Danielle Steele

     I crawled into bed last night a little after midnight. It has been a long weekend. An enjoyable weekend but long. I had my pitch with Chris Shoebinger of Shadow Mountain Publishing. I paid twenty bucks for ten minutes of his time. My nerves almost got the best of me. I could feel them chattering inside my head during the pitch and when I was finished I didn't know if I wanted to cry or laugh hysterically. I pitched him my book which went basically like this:
   
 "19 year old Corinne can drift. She runs away from her OCD crazed mother by time traveling. Following clues left by her mysteriously missing father she finds herself in the 1940s. While there she is hunted by a stalker, annoyed by an old drunk lady, and crushing on a WWII fighter pilot. In the end she must to decide to run from her fears or face them head on."
   
    He told me he wasn't sure about my book and had to ask colleagues about it. He gave me the assignment to send him an outline and two of my best chapters. Then this comes the part where I wanted to cry. He wants me to take out the time traveling element and turn it into a period piece being set in the 1940's as a sweet romance. I said I would do it. Beggars can't be choosers right? He followed up by asking me if I was working on any other projects and I told him I had a few. He wanted the best chapter of one of my romances closest to finish.
      I kind of liken this experience to auditioning for American Idol and getting the golden ticket. It's not a publishing contract but it's a toe in the door. I have his email with the promise he would consider my work. Tonight the Bryce family was all sitting around the dinner table talking and the topic of my pitch came up so I told them what had happened. Shortly after that I got a phone call and left the room.
    Grandma commented, "Who does she think she is? Danielle Steele?"
 
     Little does she know that I have her written up in my book as the crusty old Ms. Thelma Boggs. She made me mad. She frequently copy cats me doing things louder and more obnoxious than I just to be mean and cantankerous. She is crazy. I've taken out anger towards her and turned her into a very funny character in my book. She has given me plenty of writing material. Writing can be very therapeutic for me. Comments like hers have only fuel my fire to become better.
   
     Who knows? I may become the next Danielle Steele of sweet romances.