Tag Archives: writing

it is done (sorta)

Posted on by
Reply

LOVE SUCKS! the follow up to this year’s debut novel BITE ME! is now sitting in delightful editor’s inbox.

It’s done. Mostly.

This book really did become that piece of meat that you chew and it just keeps growing. And the more you chew, the bigger it gets, and then it becomes a challenge. You become determined to chew that meat and swallow it, even though you would like nothing more than to spit it out and start over.

I started writing yesterday morning at 5:00 AM and I thought I probably had 35 pages or so to get me through to the climatic scene.

Last night, I sent to editor at 10:39 PM…and I had written 52 pages. I have never in my life written that many pages in a day.

This is what I looked like when I went to bed:
Seriously, it was bad. Not the writing, but the feeling. Holy Cow I was tired. And my brains were leaking out of my ears. That was messy.

I’m better today. Much better.

The book is done. EXCEPT for the final wrap up chapter. But I know what’s going to happen, and that won’t take much to write. The hard part is done. Now the fun begins.

Editing and revising. It needs it, but honestly, I can’t wait to dig in. I really love this story (now that it’s finished) and I’m ready to make it as awesome as I am.

BTW I look much better this morning.

TGIF (THANK GOD IT’S FINISHED!)

I see you…

Posted on by
Reply

I had lots of traffic yesterday. You guys must really like reading about dry humping. Of course, who am I kidding? Everyone likes to read about dry humping! And making out in broad daylight!

I would also like to welcome the 9 new readers who googled ‘Melissa Francis nude, naked, and hot.’ I hope you found what you were looking for. Oh wait, you didn’t, but I hope you liked what you found anyway.

And to the person who googled MILF, found my site, then searched my site with terms like ‘jumping MILF’s bones’ and ‘MILF wanted’ and ‘how to seduce a MILF’ let first say, welcome. Then let me tell you, if you’re unsure how to seduce a MILF, I’ll be holding a workshop soon, so stay tuned. Okay, that’s totally a lie. If you don’t know how to seduce a MILF then I can’t help ya buddy.

Yesterday was an “airquote” snow day here in Little Rock. I “airquote” because there was no snow. There was barely any ice. It had all melted by 8:00 and the kids could easily have gone to school. But Little Rock Schools wanted to be preemptive, so they canceled school because the weather dudes were predicted Global Freezing by 1:00 and that we’d be covered in ice ad snow this morning.

Um. Not. So. Much.

It was cold yesterday so I spent the day wrapped up in my Scooby-Doo comfortor and a skull cap. A friend of mine is in LA this week, so I took a pic of myself in my hat and sent it with the message ‘Enjoy the warm weather. I’m freezing.’ (I couldn’t get the Red-Eye correction tool to work, so please ignore my inner demon)

Do you know what I got in return?
‘Don’t worry, I will.’

Nice. Thanks for crushing what was left of my spirit there pal. Good thing I’m so awesome that I can overcome even the meanest of mean.

Hope y’all had a good Tuesday. Back to writing today. I struggled at first, but wound up with a good number of pages again yesterday. This book might get done afterall!

that sound you heard?

Posted on by
Reply

It was not the ‘sonic boom of writing’ like I predicted yesterday. No, it was more like a sonic beep. I kept having to stop for research. And this time, ‘research’ is not a code word for more vodka. (I’m cutting down to 1 day a week until race day. Or at least that’s the plan..) This time, research means research. I had to look up some ancient Celtic symbols, do some important tree research, and I had to figure out where to hide a certain thing in my book. That took some major Winnie the Pooh thinking on my part.

Sometimes writing sucks. Sometimes it’s a big turn on, and sometimes, it’s a big let down. I’m ready for my writing to turn me on again. Honestly, right now, I feel like I’m on a date with a guy who looks good on the outside, but something isn’t quite right with him. So I keep making eyes at the guy across the restaurant (new book idea), because he looks really good to me, and his smile is turning me to goo, and I can picture his hands lifting up my shirt on my face, and his dark eyes staring into mine and all I want is to sigh into him and kick the dude at my table to the curb for being so stupid and try something new.

However, me and my date might be able to come to an understanding pretty shortly. I made a bit of a breakthrough yesterday with my hard earned pages, so I’m thinking my date is about to start showing me who he really is on his own instead of making me work for it. He better hurry up because I have a very short attention span and the guy across the restaurant is looking really, really good right now.

*yawn*

Posted on by
Reply

Writing yesterday was pseudo successful. I fell short of my goal pages for the day, but I also wound up with a few unscheduled hours being taken away from me. Which is life. I knew there would be about 3 hours I couldn’t write, it wound up being about 6 by the end of the day.

So I’m up at the ass crack of dawn today. I just brewed my coffee, checked my emails, and doing this here little blog for you guys (so selfless) then I’m hitting it. I will take a break for a run or to go to the gym (depends on how cold it is today) but other than that, my butt will be firmly planted in my chair, my hands will be on the keyboard, and I will be a writing machine. It will be amazing. The boom you’ll hear will be me, breaking the sound barrier.

date weekend

Posted on by
Reply

I have a date with my computer this weekend. We’re going to be spending a lot of QT together, plotting, storytelling, and maybe even getting on each others’ nerves a bit. But it must be done. So I’m firing up my iTunes, sticking in my headphones and hitting the keyboard. If my computer cooperates, I might even let him go to second base. (especially if iTunes sets the mood by playing some Barry White…)

In the mean time, HobbitGrrl has offered some fantastic marathon advice for n00bs over at FCR. Really great advice. Now I feel at least somewhat prepared for that very scary event, which is only 1 month, 2 weeks, and 5 days away. Not that I’m counting.

If you haven’t been keeping up with my fitness status over at FCR, I’m down 13 lbs, have lost 1 full size, and am now able to run 2 miles on pavement without stopping. Still a long way from 6 but hey, I’ll get there. It’s sure a lot better than the struggling I was doing over my first 60 second run a few months ago. 🙂 Also, I’m finally to the point that I actually want to go workout. This is a new thing for me…I missed a week to let my foot heal and I was really cranky. (I know, know! Who am I and what have I done with the real Mel?) Don’t worry, the real Mel is fine. She’s off on some island with a gaggle of red-heads servicing her every need…

messy

Posted on by
Reply

I’m kind of a mess right now.

Yesterday was a big bust as a writing day. No focus. My brain is in major meltdown mode. And with the Dreadline looming, I really can’t afford a nookular meltdown of the brain.

Today I have lunch plans with my old high school boyfriend. If I remember, I’ll get a pic and maybe I’ll even post some then and now pictures. Or not. We’ll see. I had a mullet back then. Not sure I’m feeling brave enough to prove it. Ahhh, 1984–how I miss thee.

One of my best friends from college is also in town this week. Plus I’m supposed to do my annual opening day at Oaklawn on Friday with the girls. I’ve set a writing goal to meet by Friday so I can go, so I better get busy. I haven’t missed opening day in 8 years or so? Can’t blow it this year.

I have no idea what my blogs will be like this week. Could be a plenty or my little website could resemble a ghost town. We’ll see. Got any topic ideas you wanna suggest? Who knows, maybe they’ll spark my thinking cap.

It’s Monday, so I’m also over at Fictionistas today. Pop by.

launching into the week

Posted on by
Reply

Last week was a busy one. I started a new job, plowed toward the deadline for LOVE SUCKS, worked out 5 days, pretended to be a mother on a couple of days, blogged, went to a party, and worked on a new batch of mojo. Seriously, I am amazing.

Dunno if you’ve been keeping up with my exercising progress at Fat Chicks Running or not, but I’ve been steadily increasing my distance and trying to stop worrying about how fast I’m running. I talked to a couple last night who have been running for 20+ years and they both hammered it into me–what matters is how far you go, not how long it takes you to get there. Fine. Fine. Fine. It’s really hard for me not to try to go faster because of the uber competitive side of my nature. (Which has apparently been dormant for a while but is now back with a vengeance!) So I’m just trying to do slow and steady. I’ve got a long way to go before I can run a 10k. Honestly, I think I still have a long way to go before I can run a 5K. I can walk both (probably faster than I can run them) but I can’t run them…not yet.

I feel great though. I’m down an entire size in a month even though I’ve only lost 12 lbs. Probably because I’m lifting weights as well as running. My legs are freaking rocks right now (well, my thighs are rocks under a large layer of fat…but still…rock baby!) I bought a book called The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I haven’t started reading it yet because I’ve been head down in writing, but I plan to break it out and start reading this week.

Something I’ve noticed since I started really working out daily, I now look forward to it. Never thought that would happen to me. Something kinda just clicked about 2 weeks ago and my mindset changed. Instead of cussing my way through the 45 minutes on the elliptical, I was just doing it. And thinking. Or not thinking (which is really nice. My mind never seems to shut down, so I totally embrace anything that gives it a break.) It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the day now. Yes, I said it. Write it down. And remind me of that if I fall off the wagon again.

One thing I know I’m not doing right is eating enough. I think I’m only taking in about 1000 calories a day, and I know I need more, but I can’t seem to make myself eat more now. But I don’t want my body to adjust to such a low calorie intake. Not sure how to work that one out yet. I did allow myself a junk food lunch yesterday, and while the cheese dip was good, it wasn’t all that. Guess my mindset really is changing.

This week should be very similar to last week. Writing, working, running, mothering, blogging, lunching, and mojoing. You got your week figured out yet? Happy Sunday!

sunday morning

Posted on by
Reply

*crickets*

Yeah, I pretty much got nuttin’.

Am head down working today. Will go to the gym at some point. I start a part-time job tomorrow, so I have to really focus on writing when I’m at home.

Y’all have a good one. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to enjoy my new music and write. See y’all tomorrow!

✌