I am just exhausted! I wish I could do a big long post, but…that whole exhausted thing. I had pics up, but now they got deleted. GAH! So please, just visit my blog for the scoop and I’ll big blog here next week!

http://www.shellistevens.com/blog/

Well, no deep post again, since I’m–oh, on a plane to San Francisco!!!

So please, just lots of positive thoughts and prayers that my plane gets there safely. I’m not big on flying.

Until next week (hugs!)

Oh, and feel free to drop by the Aprhodisia blog where I blogged a fun little post yesterday.

No, of course not! The disclaimer says it all…. Well, okay, sort of?

Let’s start at the beginning. Saturday night, after a day of shopping until we were dropping (for RWA), we had a girls night. My friend Patricia, Lacy, Danielle and I went out and about.

You see, a few weeks ago an old friend found me on MySpace. At first I just saw it was a band and kind of rolled my eyes. And then I visited their page, and read their bio. I knew these guys! Back when I was a fashionably challenged and a naive teen/early 20’s (yes, I’m still a wee bit naive, but it was much worse then!) I used to sing in these seriously fantastic choirs. And some of the guys in this band had been in there with me! And they invited me out for a concert in the area. I jumped at the chance–hello, it’d been over a decade! So here are the two guys I know.

Now here’s where I work the title of my post into this big old topic. The one on the right (goatee guy) well, I spent a lot of time with him in my first year in this choir. Enough time to watch most of the girls fall a little bit for him. He was cute, a bit of a bad boy, and was seriously a nice guy.

So fast forward many years. I haven’t seen most of the people from my music days in forever, and now I’ve side-stepped into another creative outlet called writing. I’ve got a few books under my belt and I’m starting my first erotic chicklit Love for Sale. I knew I wanted a different kind of hero for this, not my normal alpha. I wanted something different, but what? And then it hit me. I thought of Josh above (yeah, I even used the same name) and he just poured out into the story. Now of course they’re not ‘the same’, though I did use somewhat similar appearance and name. Yeah I totally screwed that ‘characters are fiction and not based on real people and if you think so it’s gotta be a coincidence’ disclaimer.

I’m guilty of it, okay? I confess to sometimes naming a character after someone who’s an old friend. It’s like a little hug in a book. A ‘hi, I remember you!’ Or a villain might get named after someone who ticked me off (though it can often be an endearment like in my upcoming Take Me).

So do you ever do it? Base characters on someone you know?

It’s a little slow on the blogosphere during the summer, so any ‘deep’ posts might be a little less frequent. Thus my post today is all about the 80’s!

Everybody loves the 80’s, right? Maybe? Maybe not? Maybe it was a haze of pain, humiliation, and awkward memories for you? Or maybe you were drunk/stoned the whole time? Maybe you weren’t born.

Anyway! So, here’s a few things I miss:

• Sweet Valley High books
• The Bangles (the band not the bracelet)
• Oversized shirts over stirrup pants (so comfy! yeah they tried to make it come back, but people look at you funny)
• Black sunglasses with the neon sides
• The little shirt clip that held your shirt in a side knot
• Wham
• Beverly Hills Teens (does ANYONE remember this cartoon?)
• Big hair (I have that now damnit)
• Growing Pains (the show, not my body)
• Banana clips to contain that hair
• Debbie Gibson (none of that Deborah crap)
• Whatchamacallit candy bar before they added caramel
• Being able to ride around unrestrained in the back of station wagon (yes, I know seatbelts are good and I always use them now)

Here’s what I don’t miss:

• New Coke

I think my perspective is a little narrow, since I was 13 at the end of the 80’s.k’ I tend to see the ‘kid stuff’. I’ll do the 90’s next time.

How about you? What do you miss? Not miss?

So I had an absolute fabulous fourth of July. It was very family orientated. My cousins from across the country came up and spent it with us. I finally got to meet my guy cousin’s wife and kids–and I love them!

Here are the highlights/grosslights/scarylights of my weekend:

1. Finding a dead shark in the boat launch (yes, a shark in cold water, I’m still pondering this!)  (grosslights)

2. One of the kids tossing a firework into the fire next to where I was sitting, not realizing there was still some bang left in it (scarylight)

3.  Driving past my grandparents old house and walking around the campus of University of Washington where our grandpa used to be the dean of law school. (highlight)

4. Eating homemade cheesecake my cousin’s wife made (orgasmic highlight)

5.  Watching how excited the kids were to go crabbing (highlight)

6. Watching the crab die in a pot of boiling water for the family’s consumption (grosslight and I so did not eat it)

7. My kid running after those parachute fireworks. (highlight)

8.  Trying to keep my kid from running off the edge of fort at Fort Casey. (scarylight)

9. Reverting to my inner teenager/child by lighting off fireworks and playing with the kids. (highlight)

10.Exploring the joy of garage saleing with teenage boys. (highlight)

So what were some of your highlight from Independence Day weekend? Or if you’re not American, how about just the weekend? Do anything fun?

So I’m not really a huge believer in good luck charms. (Though I did just write a novella that centers around one!) But in the past year I changed my min a bit. I picked up three that were writing related. Though I never convinced myself they’d help me strike it big in my writing, I just thought they’d be good to look over at on my dresser to keep me focused. Keep my eyes on the prize!

The first lucky charm was a bit out of my control. I won it at the Elephant exchange at my chapter holiday party. What was it? A oh so charming Casanova figurine. (You know they make librarian ones too!)

The second item I picked up was a stuffed armadillo doll in the Dallas airport. I was inspired after the ‘armadillo talk’ at one of the luncheons.

And the third I bought was a Nora Roberts bobble head doll. You did know they existed, right? Well there not easy to come by. I bought mine on Ebay and I’m sure I was bidding against some other romance writer just dying to get their hands on it. I grew up reading La Nora, and after hearing her speak at the PRO retreat in Atlanta I came to respect her/like her even more. She’s smart, funny, an inspiring. And I’m so amazed with what she’d done with her career, that when I learned she had a bobble head I just knew it must join my lucky charms collection.

So all three sit on my dresser. I stare at them all the time. And maybe it’s a coincidence, but since I acquired the trio I did sell to NY and get an agent. So those lucky charms? Keeping them!

How about you? Anyone else have a ‘lucky charm’ or item?

I’m back! Yaaaaaaaaay!!

Okay, so Disneyland has that reputation as being the ‘happiest place on earth’ or something like that, right? Well, as a young kid I never got that. Sure, it was fun, but the happiest? Hmm. It had some competition. Then I went back as a late teen and early twenties. Basically, before I had a kid. And yes! It WAS the happiest place on earth. I couldn’t get over it. I’d run from land to land, riding every ride I wanted to do. Stay late at night to avoid lines and devour churros galore.

And then I went back again. This time with a child of a my own. A four year old. And I’m right back to ‘not so much the happiest place’. Now you have to switch into cranky kid waiting in lines in 100 degree or more heat–lines for rides you haven’t done since you were a kid. And forgettaboutit on the big scary fun rides. No time for those and the kid won’t go. And no late night parties closing down D-land. We didn’t make it past noon before melt downs started.

But despite the new version of doing D-land, it was still a lot of fun. Truly. Dumbo rides and getting hugs from people in costumes is all good. And yes, obviously I was in denial about how I’d surely have ‘me time’.

Beyond that, we did a day at the beach that was just brilliant and fun! I loved it. I had to get over the fact that we were the only obese/overweight people on the beach. And I was sure I’d end up on TMZ when I a wave knocked us down, and the two big girls were rolling around on the shore trying to get up–which in the midst of that I had a Tara Reid moment. My breast popped out of my swimsuit but no one told me for like a minute. I’m sure it was quite the entertainment for the Barbies’ watching in fascinated/horror on the beach. I could see the headlines ‘Somehow, non svelte women were able to infiltrate the hot chick beach and did their best impression of beached whales and Tara Reid’.

And we had dinner with Diva Dana who is so sweet and too much fun. It was just so much fun over all. Though yes, I may sound a bit negative nancy about it all typing it up. I’m simply trying to be sardonic. Or something. And I’m in the midst of a really dirty scene I want to get back to writing, so my thinking is a bit raw right now. I had a fabulous trip and it’s good to be back!

Oh, and be sure to ask Emma Petersen about the dirty hotel neighbor and the Giant Peach (bra).