01/19/2018
Shannon Carpenter (hossman on QT) has signed with agent Chris Kepner of The Kepner Agency.
Dear Agent:
The minute that my daughter threw up in my face and I tripped over my son, I knew that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Being an at-home dad seemed simple in the planning stages. But like Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face. Also, using a Mike Tyson joke there seems way questionable. This could be going better.
This is my origin story, when I was filled with Adamantium. Wait, that’s the wrong origin story. That’s Wolverine. Sorry about that. I investigated elder abuse (I am not Wolverine) for 8 years and then I had my daughter. When my son was born, I knew it was time to make a change. I quit my job, not realizing that one day I would think going into meth labs was easier than parenting full time.
What I walked into was a world built for Moms, those heroes of the full-time parenting. However, I was a square peg in a round hole. I was ignored, sat on (totally true) or just plan shunned. You should be crying here. This is totally heartbreaking conflict. I didn’t fit in and neither did my children.
I could give up the thought of being the father that I wanted to be, or I could decide that there are no rules. The haunted psychiatric museum, killer mosquitos, accidentally walking into a woman’s restroom. Only a few examples of our new normal, with a band of merry men picked up along the way. Then, a TV pilot for TLC.
No Changing Tables In The Men’s room is a narrative-driven nonfiction book. Currently, the manuscript is at 87,000 words. It’s a humorous look at what happens when dad is the primary caregiver. There are very few comps for a book like this. Sugar Milk and Daddy, Where’s Your Vagina among them. However, the comps that it more closely resembles is Scary Mommy and I Just Want To Pee Alone by Jen Mann. None capture the voice of an at home dad.