Skip to main content

Interview with Kimberly Stuart

Captain's Log, Stardate 09.17.2007
Today I have an interview with mom lit author Kimberly Stuart about her latest novel, Bottom Line!

Heidi Elliott has joined the elite ranks of stay-at-home moms--a world of cartoons, toys, and a significant lack of grown-up conversation. When her husband's business experiences financial problems, Heidi decides to take a part-time job selling lingerie with her new (and very well-off) friends, Kylie and Russ Zimmerman. But in juggling the competing demands of home and high fashion, Heidi discovers that Kylie's faith may lack authenticity, while Russ's concept of marriage may lack fidelity. And with a precocious toddler distracting her--not to mention the niggling idea of having another!--she finds herself torn between living comfortably and standing on her principles.

Irreverent and entertaining (how can motherhood be anything but?), Heidi Elliott's happily chaotic world is filled with colorful characters, including a clog-wearing legalist, a best friend who skips town to travel the globe, and a sassy four-year-old who always says whatever she wants. Bottom Line provides a humorous and knowing look at a mom's life.






And now, here’s me and Kimberly!

How did you come up with the storyline for Bottom Line?

I like to think about what can happen when you put a well-adjusted, mostly sane character in nutty situations. I had grown to really like Heidi from her experiences in Balancing Act but wanted to see what she’d do with a sassy preschooler, a tight budget, and a multilevel marketing scheme. Add in that she’d sell “Christian” lingerie, and I had the nuts and bolts for a good story.

Bottom Line is comedic fiction. It’s supposed to make you laugh, preferably until something starts to hurt. But I also wanted a story that could tease out questions about more serious subjects, like body image, legalism in the church, the under-appreciation of stay-at-home parents. So when I’m thinking of a story, I want the possibility to take the reader on a journey of both laughter and poignancy. My mother assures me that in Bottom Line, I most certainly DID. All responses to the contrary can be directed to her.

If your heroine, Heidi, were a pet, what would she be, what would her name be, and why?

Heidi would definitely be a beagle named Bennett. A beagle because I’m pining for one but can’t quite take the plunge until my children are old enough to utilize the poop scoop with confidence. And Bennett because my husband is convinced this is the best name for a dog. It was the name of our air conditioning repairman this summer, a man we all grew to know and love, and my husband just won’t let it go. Poor Heidi would have some gender issues with a man’s name, but let’s not get into that.

You might or might not know that I LOVE FOOD. What’s your favorite place to eat in Des Moines and why? (And no, you can’t say McDonald’s because of their kiddie play area.)

Well. I’m so pleased you asked this question because I, too, am fond of food. Sometimes I fear I like it too much and would happily neglect more important things, such as my children, good hygiene, or fire safety, were there the opportunity to consume a bittersweet chocolate lava cake, for example. In Des Moines, I highly recommend Sage, which offers fresh and inspired seasonal cuisine all year round. The last time I was there, Marc and I shared selections from their summer tapas menu, all of which made me do internal backflips of joy. I also love Centro (great flatbread pizzas), Tandoor (fantastic Indian food, as well as a hummus good enough to make one’s eyes roll back into one’s head), and Café Su (delicious Chinese food in our historic Valley Junction neighborhood). My children love the tacos at Panchero’s. Homemade tortillas, people. Can you blame them?

So now when you’re visiting Des Moines to see the butter cow at the Iowa State Fair, to visit the Science Center of Iowa with your kids (very clean restrooms), or to participate in the bloodbath that is the Iowa caucus season, you’ll know where to go fill your belly.

If your children were desserts, what would each be and why?

Ana (nearly five) would be a flourless chocolate espresso cake with raspberry sauce. Perfect balance of sweet, depth, and sauce. Mitchell (nearly two) would be a warm toffee cake right out of the oven with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream. He’s the cuddler and one who can make you melt. He also tends to be sticky, for reasons I usually cannot explain.

You’re off the hot seat! Any parting words?

Thanks for the interview, Camy! And thanks for reading, Mom! Go ahead and click to http://www.kimberlystuart.com/ and drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you!

Camy here: Thanks for being here with us, Kimberly!

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

Free Christian Romantic Suspense Novels by Camy Tang / Camille Elliot

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...

Meet the Dashing Spy on the Cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 3

If you enjoy clean historical suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of danger, you’ll love my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series! It’s a multi-volume Christian Regency serial following a group of unlikely aristocrats battling a dangerous conspiracy in 1811 London. Today, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite covers in the series— Volume 3: Aggressor. Who is that handsome gentleman? The model on the cover represents Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, one of my main characters. This clever spy with a tortured past finally gets the cover spotlight in this volume, which is one of my favorite covers because the model is so handsome. 😄 I absolutely love this cover model! His name is Anatolii and here’s the original stock photo . It was really tough to try to decide which photo to use for the cover! It was a tossup between him and the main heroine, Miss Phoebe Sauber, for the cover for book 1, but I eventually went with Phoebe. Then in book 2, he was kind of...