Tag Archive for: babies

What a Month or Three New Babies!

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What A Month or Three
New Babies! by Debra H. Goldstein

May proved
to be a crazy and wonderful month. It was so exciting, I want to share it with
you.

The
month began with my husband and I being on pins and needles anytime the phone
rang for fear our daughter, Jennifer, whose first child was due on May 25th
had gone into early labor. We breathed a sign of relief at the end of the
first week.

Then,
the doorbell rang. It proved to be a different kind of delivery. Two boxes from
Harlequin . I
tore into the box and held the new Harlequin Worldwide Mystery version of my second baby (book).

Should
Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery.


Here’s
the history of my second book. In 2014, Five Star purchased Poker.
Because its 2015 calendar was filled, the book was scheduled for publication in
2016. A hardback version was released in April 2016, but to my dismay shortly
thereafter Five Star ended its mystery line. Instead of a series, Poker
became a standalone. Then, a nice thing happened. Harlequin Worldwide Mystery bought
the book’s mass market rights. That meant it would be distributed to Harlequin’s
book clubs and mystery subscribers and would also become part of its catalog for
the general public to buy in a reasonably priced paperback format. With joy, in
May 2019, I held the new edition of Poker, which officially
releases on August 6, but already can be pre-ordered for the special discounted
price of $6.39 – https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335455468_should-have-played-poker.html.

Despite
my happiness of the rebirth of this book, my attention still was on when Jen’s
baby would   Another week went by –
nothing. Her due date came – still nothing. She appeared to be no closer to delivery than I was. The doorbell rang again. When I opened it, no one was there. I looked
down and was surprised to see a box. Confused, I carried it inside and carefully
opened it. The box contained ARCS of Two Bites Too Many, the
second book in my Sarah Blair series, which will be available on September 24
(but can be pre-ordered for delivery on that date at https://www.amazon.com/Bites-Many-Sarah-Blair-Mystery/dp/1496719484
or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/two-bites-too-many-debra-h-goldstein/1130055243
.

Again,
I was excited, but my mind was on Jennifer. Would her baby ever arrive? Of
course, on May 31, 2019, Eliza Rose Feld entered the world. As happy and
excited as I was at the other two May deliveries, neither topped Eliza. I’m
over the moon at my third May delivery … and I think it will be a few days
until I come down long enough to write anything that isn’t gibberish. Do you
blame me?

Cranking (Toddler) Tunes

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By Bethany Maines

Many things change after having a baby.  And I have to say that one of the things that
I’m the most sad to see change is the amount of music I listen to.  Baby nap times seem to encompass the whole
dang day! I used to have iTunes running almost constantly.  Not that it wasn’t a battle with my husband
over what to listen to.  No, I don’t want
more Phish.  And there’s only so much
hip-hop and Grateful Dead I can listen to before going insane. (Yes, my husband
is a hippy with a secret love of 90’s R&B. 
He compensates for this deficiency by being ruggedly handsome and having
the miraculous ability to open jars and kill countless spiders.)  
The interesting thing is that, aside from the
specific bands, where my husband I deviate in our musical tastes is an actual
love of music.  He loves music.  Phish, Dave Matthews, the Allman Brothers,
and the Grateful Dead all have one thing common.  OK, take a toke and make that two things –
they’re jam bands.  I hate jam
bands.  It’s just giant swaths of useless
music that take away from the important thing – the lyrics.  I love the words. (Surprised?  Probably not.)  For me, music is like poetry with half the
pretentiousness and way more shake-your-bootiliciousness.  And I like to play it ALL the time
particularly when I’m working.  I find
that music helps put me in the zone for writing and for design.  
But with an in-home office and a baby, it’s
become a lot more difficult to crank the tunes through the work day.  I was excited when the baby hit two and it
became easier to send her to daycare/babysitting and there’s only one nap to
contend with, but it has also meant that she’s tons more verbal.  With a toddler in the house, I don’t feel quite so comfortable
cranking up a few of the songs I love, like Don’t Shoot Me Santa by The Killers.  I am
perfectly prepared to explain that boys have a penis and some people are in
wheelchairs and sometimes boys marry boys and girls marry girls.  But… I am not at all prepared to explain why
Santa is shooting that guy in the song.  I’m
pretty sure I see headphones in my future.
***
Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks!

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By Bethany Maines

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I feel it would be traditional
to catalog the things I’m thankful for. 
Currently, I’m thankful that I don’t have to pee. 
For those of you who aren’t Facebook friends or who missed
the announcement, I am, what the old novels describe as, “in the family
way.”  All the magazines these days
describe it as having a baby bump. 
I describe it as having someone jump up and down on my bladder all day
long.
It is our first foray into parenthood and we’re looking
forward to it.  Clearly, we’re not
looking forward to it as much as our parents and some of our “Auntie”
friends.  Which I figure is only
natural – they get to have all the fun of a baby with none of the actual
work.  My father, in particular,
seems to be laying in stocks of sugary snacks, and cataloging noise making
toys.  He’s taking grandpa-hood
seriously and if this baby girl doesn’t think he’s the awesomest grandpa ever,
it won’t be for lack of a well-organized campaign that includes flanking maneuvers,
propaganda, and bribes. 
Meanwhile, my brother seems to be on permanent rant about
which baby names are “stupid.”  As
far as I can tell he doesn’t like any baby names.  Which is very freeing in the sense that any name my husband
and I pick will obviously fall short of the extremely ridicu… er… lofty rules
my brother seems to have.  Not that
I was planning on obtaining his opinion on a name anyway, but it’s always nice
to know where one stands.
All of which, leaves me feeling extremely grateful. For as
annoying as my friends and family are, well, the fact remains that I have a
whole truck-load of friends and family! How could I be any luckier?  (I could win the lottery.  Just throwing that out there God, in
case you’re listening.)  Tomorrow, I
will be baking pies and trying not to over stuff myself surrounded by people
who love me and will also love my baby. 
And that really, is pretty much the definition of a good thanksgiving.  I can only hope that you out there in
Stiletto land will be as lucky.  And
in appreciation for welcoming me onto your computers I offer up this extremely
simple recipe that has replaced cranberry sauce at our house.
Cranberry Relish
Ingredients:
  • 1 bag cranberries
  • 1 large orange
  • 1 cup sugar

Directions: Place all ingredients in food processor and chop
finely.  You may need to quarter
the orange to fit into the food processor, but you do not need to peel it.  Add more sugar and a touch of cinnamon
if desired.  Keeps for at least 2
weeks in fridge, but it doesn’t usually last that long.  Also great on pancakes and toast.
Bethany Maines is the author of
the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and
Facebook.

How Making A Book Is Like Making A Baby

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By (the almost five months’ pregnant) Susan McBride

I’m following Maggie Barbieri’s lead this week. On Wednesday, she talked about how dieting and writing are linked. Since I’m not dieting (um, quite the opposite) and am lacking in fresh ideas to blog about, I thought I’d discuss how similar pregnancy and writing are. Yes, I’m serious. Not that writing books gives anyone swollen ankles, sleepless nights, or giant bellies (wait a minute, yes, it can!); but there are lots of ways conjuring up a literary baby and creating a human baby are quite alike. 

1) Both take a certain amount of time to gestate. Sure, there are authors who write books in two weeks, but I’m not one of them. And, honestly, does anyone not believe that those authors are aliens? Most of us need a period of months—for some, years—to let an idea percolate and write it up as a proposal with the requisite sample chapter before we present it to our agents (who in turn show our editors). Once we’ve got the thumbs-up (picture getting a plus sign on a pregnancy test stick), we focus on little else but the story, growing it little by little. If we take care of ourselves and don’t do anything reckless, our babies can develop into something viable and real.

2) There are aches and pains along the way. Who hasn’t gotten physical pains while toiling away on their latest opus? Like a backache, stiff neck, or cramp in the calf (or in the brain)? Just like with pregnancy, writing can be hard on the body which is why it’s always good to get plenty of rest and take lots of breaks. (FYI, breaks are those periods when writers get up from their chairs to stretch, vacuum, do laundry, run to the grocery store, break up a fight between cats, call our mothers, and so on.)

3) It’s impossible not to talk about your baby’s progress. Once you feel secure that your baby has progressed to a certain point (say, 100 pages, which we’ll call “the end of the first trimester”), you can’t help gushing to your friends about it. You thrive on encouragement and advice. Yapping about the last chapter you figured out gives you a high, like sharing the news of your baby’s heartbeat. You’re even compelled to gossip about how a secondary character—patterned after your crazy aunt Martha—has become an unapologetic scene stealer. And if you have an author-friend who’s on the same deadline as you, you constantly compare the size of your bump…um, your word count.  Yep, writers and mommies, we’re a competitive lot.

4)  You worry about how your baby will be perceived by the world.  Does any expectant mother not have twinges of anxiety about whether or not her child will do well in life?  Will he or she have friends, be accepted?  It’s the same with a book.  Even during the writing process, you have moments where you think, “Will anyone else appreciate this?  Will it be loved or hated?”  Vicious reviews are like bullies.  Writers–like moms–know they’re out there.  You just have to hope and pray that the meanest ones stay away from your kid.

5) There’s no elation quite like reaching “The End.”  When you’re finally done—when you’ve given that final push—all you want to do is smile…and cry…and sleep…and imagine the day when you’ll see your baby all dressed up in a pretty cover—I mean, in an adorable onesie. You can’t wait to show off your amazing creation everywhere you go and post photos ad nauseum on Facebook. Then you can look back at all the months it took to bring your baby into the world and think, “Yep, it was all worth it.”