An ode to jeans...

I've succumbed to blatant commercialism. Yesterday, I bought a pair of jeans for $100. But it (they) feels so good! Ha. : )

You have to understand that for a period of time in my early teens all I cared about, clothing-wise, was the brand name on the tag. Guess, Coca-cola (remember those shirts?), Espirit, B.U.M. Equipment, etc. Then I grew up a little into my later teens and into the grunge era, where nobody cared about the brand, just about how much flannel one human being could possibly wear at any given time.

Once I was out of college, my casual wear drifted toward the inexpensive Old Navy-type stuff, where fit might not have been great but the style was cute and you couldn't beat the price. Only in recent years have I become more concerned about what I look like in those clothes. The old metabolism isn't quite what it used to be, and wearing big sloppy stuff no longer looks cute and carefree, but sort of blah and making me looking bigger than I actually am, something I don't need help with. Jeans that are in fashion no longer fit my shape correctly and the person who brought about the invention of low-rise should either be blessed or condemned to one of the lower circles of hell.

Everyone looked pretty much the same in those high-waisted jeans. It's impossible not to have some kind of pooch in front when it's behind this wall of unforgiving denim. But with low-rise, suddenly those with flat bellies were showing them off and the rest of us...well, me, at least, I was hiding behind "mid-rise" jeans that weren't altogether fashionable or flattering.

Then I saw this show (Oprah had the "What Not to Wear" girls on one night) about how little things like the length of the zipper, the size and placement of the pockets on the back, the cut of the legs, all go toward making you look good or bad in jeans. If you don't look good in your jeans, it may not be because you're hideously malformed. It may simply be that you have the wrong cut of jeans.

So, I promptly went out and found a pair of jeans that I loved from Ann Taylor Loft. Low rise (over which I wear a longer shirt so the front pooch does not show), small pockets that were low on the butt, and legs that were tight through the thigh but loose around the calves and ankles. (I do not look good in the "skinny" jeans, plus whenever I try them on, I get horrible post-traumatic flashbacks to highschool and the early nineties when we used to roll up the bottoms of our skinny jeans to make them even tighter at the ankle...ugh!) And this beautiful find was only $28 on the sales rack! Woohoo! I should have bought multiple pairs...but I didn't.

Now, a year later, the ATL jeans are still holding up well, but they're my only pair. For Christmas, from my husband, I get a cool new pair of jeans but they're the "new" looking kind. Very dark denim. This is fine for when you're dressing up a little but these are not casual jeans.

Yesterday, with my sister in town, we headed to Michigan Avenue for a shopping trip. I HATE shopping. But I discovered a Lucky Brand jeans store in one of the malls. Lucky is a brand name you've probably heard tossed around, like True Religion and Seven. I cannot afford True Religion and Seven, which often go at $200 or so for ONE pair of jeans. But these were less expensive and they are AWESOME.

Already faded and soft (how do they do that?), they are perfect right off the shelf. Short zipper, low rise in the front but higher in the back (so as to avoid the oh-so-attractive "butt crack" look), tight yet stretchy through the thigh and loose around the calves and ankles. And little pockets placed low on the back side, so it looks like I might actually have a butt rather than legs connected straight to my rib cage.

And yes, they were ridiculously expensive, so much so that I'm almost afraid to wear them. But I have decided that at the ripe old age of 31, there are some things worth splurging on. A good hair cut and good jeans are definitely two of them!

Check this out...

Woo hoo, I'm already listed in the Echelon Press author directory (just click on the link and scroll down until you see the "Author Directory" link in the left-hand nav bar)....how cool is that?!?

Thanks to Becky D. for pointing that out! : )

My brain is a hamster on a wheel…on crack. The hamster, I mean, not the wheel.

I wrote this entry the other night, but my computer ate it. So, take two…(take two what, Stacey? Ha! *snort* I crack myself up. I’m clearly very tired here and operating on about half a brain…)

Now that I’ve found a home for BITTER PILL—yea!—I’m being a good author and looking ahead to the next Rennie story. One of my big mistakes with THE SILVER SPOON was waiting until it was released to worry about finishing the second book. And now with RuneStone closing, I’m kind of stuck because I’ve got to find a new publisher for THE SILVER SPOON before I can get the sequel out there. That means readers will have waited more than two years between each book. Auuughhh! Not good. Not going to happen again. I’m soooo learning from that mistake.

So, for Rennie, I have a draft of the next one, but it’s very rough. I’m worried that it might share too much in common thematically with BP. But it’s not pulled together enough for me to give the whole thing over to my trusted and patient first readers to see what they think. And my dilemma is that I don’t want to spend time fixing this one if it’s too similar because that’s time I should be spending writing a new one instead. So, I’ve asked a couple of my first readers to read the first two chapters and see what they think. And so far, so good. My thanks to Becky D., Stacy G., and Susan for their help.

All of this has started me thinking about my writing plans for 2007. I’m still hoping to get THE SILVER SPOON re-released in 2007, followed shortly by the new sequel to that book. And because I hate how big the gap is between first and second book in that series, I need to start writing the third (and final?) book, in hopes of getting it out there in 2008.

So that means for writing projects in 2007, I’ll be:

-finishing edits on the second Zara book (I’m working on those now, and I’m nearly done. Hope to be finished by the middle of January at the latest—yea!).

-editing/revising the second Rennie book.

-writing the third Zara book.

-working on something new!

I’m tired just thinking about all of it, but I love it. : ) I can’t wait to see what 2007 brings!

Is there any sweeter phrase than...BOOK CONTRACT?

I don't think so. : )

Bitter Pill, the first book in the Rennie Harlow series, is going to be published by Echelon Press in 2008! I got the news last weekend, but bronchitis (again, second time in 2006) got the better of me this week. (I haven't been to work since Monday).

I'm so excited! Echelon is exactly where I wanted Bitter Pill to go, and I can't believe it worked out. : ) Another friend and Chicago mystery author, Luisa Buehler, is published with them and was instrumental in helping me make contact. Isabo Kelly also has a holiday short story with them--definitely a good time of year to check that out! And I've heard such great things about Echelon. Make sure you check out their site, particularly the publisher's blog. This sounds kind of hokey, but I just get such a good vibe from them.

Bitter Pill is a book that's close to my heart for a lot of reasons. The first draft of it was probably the easiest of all the books I've written. It just seemed to pour out. During the day, I was working on edits for The Silver Spoon, and I just needed something to help counterbalance the frustration of revisions--I hate revising, though I must admit that it is a very necessary evil. (And I've realized, note to self, that this is how I work best: revising one project and writing something new.)

So I started working on my AlphaSmart at night. I'd get into bed, turn on HGTV in the background, wait til my husband fell asleep and then begin typing away. At one point, I was holding up a booklight with my knees so I could see the AlphaSmart's screen when it was in my lap.

The second draft was more difficult, and it took me a couple of years and many, many conversations with Becky D. and Stacy G. to get it right. Thanks, guys! And thank you to my sister, Susan, who along with Becky D. and Stacy G., told me they like this one even better than The Silver Spoon and encouraged me to keep going with my revisions I hope all of you who enjoyed reading about Zara and Caelan will give this one a try, too.

It's also an important book to me because of the greyhound connection. Rennie, the main character, has adoped a former racing dog, and as most of you know, that's a cause close to my heart. I'm looking forward to spreading the word about what loving, intelligent and sweet animals these are through Rennie's dog, Fritzy.

So, over the next year, look for updates, cover art, excerpts and all that good stuff! : )

"What's a dickfer?"

*Snort* Am watching Spies Like Us on HBO and had forgotten some of the funny lines. Watching the edited for television version too many times, I guess.

I'm trying to do better about updating the blog more often. I had an easier week at work last week (under 40 hours for the first time...ever!), which helped.

--Bought new music today. For anyone who was wondering about the cool song in the background in the Ultraviolet movie trailer, it's "24" by Jem. I also bought "In Your Eyes" by Rogue Wave, and "It Ends Tonight" by The All-American Rejects.

--I've been debating about first person versus third person. It seems that most authors are either one or the other. Sometimes they change, but it's rare for them to alternate (or so it seems...got examples of authors who've done this? Please let me know!!! I'm trying to figure out how other people do this). The Silver Spoon, its sequel, Bitter Pill and its sequel are all in first person, and that worked out pretty well. First person is what I prefer to read, if given my druthers. Doesn't mean that I won't read something in third person, but that first person voice will catch my attention much faster. But now, I've had several ideas where the story would require more than one voice. And in fact, one of the voices might be male. I've never written from the male perspective...at all. EVER! And the idea of writing in first person from a male perspective quite frankly blows my mind. If I understood how men thought...well, my life in college probably would have been a lot easier.

Is it strange to have two first person narratives? I don't know. What about combining a first and third person narrative? (female in first person and male in third)? I could always go with the traditional third person for both, but I have a harder time writing that way. Either way, I don't know if I can write a believable male internal dialogue (see above about knowing how men think). Would be interesting to try. Hmmm....just something to think about.

This week, I bought MaryJanice Davidson's new book, Sleeping with the Fishes and in the acknowledgements (I always read those for good inside info!), she talks about rewriting the book into third person after realizing that if she left in first person, "Fred" the main character, would have sounded like "Betsy with fins." Betsy is the heroine in her vampire series, which is written in first person. So, apparently, I am not the only one who struggles with this issue. : )

P.S. For those reading on LiveJournal, I suspect my transfer to the new Blogger might cause my old entries to pop up again. Sorry about that!