Melissa Francis : Bitchin' Fiction!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thursday, Nov 20th: Chat with Jonathan Friesen

Jonathan Friesen is making a splash on the YA scene with his debut novel, JERK, CALIFORNIA (Penguin/Speak, September 2008). The Minnesota native will be stopping by TKA's chat room this Thursday, November 20th @ 9pm ET to share his experiences as a first-time writer.

Though the book is fictional, Jonathan shares an important characteristic with his main protagonist, Sam Carrier. They both have Tourette Syndrome. In JERK, CALIFORNIA, Jonathan pulls from his own painful journey to self-acceptance in order to craft a life-altering tale that both motivates and inspires.

A school teacher for 14 years, Jonathan is now a full-time writer; he also heads up a writing program targeted specifically at gifted young writers and speaks about Tourette Syndrome to groups around the globe.

"Sam and his story are quixotic in the best possible way: he is a good-hearted dreamer trying to do right by his dulcinea. Debut author Friesen has Tourette syndrome, and he brings complexity and nuance to Sam's struggle for understanding and self-acceptance. The pacing is leisurely, but like any good road story, there are enough corners and bends to keep readers eagerly anticipating what lies ahead at the journey's end." -- Booklist

WHAT: Chat with Jonathan Friesen , Author of JERK, CALIFORNIA
WHEN: Thursday, November 20th @ 9pm ET
HOW TO CHAT: Click Here: TKA CHAT ROOM Enter a username and password. Login.

Labels: chatter, TKA

posted by Mel Francis @ 3:00 PM | | links to this post

the apple (of my eye) does not fall far from the tree

When Nemo was born, he was my spittin' image. (or is that spitten?) Seriously, you could barely tell our baby faces apart. He has my eyes, which are pretty distinct in shape...not big, but slanty and very blue. (His are actually gray now, go figure)

As a toddler, the resemblance remained. We'd get the occasional, "He looks just like Fishdog" but we ignored those people because Nemo looked exactly like me...and we had the pictures to prove it. Hell, we had the same teeth. It was freaky.

Fast forward to now. I've noticed him changing here and there. The deeper voice, the hairy pits, the lanky walk. Typical teenage stuff. But lately, I've noticed something even more disturbing. His looks are morphing. He's shifting from my image to his dad's. It's bizarre.

And it was never more obvious than this morning, when he put on a bowtie for school (yes, they wear ties...and he thought it would be funny to wear a bowtie...No he's not Fishdog's child at all). I took his picture because he was too damn cute for words. When I downloaded it, I realized, that was the young face of my husband staring back at me.

Labels: fishdog, the kids

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:22 AM | | links to this post

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
the house is quiet

Fishdog is headed to Oxford for the week. It's weird having the house all quiet like during the day. Even though I don't see him, I know he's downstairs, working away. Plus I always hear his music. I'm thinking about going downstairs and turning on the radio...

I'm writing again today. Got lots to do and not much time to do it. Yesterday was a semi-success. Didn't meet my goal pages, but I got through a difficult to write scene, so that's something.

I posted at FatChicksRunning today about starting back after an 8 day hiatus. Check it out.

Anything going on with you guys?

Labels: fatchicks, writing

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:28 AM | | links to this post

Monday, November 17, 2008
please leave a message...

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.

Labels: fictionistas, writing

posted by Mel Francis @ 9:26 AM | | links to this post

Friday, November 14, 2008
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!

Labels: damn kids, exercise, family, fatchicks, writing

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:16 AM | | links to this post

Thursday, November 13, 2008
fog and food

It was foggy outside today. But not in my head! I believe I have beaten this stupid cold into submission. I may even go running again today for the first time in a week. Whoot!

Last night, Fishdog and I were chatting away while watching Top Chef (3 cheers for Tom Colicchio!) Fishdog thinks it would be a great idea if we prepared a new dish from a different country each week to expand our palates and our cooking skills.

You know, in theory, this is a great damn idea. In reality, I am not Louisa Edwards. She and Stinger are chef-like entities. I'm closer to Ronald McDonald to their Gordon Ramsay.

Don't get me wrong, I can cook. I enjoy baking pies and roasting turkeys, and cooking big meals for dinner parties. Hell, I volunteer to host Thanksgiving every year. You don't do that if you can't cook. I have the skill, but it's not a bone-deep love like it is for Louisa and I'm not sure if I'm dedicated enough to trying something new every week because frankly, it just sounds like work. Cooking relaxes Louisa...but it wears me the hell out.

I also enjoy trying new things--especially if I'm the one who prepared the food (that way I know what I'm trying.) But if I'm going to go through the effort of fixing some new cuisine, I want everyone in the family to eat it. And where Rader is pretty much willing to try anything--Nemo? Meat and potatoes. Bacon and eggs. Spaghetti and meatballs. <--see a pattern? So I feel like my effort would be wasted because I have a kid who really won't give anything unknown a chance.

What do you think? Should I throw caution to the wind and start trying out simple dishes from other countries for something new? Or should I save that for special occasions and dinner parties? What do you suggest we try first?

ETA: stop by FatChicksRunning! today. I'm talking about how Size Does Matter...

Labels: cooking, fatchicks, food, louisa, opinions

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:14 AM | | links to this post

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
conversations with a head cold

*blowing nose*

Me: Hmmm, I need to write.

My head: Whateber. You need to sleeb.

Me: I don't want to sleep anymore. I slept yesterday. A lot. And I feel better today.

My head: Think about how much bedder you'll feel tomorrow if you sleeb more today.

Me: I'm on deadline.

My head: Yeah, but you may have to start ober anyway because of your computer mess.

Me: Are you trying to drive me to the bottle at 8:30 in the morning?

My head: Would drinking helb you sleeb? Then yes.

Labels: chatter, misc, sick

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:12 AM | | links to this post

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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.

Labels: sick, writing

posted by Mel Francis @ 8:22 AM | | links to this post