A Night on the Town

With kids, a night on the town means The Old Spaghetti Factory (my fave!) and a movie. We opted for Coraline. I'm pretty sure my kids won't sleep tonight. There were actually a few moments I turned to my husband and said, "I'm scared."

Anyway, I tried to get some pictures for the blog before we went out. Gosh, my kids are so poised, right? I can't wait to see their class photos.

GOING GREEN (the blog story)

To catch up on the ongoing blog story, check the links on the side under Going Green...

GOING GREEN

I would have thought that in this moment, with Conner across the street and so clearly jealous, I would have gotten some satisfaction. But things never really happen the way you think. Instead, I felt guilty. Like I’d betrayed him.

Sure, Conner and I weren’t dating. In fact, Conner had his own girlfriend to be jealous over. And yet, my face tingled with shame. I wanted to go to him.

“Stella?” Becker asked, dropping his hands from behind his head and sitting up in the driver’s seat. His lips shined from my gloss. “What?” he asked. “Did I do something—” He paused and turned to follow my stare.

When he saw Conner, he scoffed. He dropped his head, running his hands roughly through his hair. “Ah,” he mumbled. “Still in love with the high school kid. Nice.” Only he didn’t say it nice. He said it, very, very unnice. I cringed.

“It’s not—”

“Stop,” he cut me off. “I feel stupid enough.” We sat awkwardly quiet for a minute, then he looked up at me, his eyes darker than they were when I’d leaned over to kiss him. “I have to go,” he said, not even pretending like he was telling the truth.

I swallowed hard. Maybe I should have argued, told him that I had no interest in Conner. But what was the sense in lying. Instead, I nodded and reached out to open his door. We didn’t say anything as I climbed out, and just as I shut it, he pulled away, speeding down my street.

So there I stood, on my curb, looking across the road at Conner. He folded his arms over his chest, his blond curls blowing to the side from the wind.

“You have no right to be mad,” I called to him, matching his stance.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Yeah, you’re right, Stella.” He smiled. “I already knew you were a slut.”

I gasped, feeling like I’d just been slapped. But before I could respond, Conner turned and walked back inside his house.
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Slackers Unite!

So... why is it when nobody wants to read my books, I can pump out like six in four months? But now that I have deadlines, I've joined the slacker's union. (Along with some great friends. You know who you are.)

Now, I'm writing. For sure. I just... I want to write MORE! FASTER!

I say, Slackers Unite!!!! Let's write a chapter a day(at least 5 pages per chapter) until Sunday. Who's with me? WHO'S WITH ME???????

_suz

The Naughty List: Book 2... You are going down!!

My debut album

Christy Raedeke continues to make me the happiest blurker in the world. Her blog is the funniest I've come across. Especially THIS post. Seriously, funniest blog of the year.

Anyway, she put up this awesome post today about making your own debut album cover. Here's how you do it:
1 -Click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is your band name.

2 - Click here: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Click here: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - You can use Word, Photoshop or http://www.picnik.com/

So what is my debut album??? Inna Bashment Style-Opinions Confine Themselves to Facts.

It ROCKS!!! See you at the Grammys!



Let me know if you do it! And let Christy know. It's a great way to waste twenty minutes of writing time! haha

When good gum, goes bad

It’s spicy!

My daughter got Big Red gum stuck in her eye. Yes, you read that right. Her EYE. My husband and I were sitting on the couch when she came running in, screaming, “It’s spicy! It’s too spicy for my eye!”

As I sat her on the edge of the sink, picking gum out her eyelashes, it struck me. This is where I work. This is me, working from home… only, I’m not writing. I’m taking gum from my daughter’s eye.

How awesome is my job?!

Good thing was, before that, my friend Trish and I met for an online writing date and I busted out an entire chapter of The Naughty List book 2. I was pleased with that, since I’m trying to write a chapter a day to finish the rough draft. After that, I’ll start working it over into a recognizable form.

Moral of this story? Juicy Fruit. It doesn’t sting.

My Daughter. The Artist.

So, many of you might have seen the Zombie Squirrel picture that my daughter drew a while back. Gosh. It was brilliant. Since then, I’ve discovered how much she expresses herself through her artwork.

For example:

She was torturing the puppy (again) and my husband yelled, “Please, please, leave that poor dog alone! She doesn’t want ribbons on her ears!”

My daughter growled. Yes, I said my daughter and NOT the dog. Anyway, she growled and stormed off into her room.

I looked at my husband and raised my eyebrow. “You’re in for it now.” He gulped.

Ten minutes later, my daughter came storming out of her room, paper in hand, her little mouth clenched tight. She stomps up to me and hands me her paper.

“Here,” she said between her teeth. “Give this to Dad.”

I glanced down at the paper, furrowing my brow. “What is it?”

She snatched the paper from my hand and held it up. “This is me, getting angry because of daddy!” She pointed at him. “This is me walking out the door and screaming at him in my room. And this is me coming back and telling you I’m mad.”

She pushed the paper toward me and I stared down at it again. “And what’s this?” I said, pointing to the second one.

“Those are my arms in fists.”

(Thank God. I totally misinterpreted that.)

“I’m sorry—“ my husband started to say. My daughter pointed at him.

“Don’t talk to me!” She ran off.

I stared at the picture a little longer and then handed it over to my husband. He smiled as he took it, looking proud.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I really liked the zombie squirrel better.”

I laughed.

My husband got up and put the picture on the fridge. “I’m calling it, 'Angry Art'.”

Going Green (the story blog)

To catch up on the story, check the side links under Going Green!

GOING GREEN

I was a big fan of Becker’s lips. I leaned further over into his driver’s seat, enjoying his soft, tender kisses. This was way better than what I’d been sharing with Conner.

Sure, with Conner there was a certain urgency, naughtiness about it. But this… this was sweet.

After another second, I slowly pulled away, looking into Becker’s soft brown eyes. He watched me, smiling. Then he exhaled and leaned back in his seat, folding his hands behind his head.

“Pretty sure that beats my miniature golf idea,” he said and laughed.

I was about to tease him for looking so proud of himself when I saw it. Conner—standing just across the street. He was in his driveway as Trish’s car backed out, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at Becker and me.

And he looked pissed.
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Oscar buzzed!

I really liked the Academy Awards this year. I did miss the part where the guy's voice whispers, "So and so has been nominated three times. This is their first win." But other than that and a few technical misses, I thought there were some great points! Like:

Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix. HAHAHAHA
James Franco(sigh) and Seth Rogan. Dude! It was hilarious!
Steve Martin and Tina Fey "Don't fall in love with me"

Some of the great acceptances, my fave is when Kate Winslet had her dad whistle!

And don't think I missed my boyfriend Robert Pattinson up there (double sigh).

All and all, I thought it was a good time! And now I know that I have a bunch of movies to see. Actually, the entire five nominees for best picture.... what!? I have kids! Do you think they can sit through Frost/Nixon?

Have a great day!

Zootastic!

I already used zoorific on another post.

So the family and I finally got a weekend where I wasn't writing obsessively. The weather was forecasted to be 58 and partly sunny, and I decided to cross my fingers and hope for all day sunshine. Um.. well, it sort of worked. But mostly, we just froze.

But I LOVE the zoo. I could sit and stare at elephants all day. I don't know what it is about them, but I find them fascinating.

When we finished, we went and stuffed our faces at The Spaghetti Factory. My other favorite place. (Lisa knows!)

Here's some pics! Tomorrow... back to work! I've got books to write!

It's Bangin'!

There comes a time in every woman's life where she has to ask herself that important question.

Bangs or No Bangs. This is not a new topic. Many of women have struggled with this issue for decades, and now, it is upon me.

When I was making a killer new vlog, it struck me... I'm getting old! I swear, I sort of thought I was still 23. I think in my mind, that's where I am. But then I played back the video and turned to my husband.

"Oh my God!" I said, grabbing his arm. "Did you see that?"
"Uh... what?"
"There." I took a breath. "There's a wrinkle!"
"..."
"Right there! On my forehead!"
"..."
"Are you even looking! What is wrong with you?"

My husband watched the video again and again, and then once more. He's concluded that I'm having an early thirties crisis. And what does that mean???

You guessed it. BANGS.

Going Green! (The Story Blog)

To catch up on the story, check the links on the right under Going Green!

GOING GREEN

Stella and Becker. Becker and Stella. Hm, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. But Becker had called me about ten minutes ago and said that he had a surprise. So here I was, on my front porch, waiting. It started to rain.

I wrapped my arms around myself and looked back at my door, about to go inside, when Becker’s car pulled up to my curb. I sighed and glanced toward Conner’s house, recognizing Trish’s flashy BMW parked in his driveway. Figured. I was completely car-less and that wench gets a Beamer. She sucked.

Moving quickly, I hopped down my front steps and jogged through the rain to Becker’s car, climbing in. Once inside, I sat for minute, trying to wipe some of the rain off my bare arms. I turned sideways to Becker.

“Hi,” he said, smiling adorably. His grin was slightly crooked, his chin was unshaven, and his hair was perfectly messy. I was suddenly not so concerned about the wench across the street.

“Hi,” I said back, feeling a drip of rainwater run down my cheek.

Becker watched me. “So…” he began, looking in his lap and then at me.

“You had a surprise, remember?” I laughed, glancing over his forearm, up to his bicep where he had some serious ink. Hm. I’d never noticed that before.

“Yeah, about the surprise,” he said. “It…” he pulled his eyebrows together, looking apologetic. “I was going to take you miniature golfing.”

I stared at him. “Uh… why?” If I didn't like bowling, did he really think I'd like golfing?

“To make up for the bowling incident.” He shook his head, then exhaled and pressed back in his seat, raising up his hips. I was about to ask him what the hell he was doing when he pulled out the waistband of his boxer to show me. Oh my God. LEOPARD PRINT!

“You weren’t!”

He nodded. “I totally was. I was going to embarrass myself purely for your amusement. But,” He pointed out the windshield toward the sky. “I guess it’ll have to wait.”

I smiled, imagining how he would humiliate himself, all to make up for the fact that my shirt ripped open during our bowling date, exposing my leopard print bra. It was really cool of him. It was really… sexy.

Becker looked back out the window, disappointed, when I knew exactly what the surprise was.

“Hey,” I called. He looked over at me, maybe hearing the catch in my voice.

“What’s up, Stella?”

I licked my lips, ready to start something new. “You wanna make out?”

He didn’t flinch. “Yes.”

I laughed. Then I leaned over, and kissed him.
.

It's Alive!!!!

I have emerged from the Cave Of Wonders (otherwise known as my office.) I've sent back my line edits after an all-out blitz of grammactical tackling.

Yeah, I actually can't think of anything to say because my creative energy is totally tapped. Let me just say these words:

Totally

Perky
Tool

Smitten

and of course... Strawberry Smoothie.

Okay. Phew, I feel so much better. Well, I'm off to join the land of the living. Ow! The sunlight, it burns! It burns!

Here's my leaving my apartment for the first time pics. lol. Going Green story blog post tomorrow!!

Editing for Dummies

I think I need to read that book. haha.

So, I've been sort of quiet because I am working about 12 hours a day on my edits. Well, except for when I'm going out to eat--then I'm just talking about editing. I'll probably be quiet until Wednesday, but then after that, HUGE Going Green episode on the blog. Look for it!

Since I won't be here, I wanted to leave you with something my daughter told me at dinner. She was talking about a girl in her kindergarten class that has been mean to her. I said the usual, "Just ignore her."

My daughter responded with. "Well...." Her pause told me it was a little late for that advice.

"What did you do?" I asked, glancing nervously at my husband.

"Um... I told her something really bad." Her eyes welled up.

Frig. "What did you do?"

"I don't want to say." Her lip began to quiver.

My husband was cracking up, while I was all but leaping out of skin with worry. I leaned over to her and said again, "What did you do?"

She swallowed hard and looked me in the eye. "I told her that she smelled like swiss cheese that was old." And then she burst into tears.

It was then that I realized that calling someone stinky cheese was about the most awesome insult ever.

Have a great day!

The Glamorous Life

You've heard about it, right? The glamorous life of a full-time writer. I stayed in my pajamas until 3pm, I had leftover pizza for lunch, and I drank my body weight in coffee. Oh, yeah. Totally hot, huh? haha (Notice the Penguin robe) :-)

But to celebrate finishing the first chapter of my line edits, I treated my family (but mostly myself) to cheesecake at THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY. And although tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I plan to live it just as large! Only, maybe I'll end up at Ben and Jerry's instead.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

-Suz

Inspiration for Line Edits

I've just received my line edits. Um... Yay! And Yipes!!! Here's the part where I have to be a real writer. Not the girl that makes dirty jokes, downs a Coor's Light and then busts out eight chapters in an afternoon. Now I have to rethink EVERYTHING!!! What? Do I sound stressed?

So as my husband watches my slow decent in crazy, he thought of the perfect way to encourage me (other than steering clear of me while I'm working). He knew there was only one man I would listen to. Only one man that could make me believe in myself.

When I sat down to work today, I looked over and saw this:

Oh, Edward. You're right! Thank you for believing in me!

(my husband is officially the funniest man alive)

-Suz

The Unemployed Writer

Hey! That's me! Well, in my quest to avoid foreclosure, my family and I moved to an apartment and put our house up for sale. Our house was nice. Big. Open. But you know, I like this apartment thing WAY better. No lawn to mow... no roof to worry about fixing... no walls to paint. And truly, my favorite part of the new apartment is my writing room.

Sure, at my house I had an entire office. 13x15, huge desk, file cabinet. But you know, I'm a simple girl. In my NEW writing room (an enclosed deck) I need only three things. That's it. And I'm gloriously happy.

Here they are:

A window:

My Razorbill Frisbee:

And for inspiration, my poster of Edward Cullen. Sigh....

In your writing environment, what things do you NEED to have????

-Suz

GOING GREEN! The Story Blog

GOING GREEN- to catch up on the story, check the side links!


Should I call him? Should I? God. No, I shouldn’t. Conner was a tool of epic proportions.

I glanced at my phone, and then at the crumpled note he’d left me. I knew the only reason he'd “missed” me was because I was on a date with someone else.

There was no way I was going to call him. Ever.

My doorbell rang.

“Stella?” my father called from downstairs. “Do you want me to answer it or grab the bat from the garage?”

“Bat,” I said, getting up. I crossed the hall and bounded down the stairs.

“Good choice.” My father patted my shoulder as he walked by me toward the back of the house.

I stood at the front door and took a deep breath. Smoothing down my t-shirt, I opened the door and narrowed my eyes. There he was. Conner. All blonde and stupidly hot.

“What?” I asked.

He grinned and tilted his head. “You didn’t call me.”

“Should have been a hint.” Damn. Really, really stupidly hot.

He laughed. “Is Becker your boyfriend now?”

I wanted to say yes, just to hurt him. “Really none of your business. Why don’t you go harass your girlfriend? She seems like a fun time.”

Conner bit on his lip and looked me over. “You’re not being very nice.” He leaned on my doorframe and I almost closed the door. Instead, I stood there while he reached out to twirl a strand of my hair around his finger. “I’ll be nice if you will.” He grinned.

I couldn’t answer. When he was nice… the world was right. When Conner was looking at me like this, everything was okay. I wasn’t sad anymore.

“Stella?” my father called from behind me.

I jumped and spun around to find him in the entryway, bat dangling at his side. My face was hot, flush. But I smiled.

“Good night, Conner,” my father said without looking at him. He winked at me and then took his weapon into the living room with him. I turned back to Conner.

“Does your dad not like me or something?” he asked.

I let the stupidness of him wash over me and then I tilted my head. “Actually, Conner. I think we’re both just really over you.”

And with that, I slammed my door.
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AND THE WINNER IS....

The winner of the I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME contest is... DAISY WHITNEY! All the entries were great and Lisa said it was a really really difficult decision!

Thanks for entering everyone!!! And thank you Lisa Schroeder for letting me giveaway your fantastic books!!!!!

Here's me and Lisa at The Spaghetti Factory this weekend! Yummy!



*** Oh, and check out my FIRST EVER interview!!! The wonderfully talented Christy Raedeke posted it on her blog!!!! Thanks!

MY NEW TITLE!

Well, I think it's time to announce. As I may have mentioned before SMITTEN KITTENS has become a series. But here's an update, I have a new title. So my new series is called:

THE NAUGHTY LIST

You know I love having a scandalous title like that. haha. Anyway, SK is out the window and THE NAUGHTY LIST novels are in!

Stay tuned for a peek at the cover in the next few weeks. I'm stoked about this series and can't wait until I have a book in hand!!!!

PS. Here's some quick pics from last weekend! I love where I live! I'm so close to all things awesome!

It's Friday!

Thanks for all of your entries! I'll announce the winner on Monday. And wow, you all are TALENTED!!! Dang.

I'm off to brainstorm, write, and finish putting together furniture. I've been putting this set of bunk beds together for several days. I hate reading instructions.

Have a great day!

-Suz

One More Day!

That's right! The contest ends tomorrow! So get your entries in ASAP! I can't wait to see them all again. I'm trying to stay away so that I won't pick a favorite yet. :-)

In other news, my new place is going great! I am in love love love with the Portland area. And my kids started at their new school. My daughter came home from Kindergarten yesterday and said:

"Mom, this was the best day of my life."
"Wow. Really?"
"Yeah. The teacher was talking about owls and then she started to draw a HUGE owl."
"Cool."
My daughter giggled. "What?" I asked.
She turned to me, very excited by this part. "When she drew the two HUGE circles, the boy next to me stood and and said that she was drawing a big ol' butt!"

And she laughed hysterically.

I might have thought it was a little funny, too. But I said "I'm sure the teacher didn't like that."
"Nope. She told him it was appropriate."
"Inappropriate."
"Oh. Yeah." She giggled quietly. "Big tushy butt."

So.... imagaine what the buzz word is around my house today?

Have a wonderful afternoon and don't forget to enter for a chance to win two signed copies of Lisa Schroeder's books!

MY SUPER AWESOME BOOK GIVEAWAY!

My first book giveaway! And it’s a rockin’ one!

I recently finished I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder, and honestly, I fell in love with it. Lisa is so amazingly talented and what she can do in one line, I try to convey in a chapter. Because I loved this book so much, I asked Lisa if she’d let me give one away!

But she’ll do better than that. If you win, I will not only send you I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, I’ll send her new book FAR FROM YOU, too!!!!! And Lisa will personally autograph BOTH of them TO YOU!!!!!! Man, she is cool.

Okay, so if you don’t know about the book, I HEART YOU is about a girl named Ava and her boyfriend, Jackson. Only… Jackson is dead. And while Ava struggles with guilt, she also struggles with her boyfriend being ghost. And you thought your first love was traumatic!

So for my contest, I’m gonna make you work!!! In the tradition of the book, I’d love for you to write in three of four short lines your love story. Real or fake. I did an example one of my own:

It was tough being sixteen.
It was tough when he cheated on me.
But it was tougher to key his car when I still loved him.

I’ll let you decide if that’s real or fake. Hahahaha.

Okay, I’d love to hear yours!! The deadline is this FRIDAY at noon!!!! Good luck and I can’t wait to read!!!!

THE SUPERBOWL!

I am shamelessly going for the Cardinals!! Okay, but first, Jennifer Hudson? Her Star Spangled Banner made me cry. It was beautiful!

And then... I remembered! The commercials!!!! So, I am going to edit throughout the day for my favorite commericals. First things first...GI JOE: THE MOVIE!!! Holy crow! I used to play with GI Joe's as a kid and this movie looks rockin'!!! I'm so stoked!

Okay, back to the show....

EDIT: Um... is it me or do these commercials kinda stink? I like the one with Conan Obrien-Bud Light in Switzerland? I think that was it. Other than that... I'm pretty disappointed. It seems the more boring the commerical, the longer it is.

Here's hoping for a better second half!

EDIT: Well, my team lost. I had to pause for a while before writing because I was oh, so sad. And to make matters worse, there weren't anympre good commercials.

It was a great game though. Man. Why do my teams always LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!