Shelli Stevens

So I think my daughter has a new phobia, and granted, I don’t blame her much. We were at the store, going to pick up my prescription at the pharmacy. Emma sat in one of those car carts; the one that’s a cart, but there’s a car up front they can drive.

Anyway, I’m talking to the pharmacist and she just starts SCREAMING. I mean screaming, so the entire store is looking at her. She’s clutching her hands, and I think that maybe she hurt herself. I go to see what’s the matter, and she’s like incoherent, babbling. Finally she yells, “Spider!” and I look over, and there’s this bigger-than-a-quarter-sized spider hanging from the roof of the car an inch from her head. And the poor kids buckled in. So I grab her and pull her out, we abandon the car/cart and get the heck out of dodge. I could have just killed the spider, I suppose, but I hate killing bugs (I think it’s kind of mean) and I’m afraid of spiders, too. :)

So after that, we took off for Lacy Dane’s house for a sleepover, to let the kids and let the moms hang out. The kids got a long just fabulous as usual. I just love seeing Emma play with other children because she’s my only kid. No siblings. Well, she does have a half sister she adores, but we don’t see her as much as I’d like. And then this morning I went to my brother’s house for a mother’s day brunch. Now…I must buckle down and finish this futuristic shifter for Deanna. I promised it to her by the 20th. Or actually I told her to give me a day she’d like it by, so that’d I’d make sure I’d do it (that deadline thing I need!). Today I’m writing the lurrve scene. Good times.

Anyway. Happy….

So I was watching television, and this commercial comes on. And it’s the same type of commercial I grew up watching. Visualize the mom with the young children. She’s looking into the camera with an apologetic smile. “I don’t always have time to cook. That’s why I love running down to the Grocery Guru and picking up something from the deli.”

I’m staring at her, watching her…thinking, she looks like someone I would’ve gone to high school with, but older. She’s got a few lines around the eyes, her expression is tired, and she dresses a little more conservative. Not long ago I used to look at this woman and put her in a certain category. Ages older than me, a woman who probably hadn’t been in a bar since the night she met her future husband there, a soccer mom who has lunch dates for a wild time.

But as I’m watching this commercial tonight, the woman didn’t seem so old. She seemed like me. Only she looked better than me. She’d lost the baby weight (yes, I know she’s just the actress, but work with me here), she wore makeup. She just looked like the perfect mom. I haven’t been in a bar in God knows how long. (I’m not counting Nationals, because that was with a bunch of intoxicated romance writers, and the only men in there quickly disappeared.)I buy dinner for me and the kid at the grocery deli all the time.

The older woman in the commercial isn’t the future me, it is the current me. I just want to know when the hell it happened, and how come it took me so long to realize it. Are there more people like me who still feel five years younger? Whether you have a kid or are married or not. And if you’ve had a kid–and seriously, some days I think ‘Oh yeah, I’m a mom’–somehow it doesn’t always sink in that you’ve become that pre-middle-aged mom standing in line at the deli.

One of your biggest clues? College kids now look like high school kids to you, and high school kids look like they’re still in sixth grade. Seriously…the commercial came on tonight and I literally stopped what I was doing and thought when did I become this woman? Tell me I’m not alone here.

So I’m doing this contest in Romance Divas. They’re having a ‘best first line’ contest. I generally don’t enter the contests, because they’re so time consuming. But this time I entered, and I’m judging. So after reading 60 first lines of manuscripts, I got a really small taste at what it must be like to be an agent/editor looking at a submission.

You might have the best book in the world, but if your first line reads like the first line in a dozen other books, or maybe it’s just okay–not exciting, but not bad, you’re not going to grab their attention. You have this tiny window to make an impression. Yes, maybe some read past the first line, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a manuscript gets set aside after a few paragraphs.

I entered as well, and so far the judging has been pretty great on my entry, but it also made me realize how many of my manuscripts I have where that first line could be amped up.

So I must share that I’ve added a little ‘fun’ to my Fun Stuff page on my website. Warning: You may get sucked in!

Okay, I got tagged by Anna. J. Evans and Yolanda Sfetsos for.. ‘eight random facts/habits about themselves’

Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

OK - 8 Random Facts/Habits About Me:

1. I bite my nails, the exception being before a conference when I grow them out. Or try to.

2. I have naturally curly hair.

3. I work best under solid deadlines. If I say, ‘Sure I’ll write that for you’ you never know when you’ll get it. If you say ‘I need it by the 20th’ it gets done a few days before the deadline at the latest.

4. I can be very friendly and open online, but meet me in person or the first time we talk on the phone and I can be initially shy. Seriously!

5. My birthing partner, when I had my daughter, was my best friend. She went to all my appointments with me and watched the c-section. She thought it was so great watching them cut me open, and was like ‘Dude, they were just ripping things out of you and putting them back in.’

6. I can get REALLY grossed out eating meat, especially chicken. I don’t do meat on the bone, and if I find a vein in my chicken, the meal is over. Hence the reason I keep trying to go vegetarian. But then I miss my cashew chicken too much, and end up eating too many carbs.

7. I am comfortable writing under many different genres. My favorite, and probably my biggest strength, is books that use a lot of humor. Yet at the same time, I can totally get into writing something like my Sci Fi, which is all action and alpha males, and there’s not a drop of humor in it. It often puzzles me that I’m like this. Do others experience this?

8. I just agreed to do a presentation for a chapter meeting with another writer friend. We’re going to be talking about taking advantage of free promo spots for writers on the web. MySpace, Bebo, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. How to use them to their fullest. We’re trying to come up wiht a clever title. So far I’m only coming up with….Bebo, B&N, and Amazon oh MySpace. (It’s a play on Wizard of Oz.)

Yes, I’m SUCH a dork.

Okay, am I tagging people? Hmm… Lillian Feisty, Karen Erickson, Emma Petersen, Jennifer Mckenzie, Aurrora St. James, Lenora Bell, Ericka Scott, Amie Stuart, April, Julie

Do it only if you wanna :)

Yesterday we had a fabulous chapter meeting with the wonderful Susan Mallery. She gave her talk called The Sagging Middle. It was all about keeping your book going in that spot where you often lose momentum. It was a great, great talk.

She made the most fascinating comment, and I’m not sure who originally said it, but she said something along the lines of, “You can tell how productive a writer will be in a year, by how fast they write through the middle of a book.” Which is so absolutely true. How many people put aside their book after 100 pages and say they’ll come back to it later? I got similar advice from my dad’s cousin (who writes regencies) years ago. Finish the book or you’ll always find an excuse not to. Anyway, after the talk Susan opened the floor to questions, and wow did we hit her with them. She was amazing–very funny too!

Time for a paragraph of toddler talk. Lacy Danes taught my daughter the most annoying habit. She taught my daughter how to grab a sugar packet off the table at a restaurant, rip it open, and do the finger dip/lick bit. So I’m currently trying to break her of that–though it is a lovely distraction. On a ‘mommy’s proud’ moment, my kid has also really developed a musical ear. It’s not such a surprise, because music has always been a big part of my life in school/college. She’s in the bath tub right now, listening to classical musical and actually humming along with some of the melody. She has a good ear, which thrills me!

Now on a brag for someone else moment. Friend and fellow Romance Diva Gemma Halliday wrote a book called Spying in High Heels. I read this book, LOVED it, and blogged about it some months ago. Now Gemma’s fabulous news is… Spying in High Heels is in development for a television series on the USA Network! I would be a total addict, because that book was so good I hated it to end–really it didn’t, there’s follow ups! So big congrats, Gemma. I thrilled for you! You totally deserve it.

Here are some Divas at breakfast at Nationals last year. It was such a blast. I can’t WAIT for RWA, it’s my one vacation a year away! I had so much fun….

All right, off to the mall with the kid. I promised her another My Little Pony book.

Oh! And don’t forget to check out the pics below of Emma Petersen and I on her trip up to Seattle!

Today was a bit of a monumental day for me and my toddler daughter. We walked down the street…and picked up an application for preschool next fall. Sigh. Yes, my daughter is finally turning into a kid. I signed her up because she’s gone two weeks in big girl underwear without an accident. And really, she’s SO excited to go to preschool. She tried to bring her Dora backpack just to sign up.

So then we go home and go on with the day. And she has not one, but TWO #2 accidents in her big girl undies. I mean what the heck is going on here? Did she suddenly realize preschool means time away from mommy, and backpedaled into ‘Mommy I need diapers’ syndrome! ? Arrrrgh! But I think she saw the anguish on my face, and has realized mommy is noooooot happy about it. Because she promised not to do it again. Sigh. We’ll see.

I wasn’t sure what else to blog about, but Deanna Lee said I can talk about how awesome she is. (Yes, she said it as a joke) But really, she is. She’s become a bit of a think tank for me. I’ll bounce ideas off her through im, both for real life and book ideas. She helps me plod through perplexing plot points. Oh and the best part. Sometimes, when I’m scared to do something, I tell her to tell me to grow some balls and do it. And every once in awhile, she’ll call me and say ‘get some balls’. It’s great. Wow, that really took up an entire paragraph!

Now. I found this great site that lets you make your own romance novel cover with your pic. You get to pick the tag line, title, and author’s name. So tell me…would you buy my book?

So I’m thinking I’ll have a fun little topic every now and then; called something like, oh, say… Conversations I overhear while out to lunch with gramms. Because seriously, there’s some funny stuff. Take today.

Well, long time no talk! Sorry about that. I had company fly into town. Namely, Emma Petersen. And, Lordy, did we have a good time. I think I took her to every darn tourist attraction in the state of Washington, until her feet were about to fall off *Grin*. I took my toddler daughter with us half the time too, and I was surprised she kept up as long as she did! But the amount of gas we used, and at the current prices. *Groan* Not pretty. We did Pike Place Market, the Seattle waterfront, Snoqualmie Falls, Whidbey Island, The SEATTLE PREMIUM OUTLETS!

I’m screaming because what fabulous shopping. I bought some cheap stuff for the kid at The Children’s Place. Gotta love the $4.99 rack. And then there was a makeup store that had all this great makeup and products by all the Estee Lauder companies (MAC, Clinique, and more). Anyway, we had a fabulous time. I’ll post pictures later, but right now Emma has them and she’s probably still on the plane home.