Guest Post from Shelly Bell: Is T.V. Bad for Children?

(I'm sorry for posting so late today. I tried to post this earlier, but I've been having computer issues all day, ugh!)  Hello followers. I've got a special treat for ya'll today - a guest post from the fabulous Shelly Bell. Enjoy!

Is Television Bad for Children?

Ever since my children were born, I’ve read about the dangers of television on their development. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

• two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch a screen an average of 2 hours a day
• kids under age 6 watch an average of about 2 hours of screen media a day, primarily TV and videos or DVDs
• kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen and almost 2 additional hours on the computer (outside of schoolwork) and playing video games

I’m going to be honest. My kids watch plenty of television, play games on their game systems, and watch YouTube videos. But I’m not worried. Growing up, I watched a lot of television too.

It started with Sesame Street and by the time I started kindergarten, I could read. It continued throughout grade school, when I crushed on Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties) and Mike Seaver (Growing Pains) while I studied advanced spelling and math. In middle school, I dragged my best friend home to watch Frisco and Felicia search for the Aztec Treasure on General Hospital while writing a book report for my advanced placement English class. In college, my friends and I faithfully watched Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place before going to the bar. In law school, I had a weekly date to watch Wings. As a lawyer, I watched Being Erica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Lost.

Guess what? With all the television I watched, I became a successful attorney. I got married and had two children. Recently, I published my first book. I’ve never been arrested. I don’t beat my children. I pay my taxes.

I’ve always been creative. I built forts out of tree branches and pretended to live in the woods. I put on plays for my family and as I got older, performed on stage in theater and choir. Television gave me ideas of romance and adventure. Now, I’m using my creativity for writing.

Television didn’t harm my development. It provided a much needed outlet to escape from the stresses of academics. As I get older, I’m watching less television because I’m on the computer much more. I also read a book a day.

Yes, my kids spend time watching television and playing on the computer. My seven year old says he’s practicing for his future career as a “game tester.” My daughter plans on becoming a singing doctor. Both my children have healthy imaginations and love to make up stories and act them out for me.

I’m hoping they’ll become an author like their mother.

Shelly Bell started reading at three years old. In elementary school, the librarian gave her books to test out for the school library. As a teenager, she spent her allowance each week on romance novels, enjoying both young adult category romance, young adult paranormal and single title books, and adult romance.

Married to Jason in 2003, they have two children and reside in the metro-Detroit area, where she reads on her Kindle each night when her family falls asleep. A member of Romance Writers of America, she writes both women’s fiction and paranormal romance. A Year to Remember, Shelly Bell’s debut book, is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Soul Mate Publishing.

Follow her at:www.ShellyBellBooks.com www.twitter.com/ShellyBell987  www.facebook.com/ShellyBellBooks

What if your antagonist is a man-made virus that infects 90% of the world’s population? (a.k.a. the many joys of writing post-apocalyptic fiction)

In re-reading my notes for the manuscript I began writing a few months back, I realized that there just wasn’t enough tension to carry the story. Sure, life was kinda sucky considering a huge chunk of the populace died from a horrible disease. But now, the survivors have started to rebuild. There’s no threat on a daily basis anymore. Those who’re immune are obviously still alive, and those who weren’t are obviously, well, not. So now what?

I recently read a few really great post-apocalyptic novels in the name of “research.” Carrie Ryan’s “The Forest of Hands and Teeth” trilogy, and “Nightfall” by Ellen Connor. (“Nightfall” is also part of a trilogy, but I haven’t gotten to read the second or third books as of yet.) While the FoHaT trilogy is definitely post-apocalyptic, “Nightfall” starts up right in the thick of things. It shows the world starting to go to shit, which I thought was great. I want a little of that in my story as well.

“Nightfall” also gave me some inspiration for a better antagonist (or antagonistic force, since it’s not just one person/entity). In Connor’s novel, something happens to people when they are bit by other people who are “infected.” It doesn’t turn them into zombies, but it does make them into violent creatures who want to bite and infect others (or just eat them, depending on their mood lol). I realized my “virus” that killed off the majority of the world’s population can also do other things (like make people super cunning or extremely violent, etc.). This way, those who are immune to the virus aren’t necessarily “safe” after all. They still have to worry about the people who were infected but who didn’t die.

Now, I must come up with the nitty-gritty of how this virus/disease works. That’s gonna be the hard part, I think. But part of the joy of fiction is being able to just make shit up! That’s why I wanted to write sci-fi in the first place. I’m not stuck writing by the “rules” of the real world. None of that “that would never actually happen” crap. With science fiction, almost anything could happen! It opens up a whole new world of possibilities, which I love.

… BTW if anyone is actually reading this and wondering how I’m doing with my writing goals that I babbled on about in my last post, they were a big bust. I haven’t done any writing in the past 11 days. But yesterday I reaffirmed myself to WW (weight watchers) and today I am reaffirming myself to writing. I just signed up for the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood’s Winter Writing Festival (yes, yet another writing challenge lol). Hopefully I’ll do much better at this challenge than the other two!!!! I’ll keep ya’ll posted    :)