Michelle Miles: How popular are you?

Photo courtesy Zimbio.Com

A few days ago, my son (who is 11) and I were running a few errands. One of the stops was the post office in which I was mailing a box of swag and a free book as well as an envelope with some swag. He held up the envelope and asked if that was bookmarks. I said yes and that they were for a reader.

Then the conversation went like this:

"Mom, how popular are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"In your book stuff. How popular are you?"

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. "I’m pretty much a nobody, son."

He didn’t seem to believe me. "But on a scale of 1 to 100, how popular are you?"

I laughed again. I guess to him I am SUPER popular because I have books and talk about writing pretty much 24/7. I’m sure my husband and son are sick of me. It’s all consuming. Just ask them. Poor guys.

When I didn’t respond, he said, "Like...are you a 60 or an 80?"

Bless his little heart. He thinks I’m that popular. I muttered, "More like a 20."

And then we had a long discussion about genre fiction. One of his questions was, "Why don’t you write science fiction or fantasy, Mom?"

I think that’s a sign, don’t you?

TIME FOR SOME TEASERS - by Kathy Ivan

Well, here it is late July and lots of romance authors are swarming Anaheim as I write this post. The Romance Writers of America's annual convention is taking place this week. Industry professionals, published and aspiring romance writers all together under one roof. It gives a whole new meaning to "Magic Kingdom."

For those of us who didn't make the trek out to Nationals, I think its time to share some snippets of our current stories with our readers. You don't have to be a Princess to post up to ten (10) lines from your current story. Give your fellow romance aficionados' a glimpse of where the muse is taking you.

In the comment section, give your name, the genre of the story, its working title, and NO MORE THAN ten (10) lines. Just a brief moment of magic to whet our appetites for more.

I'll start us off below.