I’m head down in my manuscript today.
I blogged about Books to TV/Movie over at Ficitonistas. Pop by and chime in.
See y’all tomorrow.
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Tag Archives: writing
end of the week report
Mac is back. She’s a little tired from being worked on and having her 80 gig hard drive replaced with a 120 gig hard drive, but she’s happy. I still haven’t gotten her completely set up–the internetz connection keeps disappearing for no apparent reason. That happened when I first brought Mac home, so I know it’s a setting issue and I just have to find it.
The sad news is, her old hard drive = toast. It’s so toasted that none of the data was recoverable. We have the drive in our possession, and if ever we have a spare $1000 lying around, we’re going to ship the toast to a specialty recovery place and give it the old college try.
I’m totally at peace with the loss. It sucks, but I knew better. And now I’m writing like the wind to try to make up my lost time. The good news is, I really wasn’t happy with what I had written, so this forces me to back the hell up and start over from chapter 2. I can do that. It’s a good thing I’m a fairly fast writer!!!
I am going to pick up my running today. My cold has moved out of my head. It’s trying to move into my chest but I’m fighting it. I have that damn persistent itch between my ear and my throat. I’ve been tempted to take a wire hanger to my ear…but every time I turn on the closet light to find the right utensil, a panicked voice starts whispering “No More Wire Hangers!” and it freaks me out.
A Rader Story:
I realized the other day I haven’t told you guys a Rader story in a long time. It’s a shame really, because he’s always so damn entertaining. I’m sure we’ll have more inappropriate conversations to report at some point–but there will never be another licking nipples report. That was just too much.
Rader is a charmer. He always has been. And I’ve always known his charm was going to be the death of me. Last night, I got the full effect of his charm and his sense of humor. Now, the child is only 10, but he’s tall and handsome and he carries himself like a teenager half the time. We were sitting in the living room and Fishdog told Rader to take his folded clothes from the coffee table and put them in his room. Rader (without missing a beat) winked at me, smiled and said “Sure.” He knew he was being cheeky and he was completely unapologetic about it. That one little wink struck me as so intentionally flirty–like the hot guy in high school flirting with the cute quiet girl.
When he winked, I flashed forward five years and saw exactly what kind of young man he was going to be. And boy are we in trouble. Charming, good looking, funny, flirty and smart. I am not ready for this. The mothers of the girls of Little Rock are not ready for this…
Hope you guys have a great weekend. I’ll be busy WRITING (I know, you’re shocked). I’ll also be running and blogging over at FatChicksRunning so don’t forget to stop by!
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Sneezeday
I’m still sick. My eyes feel like they weigh 10 lbs each and my face hurts. I didn’t even know a face could hurt until this morning.
I haven’t heard from the computer guys about my data. Still have my fingers crossed its recoverable. If not, I’m starting over. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read it here. I’m hoping to hear good news this morning.
It’s rainy and cold and gloomy here, therefore it is the perfect weather to crawl back in bed.
This post is just as depressing as yesterday’s would’ve been. My bad.
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a mélange of thoughts
I’m talking about Feeding an Obsession over at FatChicksRunning today. Pop over and say hi.
I’m still feeling the afterglow of the election. I am so profoundly proud of our country right now. I know change will be slow, but in my heart, I do believe Obama will make a difference. He was the right choice.
I’m angry with the people of Arkansas right now. They voted in a law that states unmarried couples cannot adopt or foster kids. This is just another attempt to deny gay people the same rights as everyone else–however, this law affects every unmarried couple. I can’t believe we’re living in 2008 and the world is still this bigoted. It’s shameful.
LOVE SUCKS! is coming along, slowly but surely. I’m going to really enjoy getting to the meat of this story–there is a new character I’m dying to write…amazingly enough, he resembles a younger version of Spike from Buffy. Hmmmm, maybe this calls for some Buffy research….
Oh yeah. Definitely requires some in depth research…
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melodramatic mélange
To catch you up on the open house…
We are just going to ride out this bad economy storm and hope that maybe things will turn around in the spring. The good news is, we can write our losses off for the year, so that will help.
Something that cheered me up this weekend?
My friends Dana Belfry and Eden Bradley (pictured) thought of me while they were hanging out together. Hmmm, wonder what made them think of me?
I’m plowing onward and upward with LOVE SUX!SUCKS! (still not used to writing it that way) I’ve had a scene bouncing around in my head all weekend long that I can’t stop thinking about, so I think I’m going to write it today to see what happens. I am usually a very linear writer, but every once in a while a scene just needs to be written out of sequence. I’ll let you know how that ends up.
And finally, I’m blogging about music over at Fictionistas today. Click the banner below!
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SELL BABY SELL!
I’m re-purposing the RNC’s favorite mantra of Drill Baby Drill and making it my own.
SELL BABY SELL.
After taking a weekend off, I’m now heading back to Oxford. Hopefully this will be the last ‘mow’ of the season. Am also hoping this will be the last trip forever, because we need to sell. Big time.
But you know that, so I’m not going to dwell on it anymore.
Sorry I wasn’t around yesterday, I was tweaking my latest proposal. I sent it off to Deidre last night and now I’m going to start focusing on finishing up LOVE SUX! SUCKS!
Yes, we’ve changed the title slightly of the follow up book to BITE ME! Personally, I preferred SUX! (I think it looks better than SUCKS!) but it’s not a big deal. I love the title and wanted to keep it, so really that’s what matters. I’ve gotten lucky to be able to keep both of my titles so far. I dread the day I’m told it has to change. I know that usually the change is for the better, but still, it will suck! <– see what I did there? I haz a clever.
I haven’t really had much to say in the political arena lately. Mainly because I don’t really have anything new to say. There was an article in the local paper yesterday about folks stealing yard signs. I know two other people who’ve had their Obama signs taken around here. I have heard that a few McCain signs have been taken, but I haven’t spoken to anyone personally who’s had their McPalin sign stolen.
That’s about it. Gotta get the young un to school and hit the road. I’ll try to tweet and keep y’all updated here if anything good happens.
Peace!
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write less and win!
I write like I read. I hate overdone passages of detail and superfluous words that slow down the pacing and are only put in the text to show how fancy the writer can be.
It’s not my style. When it comes to writing, I’m a minimalist. My biggest strength is dialogue. Truth be told, if I could write a dialogue only book and get away with it, I would. Because frankly, dialogue is where the story is for me.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t read wordy, big books. That means oftentimes I skim multiple passages in those books because frankly, if you can’t tell me in just a few words the exact shade of blue the sky is, then I don’t want to know. And if you bury something important in the middle of a ten sentence paragraph describing the exact shade of blue of the sky, then shame on you.
It could be undiagnosed ADD. I really don’t know, but I honestly don’t have the patience to wade through all that description especially when the only purpose of the paragraph is to prove what a good writer the author is. I just want to read a good story. I want to be engaged in the characters…not in the description of where the character is standing.
So I thought I’d have a little fun today. I have two extra copies of Roxanne St. Claire’s Now 
You Die (the 3rd book in a trilogy, the 6th book in the Bullet Catcher series). If you want to win a copy, all you have to do is describe yourself, your day, your life, your work…something about you…in 5 words.
Here are some examples:
Two houses, two cities, sucks.
Will be waiting tables soon.
Kids are fun when asleep.
Love/Hate relationship with Pug.
Fishdog makes me laugh alot.
Good friends make it better.
Who’s in? Let’s get our less is more groove on folks!
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hi I’m a writer…
Okay, since my debut novel Bite Me! will be released next fall, I’ve been thinking a lot about Marketing. Since Fishdog is a marketing man (too bad he doesn’t work on Madison Ave. Then I could call him a Mad Man. *rowr*) we’ve tossed around ideas for a grassroots campaign and other ideas on how to reach YA readers.
It’s important to hit the mark with my audience. Like the Mac ads. Those hit the mark. They are a bucket of win and they make me laugh. They’re funny because they’re true. Take this one about Vista. (which is the reason I switched to Mac…)
I love these commercials. Actually, I spent most of this morning re-watching them. I know. I’m supposed to be working. Sorry. Here’s a link to 15 ads. 7 minutes of commercials that you pretty much can’t stop watching… Those folks at Apple know what they’re doing:
Which brings me to the new ads for Microsoft. Or what I like to call exactly what I don’t want to do when I’m marketing. Bore my audience to tears. I don’t get it. It’s not funny. Not even close. And aren’t they two years too late in responding to Apple?
Microsoft missed the mark in my opinion. Instead of spending money trying to ‘one up’ the Mac ads, they might should focus on trying to create a superior product. Because Vista sux ass. And btw, this is NOT the way to revive Jerry Seinfeld’s career.
And this brings me back round to my point. Marketing appropriately is important. And Microsoft? U R doing it rong.
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the countdown begins
This time next week, I’ll be packing for my trip to Tallahassee. Maria, Louisa, and I are getting together for our yearly critique partner gathering. We’re picking Louisa up in Pensacola and heading to Destin for a few days, then on to another fabulous destination where we’ll be able to soak up lots of sun, sand, and surf.
a pic from last year’s tripI can’t wait.
I’ll try blogging next week, but I’m afraid I’ll be having too much fun. We’ll be plotting out our next books, writing, and generally having a really good time. This will be especially awesome since Maria and I missed RWA this year.
I’m head down in my revisions right now. Trying to perfect this story and send it off by the weekend. I need this vacation. I’m sad that Fishdog and I didn’t get to do our San Francisco/Sonoma trip like we had planned. But we’ll get a vacay together. Maybe in October.
In other news…my interim website is almost complete…so stay tuned for a really cool change very soon. Thanks to the lovely Chrissy Olinger at Websong Designs for all her hard work. She designed a gorgeous template (that of course, my webby hubby had to tweak, cuz God love him, that’s in his nature). I can’t wait to unveil the new site. I think you’ll love it.
Okay, done for now. I’ll leave you with the final picture from last year’s beach extravaganza…
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where did my morning go?
Okay, busy day today. Here’s my to do list:
Got a hair appt in 45 minutes.
Have to finish laundry and pack…heading to Oxford tomorrow.
Waiting for manuscript from lovely editor so I can dig into one last round of revisions. Good thing I’ll be in Oxford…no interwebs at the house to distract me.
Gotta pick up my daddy’s Expedition to drive to Oxford so we can bring some stuff in the attic home with us.
Hopefully will rent the house out while there. Otherwise, I may have to cry.
Things I’ve accomplished since Friday:
Finished new proposal and sent it to Deidre.
Painted my toenails BRIGHT-ASS-HOLY-SHIT PINK
Registered my son for high school. (I am way too damn young to be the mother of a high school freshman)
Joined PASIC (Published Authors Special Interest Chapter of RWA)
Finally decided to have transmission rebuilt in the van.
So, what’s on your to-do list?
I’m not sure if I’ll be around much this week…depends on if my Oxford neighbors still have an open wireless network or not!
Bitchin' Fiction: Musings by author Melissa McKenzie / Melissa Francis 