Shelli Stevens

Okay, so I’m a little pissy. I wrote an entire blog post, and was saving it and my computer froze. So boom! There goes my post. Grrrr. Not like it was totally prolific or amazing. I just spent time writing it. Grrr. I charge by the hour you know ;)

Let me think, what did I say… you’re all getting the condensed versions now!

Okay, Emma stubbed her toe. Blood and skin everywhere. She hates band aids, so I have to put one on and cover her foot with a sock so she forgets it’s there.

I talked about how My Space isn’t as bad as I always thought it was. And an old friend from elementary school found me on there. And bought my book and enjoyed it! So we’ve been chatting all week and really connecting again, it’s fabulous! Add me as your friend if you’re on there and don’t already have me! http://www.myspace.com/shellistevens

Oh yes, and I said that I’m almost done with my Halloween book. Now titled This Spells Trouble. My characters have orgasmed and we’re heading for the black moment. Fun stuff! Literary Sass wants this book. I may give it to them, if I’m brave enough. It’s one of my darker ones. Vampires, Witches, and b*tches oh my!

I blogged on LLOO today, so check it out. It’s all about my favorite movies and quotes from movies. Come on over and add your opinion! Love Lust and Other Oddities.

And now, onto the pic of the day. It’s not as exciting as yesterday. Kind of mellow, which was how I was feeling before my computer turned on me. I swear, I should have it put down. Rabid little beast. Okay, the pic. I’m sure some will say “That’s kind of cool.” And some will say “Hmm, a little boring.” And then Literary Sass will give me the “WTF is this? You’re going soft on me Shelli! Get me the good stuff!” So have a look and let me know which category you fall into.

Ugh. What a day. I feel like arse. Let me tell you, I have the cold from hell. Emma and I are both sick now. I’m one of those people who get a bad cold and walk around with wads of toilet paper shoved up each nostril. Pretty picture, huh? Oh. Not really? See, this is one of the reasons why I’ll never get married. The upside is it my taste buds have gone to pot, and I can’t taste my food. Which means I’m not as inclined to eat the crappy stuff.

So I decided to enter the Crabby Cows middle 500 contest…. and I think they like me! They only had a few comments and said they enjoyed it! But then, I always write the funny entries which can be a respite from the heavy stuff. So check it out if you want Crabby Cows I’m entry #1. It was posted today, Monday, just scroll on down.

Despite the river running through my nasal passages, I did manage to get some writing done. See I make it a rule to write 1k a day min on a book. That way I keep writing, keep the creativity flowing, and finish books in a pretty good amount of time. Of course there are days when I double, or triple that goal. But 1k min keeps me at it. Today was a love scene, and they’re kinda hard to write when you’ve got Sesame Street on and a roll of tissue paper in your lap. But I think it’s still pretty hot.

So, here it is… the bizarre pic of the day that I promised. And actually, it’s pretty close to how I’m feeling right now!

Thanks everyone, for the stories about relatives and brothers! Glad I’m not alone!

Happy Father’s Day to everyone. Hopefully you all had a good one. All my brothers (I have three) came over and we had a big family dinner. I’m glad Emma’s still young enough where she doesn’t know what Father’s Day is. Because I’m really dreading the first FD where she knows what a dad is for sure. She doesn’t have one who’s involved in her life, so she just hears about them on tv and sees her cousins calling my brother daddy. Some day she’ll figure it out and then the questions will start coming in. You’d think I’d have an answer ready? But noooo… I’m a writer, I’ll come up with something!

I’m cruising through my Halloween book, which I decided to name… This Spells Trouble. The book is part of the 3 book Witch series Loribelle, Sara and I are doing. We finally wrote out the mutual beginning we’re going to have, and it’s gonna be fun! :)

So here’s the pic of the day. Loribelle said to make it a cute one, the teapot freak really grossed her out. It’s kind of father’s dayee’ish pic. Not gross, not offensive, and way too cute–which I’m sure the ladies of Literary Sass will give me crap for :) (If you haven’t checked out their site, you should. They’re a fun group of gals. Not shy at all.)

Anyways, after today, I can promise the daily pics won’t be sweet and cute. Anyhow, here it is…

Check back tomorrow for a pic that’ll have you really scratching your head!

So last night I got a phone call from one of my brothers. Here’s how it went.

Him: “Cindy (his wife) wants to know if you have anymore porn–I mean romance novels she could buy?”

Me: “No, just that one for now. Has she read my book yet?”

Him: “I think so, here I’ll let you talk to her.”

Cindy: “Hey. You are a dirty girl.”

Me: “Thank you. Did you read it?”

Cindy: “Yeah, it was good. You’re a dirty girl.”

Me: “You didn’t let my brother read it did you?”

Cindy: “Umm, he read a few parts.”

Me: “Oh. What did he think?”

Cindy: “He’s a little upset with you. He says you have talent, but you write too many love scenes.”

I’m not really sure why I felt the need to blog this, but it really amused me last night. Probably because I don’t really like to imagine my brother reading the sex scenes in my book! Of course he does have this friend, and if the friend were to read it, then that wouldn’t be so bad…. hee hee! :)

So Lacy and I took the kids to the Seattle Science Center today. Good times. Emma has a cold now though. I feel bad, I hope she didn’t give it to Lacy’s kids. I didn’t realize it until we got home and she got really fussy, and green crap started oozing from the nostrils.

Well, I’ve been realizing I don’t get as much traffic to my blog on weekends. So I won’t put up the real crazy photos yet. Although this one is kind of fun. Hee hee. Supposedly this was from an Ebay auction. You gotta look at it real closely.

Okay, so I guess you all are pansies and have quesy stomachs when it comes to pictures of dead people. FINE! I promise I won’t be so, ahem, gruesome today. I downloaded a bunch of pics, and boy are we going to have fun in the coming days! But today’s will be sickeningly sweet to make up for yesterday.

Let’s see. What did I do today? Holy heck, I read three short stories. Breaking in Levi, Office Relations, and A Thin Line. They’re all books I bought from Cobblestone Press and haven’t had time to read. Well, I read them! And I really enjoyed them. I have to say, I don’t have much down time so novellas and short stories are my fave right now. That’s probably why I’m so fond of writing them too :)

I’ll keep ths blog post short (or is it too late?) Because I’d also like to promo the three books that came out at CP today. First, my sickeningly sweet picture of the day to make up for the mummy from yesterday…

Did you go “Ah” instead of “Puke”??? Good. Now I promo for my friends!

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Sam Loyd is a lonely writer looking for a no strings attached affair while vacationing in Aruba. Melodie Waters is an up and coming hotel executive looking for a little fun in the sun before she starts a new job. What happens when these two meet?

Sam and Melodie are drawn together by sex, but the more time these two spend together, they realize there’s more between them than attraction. Will the fear of rejection and past hurts keep these two apart? Or, will an unexpected encounter help them both realize how thin the line between love and lust is?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jonah wanted nothing but quiet and solitude to work on his latest book. He certainly had no plans to rescue a beautiful damsel in distress. But when Katherine wrecks her car outside his cabin, he finds playing the knight-in-shining-armor may get him more than he bargained for.

Katherine longs for a man who can set her blood on fire. She wonders if such a man exists…until she finds herself stranded in a remote cabin with the man of her romance-novel dreams.

What happens when a steamy, no-strings affair becomes the love of your life?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dimitri, Russian pimp premiere and third prince of the Conglacio, has been watching a beautiful white blonde working girl in his territory from afar for a long time. He’s set up a liaison with her, under false pretenses, to make her an offer she won’t be able to resist.

Will she bargain her soul for everything she’s ever wanted or will she stay in the hell she’s created for herself?

So throughout the day I held down a chat with the ladies of Love, Lust, and Other Oddities. I had a contest where I asked people to help me name my next heroine! And the one I chose would get a copy of my book Tourist Attraction. That was a great contest! I got tons of responses, and finally picked the name Abby. Abby will be my heroine in my EC caveman entry, which I’m going to work on after I finish the Halloween book.

But my point is, I had so much fun that now I’m running a ‘name my hero’ contest on my website. Check it out for the info. Same prize though, a copy of my book. Or if you’ve already bought this one, you’ll get a copy of my next book when it comes out!http://www.shellistevens.com/funstuff.htm

So about my Halloween book. WOW! I got eleven pages done yesterday. I was in a groove. As soon as I’m done blogging I’m going to write some more.

Okay, a lot of people were wondering how I found a picture of a goat when I was searching for confetti. Well I went to google images and typed in confetti and it gave me tons to choose from. But it also came up with the goat pic. It was on some German site I think, and advertised all kinds of party stuff; balloons, confetti, grown adults in goat costumes. LOL.

But I think I want to start this as a trend. I’ll try and put up weird or fun pics every now and then. So here’s my current one. It’s a picture of a real mummy that’s in Ye Old Curiosity Shop in Seattle. I put this on Divas too, but this is just too fun to not share the love.
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So here’s today’s photo–it’s kind of a fascinating/gross one–and his story….

About 1895, two wandering cowboys riding through the Gila Bend Desert of central Arizona came upon the nude body of a man half-buried in the treacherous shifting sands. The body was exhumed and carried to a near-by-town for possible identification. It has since remained unidentified. The body is of a man about 45 years of age, 5ft. 11 inches tall. He weighed about 225 pounds originally, and presently weighs 137 pounds. His organs are all intact, although they are now about two-thirds their original size. Death came through a gunshot wound in the stomach, and accompanying stains are visible to this day. The bullet that caused his demise was revealed by X-rays and a MRI.Scientists originally thought that this was an example of natural dehydration, claiming that the action of the hot sands and possible chemicals contained therein together with the dry air produced this condition within 24 hours after death. More recent study has indicated that he was purposely coated with arsenic that gave him a high state of preservation. Hair, mustache, eyelashes, teeth and nails-in fact every detail of the entire body is perfect. “Sylvester, One Tough Cowboy”, was featured by National Geographic TV’s “The Mummy Road Show”. He currently resides in Ye Old Curiosity Shop on the Seattle waterfront.

So I changed my pic again. I get bored easily. Plus this was a summery pic of me before I went to my friend’s graduation this weekend. So I think I’ll leave it up for a bit. Plus it showcases my new and improved lighter hair! Woo whoo!

I have to say, today I got a lot of writing done. And I’m addicted, utterly addicted to writing paranormals now. I love writing vampires, ghosts, and witches. It’s just a blast! I thought I’d get grossed out by the whole blood and gore of the vampire stuff, but I’m not. I LOVE IT! I think I may end up writing more. Or after talking to Evangeline Anderson a lot, I think I may try fantasy. She gave me the greatest tips on how to write a threesome scene. Fun, fun!

Also, I wanted to send a big old congratulations to Karen for selling her first book ever to Cobblestone Press! Congrats Karen!!! I pushed and encouraged her to do it, and then she sold! I take a lot of pride in recruiting this one. So who’s up next? Who can I convince to sub to Cobblestone Press?

If anyone’s interested, the girls of Love, Lust, and Other Oddities (I’m one of the girls) are having a yahoo loop chat at eBook Love tomorrow. There will be contests, give always, excerpts, and good times. We’ll all be there throughout the day. Also I blogged there (at the LLOO blog) yesterday using the topic ‘writing for the industry’. I’d be curious to get some feedback and see what you all think!

I painted Emma’s toe and fingernails for the first time ever today. She loved it!! She wanted me to keep going and I had to cut her off before she became this big mass of pink goo.

Okay, I know I really don’t have a reason to put a picture of someone in a goat costume on my blog. But, I saw it when I was searching for the confetti pic for Karen, and wanted him on my blog. So there he is. My goat.

Thanks to everyone for the supportive comments about my rejection. Seriously, I love her, I’d love to have her as an agent, but it’s just not meant to be. For now. (Hee hee) I’ll probably try again some day.

Okay, the beer stein of money. Yeah it was awesome! And shopping yesterday was fabulous. First off, I was Emma-free, right? So I’m supposed to meet Mia at 9:30. I overslept. Like till 9:10!! I only woke because Mia called me saying she was early. OMG having a morning without a child is wonderful. Seeing as I’m usually up between 6-8.

So I rush off to meet her, all barely dressed and so not attractive, plus wearing glasses because allergies are killing my eyes! Needless to say I looked like butt. And Mia is gorgeous in black sweat pants, a tiny white top that ties at her tiny waist, driving her white Corvette. She’s got blond hair down to her butt. She’s a genuine hottie. Men drool. But it was great. We went inside and did the rounds at Nordstrom, all the beauty employees know and love her, and so I’m kind of special by association. Woo whoo! It’s great. I got a bag of free samples!

Okay, onto what I bought. I bought my first pair of Spanx to suck in all my fat under my formal dress at Nationals! And I got a dark pink/red lipstick that they promised me was trendy (cause I can’t tell a trend if it hits me in the face) and will look great for the formal night. And I got a sparkly butterly necklace that cost way too much to go with the dress. Basically I took care of formal night. But dang it, I couldn’t find shoes. I finally ordered some on www.zappos.com. Love them! I bought a pair of heels for $39.99 that was marked down from $204! But I also bought a pair of Steve Madden’s for $50 that I might wear instead. Currently undecided.

My other dilemma? Khaki dress pants to wear at Nationals. Man, who knew it would’ve been such a difficult task to find? Apparently only those gaznachos pants, or however you say it, are available. And capris. I’m screwed, screwed I tell ya! Until the internet saves my butt again. Old Navy online is fabulous. Does anyone else shop online? Hit the sale button and go nutty? I’m a pro. Pro at sale shopping!

Then after 6 hours of shopping, I come home, check email for a few minutes, and then go out with Lacy Danes for dinner. But instead we end up at the mall again, and I got a cute little purse for Nationals. Yes this was my shopping day for the Nationals trip. And I really appreciate the fact (if you even made it this far) that you read my whole blog post! Hee hee. Cause it can’t have been that interesting. I got home and passed out. Well… after some internet shopping for the shoes of course. When I shop, I shop.

And Emma will be home soon, so I should go eat some breakfast.

So what a weekend! I had two more play dates with Emma, Lacy and her kids. At one point I guess Emma hit the boy with a toy train. Eek! I think it just means she likes him, but still, had to explain why that was bad and made her say sorry. Friday night Lacy and I just had a glass of wine and talked while the kids played. Gotta love the down moments!

Then, I took Emma up to Whidbey Island to stay with her grandparents. So I am Emma free for 2 1/2 days! I went to my friend’s dental hygiene graduation today. Man, two hours of talking about teeth related issues. Ugh, it certainly is a calling. I don’t know how people can walk around sticking their hands in people’s mouths all day.

OMG I’m watching Old School and it is seriously one the funniest movies. It’s the wedding scene, where Vince Vaughn is trying to talk Will out of getting married while they’re at the alter. LOL. If you haven’t seen this you gotta see it. Man I love Vince and Will.

I got some more writing last night and today. I have to say my story took a darker twist with a suggestion for Loribelle. I wonder if it works! LOL. This story will be my normal light stuff, but also have a river of darkness running through it. But then, it’s Halloween. I hope people still like it :)

Oh yes! And I meant to write this a few days ago. But Roberta Brown turned me down. LOL. That rhymes. But she was very sweet about it and said she’d like to meet me at the PI party at Nationals. She seems wonderful though. So I was a little bummed, but then not really. I just don’t think I’m destined to have an agent right now. So I’ll keep writing, subbing where I want, and let it be.

So, must go to bed. I’m waking up early to hit the Nordstrom half yearly sale with my friend Mia! I have a beer stein full of change, and I cashed it in today to shop with… $103! Woo whoo!