Lovers of chick literature flew to their favorite coop — Brook Hollow Golf Club —on Friday, April 24, for Community Partners of Dallas’ Chick Lit Luncheon. Early birds like Honorary Chair Carol Seay, Robyn Flatt, Holly Davis, Anne Stodghill, Presenting Sponsor Lara Tafel, Dee Simmons, Simona Beal and Danya Anderson arrived for the VIP champagne reception. One face that was new to the flock was author-du-jour/keynote speaker Stacey Ballis.
While she may have been a bit overwhelmed by the room, that situation changed dramatically when she spotted her mom Elizabeth Ballis and sister Deborah Ballis Hirt, who had flown in from Chicago to surprise her.
But that wasn’t the only surprise of the day. No, the brunette with the long ponytail had something up her bolero shrug sleeve.
Some in the room might have tried to compare Stacey to last year’s speaker Julia Reed. Unlike the red-haired Southerner, who worked the room like a candidate launching an election, Stacey seemed more laid-back and comfortable chatting quietly with one or two. Those deciding that Stacey might not have the same impact as Julie would soon learn they were so terribly off center.
But first they joined the rest of the hundreds in the ballroom, veranda and Oak Room for the welcome by Event Chair Wendy Messmann and the presentation of the Partners For Children Award to the Orix Foundation. CPD Executive Director Paige McDaniel then told of her dream to become a backup singer for someone like David Cassidy. Her dream did not come true. Then she spoke of the 20,000 children served by CPD, who have a dream. But there are those whose dreams end up as nightmares. Natalia was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend for 13 months, starting at the age of six. As a teenager Makalia was repeatedly raped by her stepfather and her family refused to believe her. When she ended up in protective care, she was so depressed she ended up cutting herself. Still another girl, who was sexually abused by her grandfather, would call out to her grandfather to come to her when she heard her little sisters crying out at his abuse.
These stories of abuse led into a description of “The Heart Program,” in which children and non-offending family members receive treatment. In each of the cases of the above-described abuse, The Heart Program assisted in their recovery.
After the call-out for funding was met, Paige reminded the crowd of the October 15th Stiletto Strut this fall benefiting CPD.
It was then time for Stacey, and the real Stacey came out. First she won the entire group to her side by taking a picture of the beautiful audience. Everyone smiled, of course. Then she thanked individuals and the group for having her. She told how surprised she was that her mom and sister had flown in. Originally, Stacey had planned on Chick Lit author vet Jen Lancaster to pop in, but Jen was waylaid by an Achilles tendon rupture requiring surgery. Finally, she did a “shout out” to the men in the room.
Then she launched into a story about her entry into authorship. After teaching high school for four years, she shifted to theater, went through a divorce and decided that she might try her hand at “chick literature.” So she went to Barnes and Noble and bought every book with a pink cover or a shoe. Upon reading the books, she got mad because they all said that if only they could be thin they could get a guy and be happy.
This anger fueled her into writing a short story that ended up 400 pages, about a women who was a size 24 and had seconds for desserts. Stacey’s reward was a two-book deal. Eventually in 2007 she was able to leave her full-time job at the Goodman Theater in Chicago to focus on writing.
In discussing her writing, she admitted that since she writes at home, she tends to let things distract her from her getting on with her assignments. Straightening closets, alphabetizing spice jars, having lunch with friends, anything that can put off the task of writing. That is until the deadline is on top of her and then it’s an all-out mission. It goes like this: The first two months she pats herself on the back for getting a book deal; she writes the first chapter of the book really fast and “that makes me feel good and I take some time off”; then she writes the first half of the book in five or six months; and the final two months are spent writing the rest of the book 24 hours a day and letting her husband fend for himself.
Stacey admitted that her books were different from the typical chick-lit reads. Her characters had to be normal or on the high side of weight. None of them are self-loathing or undesirable.
Another unique angle for Stacey’s books is how food plays a part. Characters are involved in some aspect of food. This resulted in her developing “foodie fiction,” which include recipes in the back of her books.
Her recipes have been such a hit that she came out with “Big Delicious,” a digital cookbook with 150 recipes. In the fall a for-real cookbook is coming out.
During the Q&A, Stacey admitted that during the writing process, her characters will often do things that shock even her. At times she just feels like she’s not writing as much as channeling her characters. As for the endings, she doesn’t necessarily have everything tied up in a nice, tight bow, but they are hopeful. In every book, there is a nod or reference to a main character in a previous book.
When asked what her favorite snack was, she admitted that being a Type 2 diabetic and being on a weight-loss program requires that she write down everything she eats. Her back-in-the-day guilty-pleasure snacks used to include potato chips dipped in cottage cheese — “I know. So gross. But they have to be the wavy ones… Now, my snacks are just kind of weird. Every week I roast a big bunch of sweet potatoes, like really over roast them at 400 degrees for two hours until they practically mush. So, it’ll be 3 o’clock in the afternoon and I’ll have a sweet potato. Just heat it in the microwave and pretend that it’s pie… The only other one that I’ll tell about because my mother and sister are in the room and if I don’t say it out loud they’ll tell people is I used to love and actually still do love a plain bagel spread with butter and, uh, dill pickles. And I’ve never been pregnant.”
Stacey reported that her goal is to make the women sound real, so if you don’t want to be her, you want to know her. After the lunch, there was no doubt that Stacey had a ballroom full of BFF.
Paige McDaniel says
What a great report, MSC! Thank you for being there and for talking about the kiddos and the chicks — it was a glorious day and your laser-sharp writing recalled it all!