it!). And if you’re excited for Karin and the newest edition of her literary family, here are three reasons to go to a book signing near you, be it Karin’s (that’s a blatant plug for her), or another author whose work you love:

Reason #!: Booksignings are happenings, so go make the scene! I wish I had been old enough to go to Woodstock, or to have pushed my way into Ed Sullivan’s studio when the Beatles made their American TV debut. There is a wonderful group dynamic that takes place at a rock concert, because you’re connecting with the musicians while they are doing their thing, and with the people who are just as turned on as you are, to the music.

That said, I also wish that I’d been around to hear some of my fave authors read from their books, before they passed on: Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Margaret Mitchell, Nancy Mitford, Graham Greene…If I had lived during their times, I would have kicked myself if I hadn’t tried to meet them …

And that’s why I go to as many booksiginings as possible.

Reason #2: A booksigning is the only place in which you’ll meet the person who made your favorite characters come to life.
I’m not the first person to say this, and I won’t be the last: writing is a lonely profession. What makes it worthwhile to those of us who do it is the chance to hear others tell us that they actually read our books–and best yet, love what they read. Yep, making you laugh–or for that matter, cry–is what inspires us to keep at it. So come tell us that we’re doin’ a heckuva job!

Reason #3: Booksignings are master classes on the craft of writing. I’ve never given, or attended, a signing where would-be writers didn’t pepper the author with very intelligent questions about their writing process. And here’s a shocker: I’m always surprised at some answer that is given, even when it plops out of my own delicate mouth. Why? Because every author follows a unique process in writing their books. And because we are flattered that you asked, our answers are usually honest and insightful.

After all, we don’t want to pull any punches with the people who love our babies . . . .

Love me, love my book,
Josie Brown

Josie is the author of TRUE HOLLYWOOD LIES. Her newest book, IMPOSSIBLY TONGUE-TIED, will be in bookstores on 11/21/06. And she wants you ALL there at the christening!

Okay, it’s been crazy and I promised an update on the Scent-u-ous contest Friday. My bad for not getting to it. So, here’s the scooby. Beginning Monday September 25th I will ask several questions over a ten day period pertaining to GOOD GIRL GONE BAD. There will be four questions total. And I’m warning you, they may be ‘trick’ questions. One or all of the answers might be lurking somewhere on my website or on the pages of GOOD GIRL GONE BAD or a combination of both.

The first person to answer all four questions, exactly, will win their choice of a fabulous scent for him or her. And I’m not talking drug store scented water. I’m talking the good stuff. Chanel, CK, Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Liz Claiborne. Your choice. Retail value of up to $75.00.
You can email me at Karin@KarinTabke.com with your answer each week, or all at once after the final question is asked. The first person who gets all four correct, wins!

If you have any questions regarding this contest ask in the comment section of this blog post, that way if anyone is wondering the same thing everyone will know.

My second a very exciting news is, my dear friend and cohort, Josie Brown is guest blogging this Monday the 18th. Josie is hip, smart, a fabulous writer and just an all around great person. Her husband refers to us as Lucy and Ethel , and my DH calls us Thelma and Louise, sans Brad Pitt.
So please come by and meet Josie and chat with her.

Until Monday, ciao, and have a great football Sunday!

K*

ps, I had expected to chat with Lauren some time this week and get an update on the contest finalists. That didn’t happen. I’m hoping that it will happen this week. And of course y’all will be the first to hear about it.
Write on.

Let us begin with, man whores

Eww, just saying it gives me the heebie geebies.
I’m envisioning a derelict type who will nail anything that moves. Non-discriminating.
There is no official definition of man whore in Merriam Webster. I didn’t think there would be.

For the record, while my heroes have been around the block several times, they are discriminating. Quite frankly for them sex primarily is a release. Something that feels good. A physical act. For their own reasons, they are not looking for love, but a good time with no strings, no messy good-byes, no uncomfortable morning-afters. They are rolling stones. Until of course they are stopped by circumstances and broadsided by a certain female.

So, why doesn’t it bother me to read or write about men who sport fuck, but I don’t care to read about women who do? Admittedly it is a double standard, and I will also admit that there is one in my house. My girls who are the oldest were never allowed to go to field parties, they had air tight curfews, they were not allowed go joy riding or say, “Hey, Mom, I’m going to a party at so and soes, then I’m spending the night at Suzie’s.” Nope never happened. Nor would I allow either of them to get a tattoo as long as they lived in my house.

Now, the boys? After their football games, there were the field parties, and they spent the night out, they went joy riding and their curfews were flexible. Tattoos? No problem, but only one, and it had to be approved by moi. As it turns out all three of my guys have the same tat, so it’s a Tabke guy thang.

The girls screamed, “That’s not fair!”

I just shrugged and said, “Sorry, there is a double standard in this house.”

Now, when the boys wanted to get their ears pierced? I laid down the law. “No.”

“But the girls have theirs pierced!”

“So, they’re girls.”

They would walk away shaking their heads and mumbling, “That just isn’t right.”
Right or wrong, it’s my house, my rules.

Now would I not give one of my heroines a tattoo? There was a time I wouldn’t have, but I’ve mellowed. I think they are okay, some of them. I have a writer friend who has tats on her arms, they are cool, very cool. Who knows, maybe one day I might get one too.
But this goes to show how divided I am as a parent in what I deem acceptable for one gender and not the other. Am I right? For me I am. For others, no.

While society has loosened up some, i.e. women in touch with their sexuality is no longer taboo, a level of double-standard mentality still exists (I am a prime example of it).
And here’s the thing, it’s ok. So long as I don’t stand up on a pulpit and preach that my beliefs are right and yours are wrong, it’s ok.

I personally cannot abide for children or young adults to use profanity in my presence. Especially when I see younger family members use it around the older family members. It shows a complete lack of respect. My kids know they will get their teeth knocked out if they drop an ef bomb around their grandparents.

It’s a running joke amongst my older son’s friends. They know they are not allowed to cuss around me, and it’s hilarious to hear them jump on each other when they slip. And they do slip.
Now, here is the double standard. I swear like a sailor with certain GF’s. I rarely drop an ef bomb where my kids can here it, although I would be lying if I said I never did. You should see their eyebrows go up.
They do not like hearing that language come out of their mother’s mouth.

Hubby on the other hand? Sigh, a continuous battle.
I know when he is with the boys they talk like sailors. I know when there were choir practices at my house the entire neighborhood could have gone up in smoke there were so many profanities flying around, and not only that, vivid descriptions I had a choice. Stay or go. It was not going to change.

So, this was a long way to go, but any thoughts on why double standards are there? And like me do you have them in your house, or am I a dinosaur?

K*