Steph, in 8 Nerdy Facts

It’s been a minute since I blogged…anything (last night and this giant whim of mine notwithstanding). I need to remember how to do this, but this time, with a professional purpose. That’s what a decade of corporate marketing will do. Fun fact, before the real fun facts start: I just spent an hour with a coconut vanilla latte mapping out 2020’s first quarter of blog entries. I love a good action item.

(More) nerdy facts about me:

1. I am unapologetically a Pacey fan girl 4-ever. 1998, here I am. Gimme the J Crew catalog, my junior high unibrow, and that sweet cotton candy gooey feeling of unattainable first love. Listen, I know the fandom term ‘shipping’ didn't come from Pacey and Joey LITERALLY sailing away on the True Love in the Season 3 finale, but you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with a better origin story. Dawson’s Creek. It changed lives.
2. Speaking of lives changed: I went to a bonfire in a backyard in Bruce, SD and met my future husband. He wore a white t-shirt and weirdly new looking jeans. I proceeded to drink one or two extra pineapple Malibus than I needed, and made him wait to talk to me while I huddled in the living room with my best friend, madly whispering about whether or not I should talk to him. I imagine our whispering was that of Drunk Girl Whispering. As in partial yells. Regardless, he hung out, and were we are. I’m writing in a Starbucks, he’s at home painting my new office. #love.
3. I was once fired from a serving gig. Back in 2008, when the economic world was crashing, and I was a brand new college graduate, I needed a job. A restaurant near campus was hiring, I rolled in, got hired, worked half-heartedly for around three months, and eventually, one evening, dropped a plate on the floor in the eating area. The f-bomb heard around the world. Whoops.
4. I curse. A lot.
   1. I will try not to curse here.
   2. I write YA. I have to plan out my cursing.
   3. I should probably put strategic curse allowances in my content plan.
5. I have one kid. I will not use his name here, nor his picture, but he will be referred to, I imagine, fairly frequently, as parenting has become an intense, valuable topic for me to read about, explore, and now begin talking about.
   1. Yes, he has dropped his first f-bomb. It was my husband’s fault.
6. I’ve been querying agents for just over a year. I haven’t counted because I’m not THAT masochistic, but I estimate I’ve received between 20-25 no-goes. And that’s the people I’ve heard from. A lot don’t respond, given time restraints. I still have a few fulls and halfs out in the world, hopefully waiting to find their homes. Is it disheartening? Yes and no. Was I naïve enough to think it would happen in 2019? Yes and no. Did I just get a no on a full that stung? Oh, yes. Merry Christmas, me! Am I bitter yet? Not as much as I thought I would be, so that’s a win!
7. Baseball is a religion. You can’t convince me otherwise.
8. My parents love QVC. Love. QVC. In the Kitchen with David, every Wednesday and Sunday, without fail. They DVR it, and then fast forward past the demonstrations they already own something from. As a result, I watch a lot of QVC myself. It’s relaxing, letting my mom chase my son around their house, as I enjoy coffee with Dad on Sundays. Once, I bought a Dyson! I paid it off six months later. No regrets.  

 
Eight fun facts, one about a vacuum and a home shopping network. I’m doing great.

Steph