Shellie Ross Updates Blog

Leave Shellie Alone!

Shellie Ross, the mother that tweeted 74 times on the day her son drowned and from 5:17 until 5:22 & then stopped @ 5:23 when her 11 y/o called 911 to report Shellie's 2 year old son was found unresponsive in the pool- and then - 34 minutes later - tweeted to the people she is most connected to (over 5,000 Retail Stores, outlets, and MommyBloogers (which is code for 'stayathome moms that park their kids in front of TV's, score free merchandise for tweeting, and rages on any woman that works outside the home and/or actually spends quality time with her children')tweeted from a hospital that her son had fallen in the pool (she later removed the tweets she posted @ 5:22 and the tweet or her son drowning) - has posted a new BLOG - and I'll sum it up for you:

LOOK AT ME!! (AGAIN)
STOP LOOKING AT ME!!!!

But the real story is that the MommyBloggers have turned their attention on really SERIOUS HEINOUS CRIMES:

OMG! MADISON McGRAW is a PEN NAME (see my pen name post)
OMFG! MADISON McGRAW likes REGIS AND KELLY!!
OMFFG! MADISON McGRAW wears LOW CUT SHIRTS!!!

And here, I'll give you some other really dirty stuff to run with: I watch ELF even when it's not the Christmas season. And I laugh EVERY TIME.

I get teary eyed when everyone starts rushing in George Bailey's house at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.

I FKING LOVE WEGMANS. And chick flicks. And country music.

I am happy.

I over use ! and - and ( ).

I like to write long sentences. Really long. (see above)

I have relationships I have failed, people I have disappointed, ideas I didn't see through, jobs I have quit.

So, if those things make me evil and horrible - so be it.

One thing I know is, I haven't lost a child because I was updating my Twitter status.

So, call me anything you like.

Just don't call me Shellie Ross.

And with that - I'm done with this story. Because if the world doesn't give a shit that a 2 year old died a senseless meaningless death b/c his mom couldn't tear herself away from her online friends and she continues to remain online - then why should I?

ps-leaving shitty Reviews on Amazon for my books doesn't bother me. You MommyBloggers are so Mean Girls! Only older and haggard. With Coupons. LOTS and LOTS of coupons.

Shellie Ross Continues To Twitter After Death Of Son

ABC News reports that Shellie Ross was tweeting about the fog rolling in and her chickens going back to the coop while 911 was called by her middle son @ 5:23 to report that his 2 year old brother was floating in the pool. Ambulance arrives at 5:38 to find child in cardiac arrest. At 6:12 pm Shellie tweeted and asked for prayers for her son. She had been tweeting from 8:37 in the morning, right on thru while her son fell into the pool, and continued to tweet even after his death - which I find ironic because maybe if she wasn't tweeting, her son might still be alive.

Shellie Ross's tweets on 12/14 during the hour her son died leading up to her Byrson Ross's death are as follows:

Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool
6:12 PM Dec 14th from Echofon (she removed this from her Twitter stream on 12/16)

(5:38 Ambulance arrives to find child in cardiac arrest)

(at 5:23, ABC news Reports 911 was called by 11 year old son to report 2 year old son floating in pool)

Fog is rolling in thick scared the birds back in the coop
5:22 PM Dec 14th from Echofon (removed from Twitter Stream on 12/15)

@themorrisbunch yep almost 30 total these are my oldest ones 4 roos the rest girls http://twitpic.com/tjd9e
5:21 PM Dec 14th from Echofon in reply to themorrisbunch
Reply

Now they are all coming out to see what I am doing http://twitpic.com/tjd1d
5:19 PM Dec 14th from Echofon

One of our roosters looking out at me tonight http://twitpic.com/tjcsk
5:18 PM Dec 14th from Echofon

My dogs caught and flipped a tourtoise on it's back, seems to be fine though http://twitpic.com/tjcoi
5:17 PM Dec 14th from Echofon

Between the hours of 8:37 a.m. and 5:22 p.m (her first and last before son was found drowned in pool) she tweeted 74 times.

If a babysitter had been tweeting all day long while in charge of a 2 year old and he drowned while she was tweeting, I doubt that the parents would say, "It's okay, the babysitter feels guilty - we'll let it go."

After this tragedy, Shellie Ross has spoken and continued to Tweet, calling people assholes, hoping they rot in hell...but not once has she said, "I take full responsibility and I wish I could take that day back. I feel horrible and am so, so, sorry."

But then again, even if she did say that, I guess actions speak louder than words. And her actions leading up to and after her son's death speak volumes. She was twittering while her child died and she continues to Twitter, telling people to "Go Get Bent" and "Fuc* Tards."

If your child died because you were twittering, wouldn't that be the LAST place on earth you'd want to return to? If this was such a terrible time and you wanted people to 'leave you alone' why wouldn't you at least make your Twitter stream private?
I have no doubt it's only days before Ms. Ross appears for interviews and of course, people are already setting up donations.

Why aren't people asking more questions about this? Do people not care about children and their safety at all? Who is looking out for children?

If I were her husband, I'd rip her computer and iPhone right from her hands and toss it out the window.

No lessons have been learned by Shellie Ross. Nor society that continues to defend her instead of holding her accountable.

Pen Names, Passions, and Protecting Children

Author Dean Koontz has authored books using these names: David Axton, Leonard Chris, Brian Coffey, Deanna Dywer and 5 other names.

Nora Roberts writes mysteries and uses the name J.D. Robb to write romances.

Authors that write in different genres often use different names in order to avoid confusing and/or disappointing readers.

My first book, written under the name Madison McGraw - was a mystery-Justify the Means. My second book (short story e-book written specifically for the Kindle) was a ghost story/spoof.

I had a small following, and those that read Justify the Means always asked when I was going to do a follow up - they seemed to love the character of Detective Maggie Bennigan.

And though I love a good mystery, my true passion is FOOD.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jeremy Roenick's (Former Flyer) manager-Craig Conley for drinks, sat in on a pitch meeting with him with a producer from VS, and have an opportunity to talk about marketing - Jeremy Roenick is one of the few NHL hockey players that also had an off air "personality" so to speak.

And it took a hockey marketing/manager to make me realize that what I really loved was food - I take pictures of our food whenever we go out, I love to cook and bake, I swoon over bacon and butter and nothing makes me happier than filling the house with the scent of bread rising in the oven.

So,as any author knows, it takes a while for ideas to simmer. And in my case, I wanted to take baby steps in a new direction instead of giant leaps like I usually take.

I slowly began to experiment with pseudonymous and ideas for a new series (I wanted it to be lighthearted, fun, and full of FOOD). There have been stops and starts, and lucky for my dog, many long walks, because that's where I find my new ideas or try and work out the kinks.

I'm in Independent author, and I choose to be. Justify the Means was almost picked up by Penguin, but they wanted to change the antagonist, give him a past and make him a victim, and the whole point of the book (which is about protecting children)would have lost the point I was trying to make.

I spent many times wondering if I'd made a mistake in not going with an agent/publisher, but after following what is occurring in the United States in both publishing and business, I'm quite glad the only people I have to worry about pleasing are my readers and myself. 9 times out of 10 - authors do all the work and receive very little in return -an author makes 1.00 for every 25.99 book he/she sells -mosts of his profits go to agents/publishers/retailers/distribution AND he/she has little control over title/cover/etc.

I've read that 2010 and the next few years after that will be the year of the Independents, the Entrepreneur,the small business.

People are tired of working for companies that don't care. Musicians are fleeing their record labels and starting their own - having more control over their profits and creativity.

And so, yes, Madison McGraw is the pen name I used when I was growing my writing fingers - when I just started out, when I was writing mysteries (and the pen name I will use if I decide to bring back Maggie Bennigan).

And over the past few months, I've been working on creating a new persona for a genre that I call Foodie Fiction. There are many mystery writers that use food in their books, but I want to write more of a chick-lit style book - and - as of this moment, I've created Moxie Baker,Sugar Hollow Harbor, and a bakery called Sadie Cake Cafe. In Sugar Hollow, you'll find sweetness in the darkness and Sadie Cake Cafe is run by 2 sisters - rumored to know exactly what it is you're craving (in life as well as food). And Moxie Baker, well, she is the person narrating the stories, a woman that has escaped her life and run toward simplicity and immersed herself in her passion - food - and in turn discovered the love of community and that anything is possible if you believe in yourself.

The Moxie Baker pen name is strictly about food and fiction - it's light hearted and fun and will never take life too seriously. It's what fiction is meant to be - a total escape.

It's a work in progress - something I wasn't keen on launching until the 1st of January. But - alas - I have been "outed."

Does having two pen names make me crazy? Well, if Nora Robers, Dean Koontz (and Stephen King, C.S. Lewis, Lousia May Alcott and many many others) are considered crazy, then I guess I'm in good company.

So if you're into food and/or fiction, please feel free to follow me on Twitter @FoodieFiction

and if you're local in the Bucks County/Montgomery County PA area, please feel free to follow me @MoxieBaker it's a dedicated account for tweeting about local places/events.

And finally, the reason why I became so interested in the drowning death of Bryson Ross and his mother's tweeting about half an hour later, is because I really do believe that we, as a society, need to collectively protect and look out for children. Very few are questioning the fact that Shellie Ross (Twitter @Military_Mom) spent the whole day of 12/14/09 tweeting from the time she woke (8:37) about decorating her tree and taking pictures of her roosters and posting them, and then at 5:22 she mentions the fog rolling in and at 6:12 she tweets that people should pray, her son was found in the pool. Posts which she later removed, but have been seen by reporters and police as well as many of the Twitter community.

At the very least, I hope to see an investigation as to if this mother was negligent. If you read her twitter time lines - she was on almost every minute of the morning and afternoon - and for anyone that has a two year old, you'll know those are their most active times.

If we don't ask questions (was the mother negligent, did she spend too much time on Twitter, could her son still be alive, did she use his death for attention) and don't seek answers - then we all contribute to the death of Bryson Ross, we are all guilty for not seeking to make sense of this and learning how it might be avoided in the future.


***Oh, and as for the not turning on the comment section of my blogs - anyone that has been following me for a long time knows that I never have, and I never will.