Shelli Stevens

So I kind of broke down last night. Well, writing wise that is. Like I said, the book I’m doing for NaNo is one I started a couple years ago. I only got 30 pages in, and I’m sure a lot of it needs to be trashed. So basically I’m keeping the idea and starting fresh. Anyway, last night I started reading what I had written before and realized that yeah, it’s a great premise, but needs to be rewritten.

Sooo… yes, maybe it’s cheating a little, but I decided just to rewrite the opening paragraph. And I did, and it sucked. So technically I still have nothing. I think I’m getting a little rattled, because I know this book is being written especially to be subbed to NY. It needs to be absolutely the best book I’ve written yet. The opening scene has to hook an editor/agent from the first sentence or I’m screwed. I can’t wait until page three to hit my stride. So yeah, I’m obsessing a bit. I know there’s that whole go back and fix it later bit, but I tend to need that great opening line to build the rest of the book.

All right, no more writing talk. I moved rooms yesterday. I moved upstairs, and boy did I get a workout! Anyway, I’m in a smaller room, but I kind of like it. It’s cozier, and there’s less spiders. And now Emma and I are closer to the bathroom. We woke up, and I dragged her to her potty chair where she did a very nice fill up in it! YAY! She got a Little Mermaid sticker today. We’ve upgraded from My Little Pony stickers. Thanks everyone for listening to my potty training stories, and giving me lots of great stories and comments!

On a healthy note, I’m going to sign up for Curves again today. Yup more money I shouldn’t be spending, but my jeans are tight and my fat rolls are multiplying by the hour.

Okay here’s the Halloween, freaky pic of the day. Don’t even ask me what it is

Oh my God I just saw the movie American Dreams and it’s freaking hilarious. I’m sorry, but I love that kind of stuff. It’s the one with Mandy Moore and is a spoof on American Idol, but oh so much more. The sub plots are the best part. It’s absolutely great. You should all check it out.

Okay, if you couldn’t tell by my blogs lately… I’m being so unproductive writing wise. I decided to take almost a month off of writing. I finished a book in the beginning of October and decided to just let my energy grow for NaNo. I’ve been plotting, writing notes, and doing a GMC chart for my NaNo book. And I’ve been reading books too.

But I’m going nutty not writing! Absolutely nutty. The urge to write at night is driving me nuts. I sit there in bed and surf the net, blinking in sheer boredom. But it’s too late too start a book, in case I don’t finish it before NaNo, and too early to start my NaNo project. Sooo….yeah.

Potty training was on a roll, then went rolling backwards. I don’t get it. She begs to wear big girl underwear and then just sits there and has accidents. How do you people with multiple kids do it? I swear, one is torture enough.

Oh wow, I just don’t have much to say today. Not much at all. So sorry about that. Maybe I’ll go eat some lunch, or clean, or something….

Here’s my Halloween pic of the day. You’ve been flashed!

I’m over at The Novelty Girls today. Come see me talk about ‘The Price of Being Published.’

So what a weekend. Did everyone have a good one? I did! Emma and I went to a birthday party and got the chance to dress up together as matching pirates. Arrr!

There’s a poll going on right now for your favorite top 10 ebooks, so I encourage everyone to vote! http://www.likesbooks.com/minipolls.html

Also over the weekend I heard back on the two submissions that I had out with Cobblestone Press. I sold my shifter Dating Season and my somewhat chick litty romance Love for Sale. Love for Sale was my first attempt at first person, and I loved it! So yeah, two more books under my belt. That makes six! Now I think that leaves me with enough releases in the future (I should have releases up until March) to really push for New York. So no more short stories and novellas for awhile. Not until I have a single title written and out for submission.

Today represents a day I’m going to make few changes. I’m really going to try make a couple small changes in my lifestyle. If I say I’m going to diet, then I blow it. So this week my focus is adding in exercise (God it’s been waaaay too long) and drinking lots of water. I find if I’m working out I tend to want to eat better. So wish me luck!

Also I’ve started getting pumped for NaNo. This is my first one that I’m doing. And I have the book all ready to go, a GMC chart, a synopsis… I may even do a somewhat detailed outline so the story just flows–since it’ll need to! I’ve been hanging at the NaNo site, making a profile Shelli Stevens is my name if you want to add me to your writing buddies list. I’m really looking forward to this!

Cherry sent me a nice email in response to my package. She’s so wonderful. Did I mention I love her? And you should all buy her books because they’re really freaking good. Plus she keeps the love scenes pretty spicy. Totally my kind of book.

All right, off to start the day…and work on the P.T.

Here’s the freaky Halloween pic of the day. Remember this movie?

So I’m happy to say I just accepted a position as the Cobblestone Press Community Activities Director. Which is exactly what it sounds like. I host the Friday night chat, welcome new members, and just be all kinds of gracious and nice!

I’m still doing great with the potty training. I swear I should just rename this blog to ‘Emma’s potty chair adventures.’ She woke up and went potty. Though we did have our first flub today. And, warning, this is a little on the ick factor. She had on her big girl panties and then did a #2. We still have to work on that. She’s not figured out that #2’s need to go in the potty chair too. But we made a trip to the Disney store and picked out some Aristocat and Disney Princess big girl underware.

I took Emma to breakfast with her grandparents this morning. And that was a nightmare and a half. She was lying down, crawling under the table, coloring on the booth, spilled her hot chocolate, refused to eat anything besides grapes which she stole from the grandparents fruit bowl. Grandpa ended taking her out to the car cause he finished first. Grrr, remind me to not take her to breakfast until she’s ten.

Oh, I queried Sha-Shana Crichton and she’s requested to see my book that won the Stroke of Midnight contest! Sooo happy dances. Even if it amounts to nothing, it’s still nice to get the ’send it to me’ reply.

It’s been a good day!

Out today from Cobblestone Press

Wereplanets: In Ice
Bound for the water world of Aquitilis, Jain’s spaceship crashes on an icy planet populated by shape-shifting bears. Kesuk rescues her from the snow, but the laws of his people say she is now his slave. He’ll give her over to the first vessel going to Aquitilis, if he can keep his hands off her.

Vegas Magic: Gone with the Wolf
Scarlet Nelson needs a break and a Halloween bash is just the thing. What she doesn’t count on is a sexy werewolf in hot pursuit, a shady business partner, novice witches, and a few zombies thrown in for good measure. Can her night of fun be salvaged or is it Gone With the Wolf?

Wicked Temptation
Handsome vampire Dominic Lisandro has been waiting for Anya to need him enough to call him back into her life. He hasn’t forgotten how easily she left him all those years ago. If she wants his help now, she will have to give herself over to his every desire.

So I’ve got my big ole ‘thank you Cherry’ package ready to send off in the mail. Not much, but just a little something something to tell her how FREAKING AMAZING she is.

I have to say mega congrats to mi amiga Michelle who writes as Lillian Feisty and has made her first sale (on her first submission!) to the EC Caveman 2007 anthology. So congrats, Michelle! You deserve it!

Then I have to offer up some M&M covered congrats to my almost three year old daughter Emma. Emma has successfully and consistently been using the potty 2-3 times a day for a few days in a row now. This up from once a month! The thought of having a potty trained child is completing thrilling, and a little scary? The scary part comes from the images of being in the car on the freeway during traffic, and her piping up that she has to go potty. Still, I think the ‘oh sh*t’ moments will be worth not having to break the piggy bank for diapers.

I read an ebook today. A long one. And it was gooood. I got encouraged by the Literary Sass review of Celia Stuart’s Once in a Blue Moon. See I bought Celia’s book ages ago, but hadn’t yet made time to read it. I made the time last night/today. It was seriously good stuff, she sucked me in. Celia has a voice that makes me want to pack my bags, move to Texas, and find myself a beta cowboy. Seriously, she makes beta’s hot. Thanks, Celia, for the fabulous read!

Okay, so after yesterday’s post I was ready to retire those two books, right? Then I decided to have Jodie and Michelle read the one that won the Stroke of Midnight. And ya know what? They both said I should keep aiming for NY with it. That it was really good. So I’m about to beat my head into a wall now. I just don’t know. I think I’ll send out two more queries, which will bring it up to 4 ‘hope’s in the mail’ I’m waiting to hear back on . If they all come back with an R, they’re going to epubs.

Here’s my Halloween pic of the day….

You guys are so sweet! So many people came by and left the sweetest comments on my blog about me winning Cherry’s Nationals trip. So thank you so much for your support and kind words. I love you guys!!

So I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. What this means, this gift I’ve received. I went to Nationals last year, but it was quite different. I gave myself permission to just have fun and take it all in. My pitching appointment got cancelled and instead of trying to find someone else, I just let it go. But this year it’s going to be different. With this gift I’m going to really make it worth it.

I want to see results from this Nationals. I’m going to hold myself to a higher standard, for myself and for Cherry. Cherry has enough belief to financially back someone on a trip to Nationals, I want to be able to show her the results of that backing. I want to come away having gone to a lot of workshops, with ideas and information exploding in my head. I want to have pitched a damn good book that leaves the editors/agents eyes alight with interest as they ask for the full.

Sooo that would mean I need to write that book first. That’s my goal, and I wrote it and put it in Cherry’s goal box again. I plan on getting the bulk done during NaNo next month. I’ve come to realize something. I have two longer books that I think are pretty good, but have two big flaws. The first one they both have: They’re not long enough. I wrote them before I knew about ‘the format.’ So my two books which I thought were single title, are about 20k short of being so. The second flaw: I wrote these both almost two years ago. This was before I knew about deep POV and wasn’t as strong on showing, not telling. I’ve gone through and updated them, but I’m still not sure.

The point is I obsess over these two books. I want to find them a home. I haven’t worked on another single title book for a year, because I want to sell these first. And I just realized it’s holding me back. I have one last NY link with these books, and if it comes back rejected, then I’m subbing them to epubs. It’s not that I don’t think they’re good enough for NY, because I think they are. But NY is tough to break into, and the length is already a big strike against me. Epubs are there and waiting, and are open to all lengths of books. And I’d rather focus my energy on writing a new book, rather than going back through two books and flushing it out to add 100 pages to each one.

Does anyone else have this problem? Have a book that’s ‘holding them back’ from going on to write the next one? Because we all know that with each book your writing improves. What’s holding you back?

Anyway, here’s my Halloween pic of the day. This is about how I felt before I gave my workshop on Friday. (Nervous)

I’m over at The Novelty Girls today. Come see me or check out my post from yesterday.

So I’m still coming down from my post conference high. There’s still a few things I need to do like align critique winners with critique donors. And I have to take a second to praise Suzanne Brockman, because I had her in a basket as a donor of a critique, but couldn’t find the email. So I asked if she’d really donated one in case I was losing it, and she couldn’t remember either, but was more than happy to do it still! So she rocks, though I know I don’t have to tell you all that!

In between tying up loose ends I did things I’ve been putting off. One, I cleaned my room. My lanta, I’m talking three baskets full of laundry that just got recycled from the wash, to my basket, to my body, and back to the wash. That cycle repeated for the past couple months. That took about an hour folding and hanging those. And I cleaned up the cellophane wrap off my floor, and tried to put some books in order. Then I stopped and put the rest off until tomorrow.

What did I do next? I read…ooooh how lovely. I read fellow Cobblestone Press author Jodie Becker’s book Bloodlust. It’s a fabulous futuristic gladiator book, and shows just how talented Jodie is. She’ll be in NY in no time. And I don’t intend to stop reading there. I plan on reading an actual print book. I have so many to chose from. But I think I’ll start with my signed copy of Cherry Adair’s new book.

Speaking of Cherry, I have to say how wonderful she is again. Because I was putting away my suitcase and saw the bigger sized suitcase in the closet. And I looked at it and thought… Oh I need to find a way to start saving so I can afford Nationals. And then I remembered. Remembered that Cherry is a wonderful, wonderful person.

I sent out a query to Kate Seaver today, upon her request for one…we’ll see. I scrambled around trying to type it up, address the envelope and stuff it with an SASE and get it to the mailbox before the postman came. Then I remembered, oh yeah, it’s a holiday.

Oh yes! And my story Once Upon a Snowflake, my short story which is in a holiday anthology, Christmas Wishes , went on pre-sale at Barnes and Noble online. This is my non-erotic, print story I wrote for all my friends and relatives who don’t do the hot stuff and don’t understand ebooks. It’s so tame my 11 year old niece read it. Though she did think it was gross when he put his tongue in her mouth.

All right, here’s my Halloween pic of the day.