Pageant Moms

Pageant Mom:

She walked into the rehearsal hall with attitude. With her stylish short blond hair perfect, her expensive clothes freshly pressed, and her make-up professional done.
I watched as she glanced over me.
Dismissing me with my long brown hair hanging in my face, old jeans and T-shirt, and no make-up. Not up to her standards.
The miniature her trailed slowly behind with her hands pressed together. Pretty little girl much like her mom, but huh, you have to wonder if she had the same personality.
They didn’t sit with us but took seat 4 rows behind.
That’s okay. This isn’t my first time. I’ve put years into this. I know what to expect.
Once rehearsal starts the kids take the stage.
I’m proud of my daughter. She looks beautiful up there dancing. Her love for the music lighting up.
I talk with the other moms. Comment on how the light catches the glitter in the costume.
Up on stage the girls twirl and dance. Getting steadier on their feet. We applaud as they finish up.
Kisses and hugs are given as the next class takes the stage. Time to switch costumes. We praise our girls and begin to work on exchanging the dresses.
All but one mom. I can hear her behind me pointing out mistakes.
I shake my head.
The mom is only repeating what the instructor already said.
I can see the tears shining in the little girls eyes.
I get angry.
The girls are here for fun! At this age we are lucky they remember the entire routine.
But I let it go, none of my business.
My little one twirls in the puffy dress. Look at me! She calls.
Yes she is beautiful and having so much fun.
We’ve worked hard for this. 9 months of classes three times a week. But in the end it’s all worth it.
The other class finishes and the teenagers take the stage.
They are classic and talented. Hard work showing from years of practice.
That is what our children strive for.
With bobby pins in my mouth I change my daughter’s hair style from curly pony-tail to a high bun.
Four years has taught me the easiest way to do this. After I am finished we switch kids.
I put the next girl’s hair up as her mom helps my girl with her bows.
We work as a team. One mom doing the same for each girl so they looked uniformed and perfect.
All but one.
We’d barley finished with the class was called back on stage.
It would be worse the day of the program with costume changes. But we’d get plenty of practice today.
The girls go through the routine once. Then a second time. On the third the pageant mom stands up and walks over to the teacher.
We can all her say. “Excuse me but I really think ‘Susie’ should be up front.”
We all exchange looks.
It wasn’t because my kid was one of the ones up front.
It wasn’t because this woman was a snob.
It was because she was taking the joy of dance from her daughter that I enjoyed the look the teacher gave.
As the teacher quietly but forcefully dressed the woman down I smiled and leaned back in my chair.
I could have warned her not to address the teacher.
I could have. I knew what she was going up there for. But I didn’t.
And I smiled when the lady was told “If she didn’t like it she could leave and come back at Five and pick her daughter up.
Yes I could have warned her that I’d seen parents get kicked out for less than that.
But like the sign in the entrance says. “We don’t need Pageant Moms.”

Research

This morning I am blogging about reasearch. Research, research, and research! I've been looking into serial killers for a couple months now. Not on;y on the internet and books but I have become obsessed with crime drama on History, biography, A&E, all all those channels. Cold case files, The dead speak, 48 hours, nortorious, all of them! I finally gave my hubby a break this weekend and turned on the deadliest ctach marathon.
But anyway I am researching serial killers not to become one but to write about one. I will also have a pyshic and the FBI in the story. And of course the serial killer will be caught. I just haven't decided how yet.
I am not going to have him kill prostuates because that is over-done. However he will have his own signature. The dump sites will all be the same but I'm not going to give away all the secrets, at least not yet anyway! But I will tell you that he bites off their right pinkie finger. Yes you heard that right. Kinda creeped my hubby out too.
I am also looking into the pyshic part of this and I think that is creepier than the serial killer.
I am not sure if I'm a believer or not. Of course some part of me does. I'm a writer, I'm superstious, but I just don't know if I want to know if someone can read my mind, or see spirts, or have visions. You know what I mean. Let me know what you think. Do you beleive and if so why? Also have you ever seen a spirit? My dad swears he has.
I am super excited about this book. Stay tuned.

Changing genre

Changing Genre is not that difficult for me. I like to write paranormal, urban fantasy, and erotic short stories. After being told over and over again that vampires are just so overdone right now I have put Eternal aside and decided to concentrate on one of the first stories I'd started about a serial killer. Except I have added a paranormal twist. The problem with this is that it is alot more in dept and research driven. Just the pyshic part of the book is taking alot of digging. Then add all the serial killer stuff, his signature, why he does this, his childhood, profiling, etc. And last but not least is the law enforcement part of this. I do have one up as with my experience with guns (hubby owns a gun store) I know what I am talking about when it comes to weapons. I have left the love connection alone between the characters only extended it some. Letting them take there time to give in to their desire and needs.
I am looking forward to writting this. On Saturday my dad and I went to Barnes and Noble where I picked up some suspense books with serial killers and the Rachel Vincent book Rogue. We drank coffee and talked about our work. He added a couple of great ideas for mine, and I think I helped him out also.
I am super excited about his work. I think this book is going to be the absouolte best. I think it will be early Stephanie Plum funny. I can't wait to get to read it as he's writting.
I am very lucky to have his support and the abilty to bounce ideas off of him. For my birthday he gave me a a leather notebook with my initals engraved on it. This is the first story that I have gotten to use it. And I can't tell you how cool that is. I was working on my outline Friday night and kept picking it up and writting notes in it. Finally hubby looks at me and asks What I am doing?
You see this is new for us. I have asked him to read some of my work, but he just tells me that this is my thing. Which is why I bounce ideas off of daddy and my rock. But he finally read one of my stories (while I was gone) and admitted that he liked it. I was surprised to say in the least. So I told him about the ideas for this book, and with only a few smartass comments, he listened pretty well.
So I have alot of work ahead of me....so wish me luck.

Contest: Short story

Well hello again. Just an update on what's been going on. I entered a short story contest. You send in a story between 8000-10000 and the companys let their readers download it for free. Then the readers vote on their fav. So I sent my story in Feb and the contest went for the month of March. So I got an email yesterday that I placed 3rd out of 36th. So I did not win the contract. Although third place is not bad. So even though I am dissapointed I will not give up. I will still send my stories out. Beside if Stephen King or Nora Roberts gave up, where would we be?