She even dedicated a whole blog to me. Well, to me and The Boss. And the Traveling Wilburys. But mostly to me, because that’s the way I choose to see it. I like looking at things through Mel colored glasses. Everyone should get a pair.
Go see what she’s saying. Who knew me receiving the testimony that is Bruce Springsteen would evoke such passion? I’ve apparently been missing out. I ♥ my friends.
It used to be that I hated mornings. It was physically painful to open an eye and pull off the covers. Just five more minutes was my mantra. Sometimes, if I had to pee bad enough, I’d run to the bathroom, take care of business and jump back into bed.
I’ve discovered lately that this is my favorite time of the day. It’s hauntingly quiet, which is very unusual for this house–and a very welcome sound. Lately I’ve been rolling out of bed somewhere between 4 AM and 6 AM. And sure, I struggle at first to wake up, but once I do, Sally bar the door. (Okay, does anyone know who this Sally person is and why she was picked to bar the door in that cliche? Just curious)
After coffee is ready, I’ll sit down to blog. Pop onto Facebook and Twitter. Check email. Check my overnight stats (there are some naughty googlers out there late at night. And loads of people looking to become a MILF. That’s my goal. Y’all need to just stay away. There’s only room for one future MILF in the blogosphere, and that bitch is me. Just sayin’.) Anyway, I take care of the incidentals before I start working. I plug in my headphones, pick out the music for the day, or for the moment, or for the scene and get going.
Speaking of music, I received 3 CDs in the mail yesterday. I have a friend who is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and I’ve honestly never cared one way or another for the Boss. There were a couple of songs of his that I always liked, but he was never an artist that I followed. Well, I suppose that must’ve been blasphemous to the Boss Addict so he sent me 3 CDs with 46 songs on them. (that’s a lot of songs btw. And he says he has 250! Holy Crapoly! THAT’s a lot of songs by one artist.)
I listened all day as I wrote. There were a couple of songs that really grabbed me. That were very powerful. Some that left me feeling very sad. Some that were just okay. But over all, the CDs were a big Win in my book. Except for the song That. Would. Not. End. 16 minutes was just a little much for me. (Sorry, A. Just too much for my busy little brain.)It was a live performance and Springsteen did a little preaching to the audience. Sure it was about Sexual Healing and possibly even a Naughty River, but let me tell ya, it still felt like a tent revival. But the first 5 minutes of the song was good. You know, the part where he was actually singing? Yeah, I liked that part.
Today, I’m going to have another listen to the songs I really liked. (I do that. I’m totally a Repeat Offender. I have no trouble listening to 1 song for hours. I know, you want to shoot me. Sorry.) There are a couple I think will fit nicely into my LOVE SUCKS! playlist. Which is good, since today is all about the writing.
Happy Saturday! You got plans?
ETA:
Today’s card from the Universe
Was browsing The Universe this morning, saw this, and wanted to share.
Everyone knows one of my goals in life is to be Stifler’s Mom aka a MIL
F.
Last night, I was asked how I would know when I reached MILF status and I said, “I don’t have a clue, but surely I’ll get there.”
His response: “You need SMART goals for your MILF ambitions.”
WTF? SMART goals?
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound
Okay, that’s just a little too sciencey for me and my goal of becoming a cougar. So I said, “That’s so sciencey. Can’t I just know when I get there?”
“How will you know? When one of your kids’ friends slaps you on the tushy?” (and yes, he said tushy. I thought about changing it to ass but decided to leave it in there because that’s funny as shit.)
LMAO. Yes, that’s exactly how I will know. Or when I read a text message that says, “Dude, your mom is hot.”
Instant MILF.
But his suggestion got me to thinking, is there a way to develop Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals for becoming a MILF?
C’mon gang! Let’s explore!
So what do you think? Is it possible to apply science to such an unscientific goal? Is there such a thing as over-thinking?(yes)
How do you think I’ll know when I’ve achieved MILF. Will I ever know?
Taking bets now–will I EVER make it to MILF?
I love blogging. I always try to do it first thing in the morning, before I’ve had time to really wake up. I blog about whatever pops into my head and I rarely preplan. Preplanning makes it feel more like an essay and less like a conversation.
(though I will admit to preplanning for tomorrow. I have a busy day and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to fit it all in! And I hate missing Monday blogs.)
Blogging really fulfills the social butterfly part of my life. I need communication, attention (surprised?), stimulation, and challenges. And laughter. I need a lot of laughter. And sometimes, I crack myself up and I have to tell someone who will appreciate it.
So I tell the Universe. Cuz surely someone out there gets me.
That’s actually a pretty cool feeling. Knowing that no matter what I say, someone out there will get it. They’ll relate to it, laugh at it, shake their head…whatever. They’ll get it. They’ll get me. And this will keep me from having Schizophrenic Conversations inside my own head. 🙂 (I bet I could work a Staind song into every blog post if I wanted to. LOL)
Some people think of blogging as a marketing tool–they don’t enjoy it. They do it because they want to promote their work. Even if I had nothing to promote, I think I would keep blogging. It keeps my mind mostly clutter free. (Okay, that’s not true, but maybe one day it will be).
I love the internet. I’ve actually made some of my really good friends online. Between email, blogging twittering, online writing groups and now FACEBOOK I am online constantly. Good thing I can multitask…
Facebook is a funny creature. I’ve found a lot of friends, old and new on FB. I enjoy reading status updates, hi-jacking comment threads, stalking spying quietly a few people that I like to know about but don’t necessarily want to interact with all the time.
Enter yesterday. I get a message from a ‘new’ FB friend asking if I have wireless internet. Now, I’ve never met this FB friend face-to-face before, but he’s best friends with a good friend of mine, so I didn’t think anything about it. Pat is a Psychiatrist and he was in town visiting his wife’s family. Apparently his in-laws are still on dial up and Pat needed to refil some prescriptions for a couple of patients. He went to Starbucks but couldn’t get logged on. So he contacted me.
And then my virtual world became reality. LOL
It was good to meet him. Nice guy. Apparently he reads my blog. LOL That’s two people in a week that I’d never met before who read my blog. That’s kinda cool. We had a good time chatting. He told me a few stories about our mutual friend, packed up his stuff and headed back to Camp In-Laws.
What did we do before cell phones and social networking? Does anyone remember actually holding a real conversation?
Have a good weekend, y’all! Any big plans?
I actually blogged over at Fat Chicks Running this morning. I don’t often do Sunday blogs, so you better not miss out!
How’s your weekend been so far? Fishdog and I have a party to go to this afternoon and another one on Tuesday. Aren’t we just the social butterflies? I was so tired yesterday after the week of cleaning and Friday night’s throw down, so I just chilled. Went to lunch with some writing friends, ran carpool, went to the gym, came home and had wine for dinner. Oh yeah, it was great. Also watched a few of movies that always make me feel good. 16 Candles, Elf, and The Wedding Planner. I was asleep by 10:00 and am thrilled to announce, I pretty much slept through the night.
Yay me!
Have a happy Sunday, y’all! See ya mañana!
You know how I know I’m getting old? I can’t seem to sleep past 6:30 a.m. no matter what time I go to bed. Hmph.
So last night, we had a combo birthday-party-slash-reunion-slash-holiday gathering at Chez Francis. Fishdog invited loads of his friends from elementary and high school as well as our regular peeps.
It was a fun night. I was exhausted by the time it was over, and kicked folks out around 1:00. (sorry guys. You were welcome to stay–Fishdog was up for a while, so you could’ve kept him company. but my tired ass was ready for some zzzzzz’s)
Favorite part of the night? Meeting an old friend of Fishdog’s, who is an artist living in Paris, who also reads my blog. He entered the house like a whirling dervish, all energy and smiles. And as soon as Fishdog introduced us, Marcus hugged me and said (exclaimed with gusto), “I read you blog! So when do we get to the boob shots?” Ah yes. the cleavage shots. I love being famous for my ‘Who’s Tits Are These’ pics from conferences and parties. LOL!
You’ll be sad to know, there were no cleavage shots last night. Sorry guys. There were children present. Even I have a small amount of dignity.
Anyway, Marcus is awesome and I wanted to wrap him up and put him under my tree for Christmas. Please Mom? Can I keep him? Please check his website out, he’s a very talented artist and really an amazing guy. Also, he was the only one at the party last night who could claim to have a tall, dark and handsome French boyfriend. (I saw pictures. Trust me when I say tall, dark and handsome.) I wanted to hate him a little for that, but his charm and energy won me over. (And Gabrielle, if you ever get a chance to meet Marcus, I give you permission to play with him, but you do not get to keep him all to yourself. I heart him.) I’m still trying to figure out how I can convince him to let me wrap him up and open him for Christmas…
I think a good time was had by all. Pics below–why don’t you judge for yourself?
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired! This was a long, emotional, stressful week. And now I have to clean my house because I’m having a little get together tomorrow night with my BFF from high school and my 2 college roommates.
Damn you dirt! Why you keep stalking me?
My stat counter has been a busy beaver lately. I’d like to welcome everyone from AIG, AG Edwards, Merrill Lynch and all the other financial institutions searching for the other Melissa Francis–the CNBC reporter. Also, to all the gossip mongers who are searching for “Melissa Francis naked,” “Melissa Francis boyfriend,” “Melissa Francis married,” “Melissa Francis breasts” I hope you’ve found what you’re searching for. There are no pics of reporter Melissa Francis here–naked or otherwise. And yes there are a few cleavage shots here and there on this blog, but none belong to her. She seems to be much more dignified than I am. (I’ve even been accused of being vulgar. *gasp! shock!*) But I appreciate your visit and I hope you’ll stop by again. 🙂
Writing report: I brutally cut a chapter yesterday and started over. I was totally stuck and finally realized I wasn’t writing the right stuff. So I just CUT it. Snip. Just like that. And the words started flowing a little easier yesterday afternoon. Here’s hoping that continues.
I’m anxiously awaiting cover information for BITE ME! My editor emailed a couple of weeks ago after she and the art director discussed the concept. I was so thrilled because it was almost EXACTLY as I had always pictured my cover. Now I’m dying to see if that concept remained or if they tried it and it didn’t work and they moved on to something else.
Covers are funny because what marketing decides will sell might not be at all what the author likes or envisioned. And the author has no choice in the matter. Sure they can give their opinion, but the fact is, the final decision belongs to the publisher. So as an author, you just keep your fingers crossed that you love (or even sorta like) the cover you’re given because, guess what? It doesn’t matter. It’s yours to keep.
I have to say, I’m not really worried I won’t like the cover because Harper has done a fantastic job with their YA covers overall…so I have every expectation of being very happy.
Okay, I’ve randomly discussed all sorts of things in this post. Now I’m going to wrap it up and get back to writing. Y’all stop by FatChicksRunning! today to see how my 3rd run went this week.
Have a great weekend!
I’m not quite over the fact that yesterday I announced that I was a Fat Chick (chances are you knew that, but for some reason me saying it makes it feel like I’ve suddenly taken the filter off your eyes and you’re seeing me AS I REALLY AM FOR THE FIRST TIME!)
It burns! Look away!!
Not only that…I also announced, IN WRITING, that I was planning to start training for the Little Rock Half Marathon. And you all saw it.
As a matter of fact, according to my stats on FatChicksRunning.com, a lot of people saw it. I guess it’s too late to take it back.
Crap.
Fine. I won’t take it back. But I will say that maybe you should be worried about my sanity because right now I’m on deadline for LOVE SUCKS! and I’m shopping a new proposal (Ironically, it’s very closely related to the whole ‘fat chick’ thing I’ve got going) and I’m also contemplating returning to the workforce until we sell the house in Oxford. Oh, and then there’s the holidays… and since I’m doing this training…I won’t be drinking booze for a while.
I better damn well get big fat endorphin high off this running thing, that’s all I’m saying.
Gee Mel? Glutton for punishment much?
Have you got big plans this weekend. I’m going to my friend’s house tonight for some chili and booze (it’s my last hurrah) Bitchy Burns better be ready for me…
Bitchin' Fiction: Musings by author Melissa McKenzie / Melissa Francis 