Friday, December 26, 2008
back to the grindstone
I have 1 month to finish LOVE SUCKS! so that's my main focus. I'll be going to the gym today, so don't forget to check out my Fat Chicks blog this afternoon. I have 3.5 months to shed a billion-katrillion pounds and get fit, so I can't miss any workouts between now and then!
How was your holiday? I hope you all had a day filled with whatever you enjoy most and I really hope Santa was very good to you, even if you were naughty. :)
Labels: family, fatchicks, holidays, Love Sucks
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:19 AM |
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Monday, December 22, 2008
happy monday!
I'm blogging about rewards over at Fat Chicks Running and I'm blogging about myself over at Fictionistas.
That's it for today. At least for right now. I've got a busy day, so I'll probably be twittering via my phone here and there, but no more blogging. Of course, you know as well as I do that can change...
Love y'all. Mean it.
Labels: fatchicks, fictionistas
posted by Mel Francis @ 6:55 AM |
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Monday, December 15, 2008
just another manic monday
Mondays are always so busy!
I'm over at Fictionistas, talking about the sense of smell.
I'll be blogging at Fat Chicks Running later today. I went to the gym TWICE this weekend. I know, you're shocked. So am I. I'm also planning another video blog this week...if I can somehow manage to hide my Cartman chin. I'd also like to change my voice. Am I the only one who hates to hear my recorded self?
This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. I swear it was just Friday. And now, Christmas is a week away and I'm trying to figure out when it became December. I swear I was just in my bathing suit, allowing the sun to worship me. Honestly, am I the only one who thinks time is flying by at warp speed? (look! Cartman chin is gone! Maybe I should Vlog looking up...)
Time flies when you're growing old?
Speaking of old: A shout out to my niece Zzer (zeezer--nickname for Elizabeth) who turns 13 today.
Oh and just to give y'all proper notice, Fishdog turns 40 tomorrow. Yes. He's gonna beat me to the big 4-0. Nothing makes me happier.
It's a busy week here at Chez Francis. I'll be writing my fingers to the bone. I have a lofty page goal for the week, I'll keep you posted on that. Also, we're supposed to get iced in tonight. Love Arkansas weather. It was 65 degrees yesterday. It's 33 now.
While I'm at the gym, why don't y'all tell me about your weekend?
Labels: birthdays, exercise, fatchicks, fictionistas, seasons
posted by Mel Francis @ 9:08 AM |
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Friday, December 12, 2008
let's get physical
Hope y'all have a good weekend. I dunno if it'll be a blogging weekend or not for me. And who knows, I'm drinking tonight, so y'all might get lucky and get a drunk blog later
Wouldn't that be something? A dirty little secret (mmmm gingers) and a drunk blog all in one night?
Keep your fingers crossed. Until then, enjoy...
Labels: exercise, fatchicks, i need a drink, you tube
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:50 PM |
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Wednesday, December 03, 2008
morning rush
For a much more fun post (actually several) head over to Fat Chicks Running. I actually posted a video blog yesterday. Yes, it's true. I also did a very bad impression of South Park's Cartman--you don't wanna miss that! Be sure and scroll down to see it.
This morning I woke up to a very nice surprise--Amanda of Amanda's Little Rock blog on About.com gave the Fat Chicks a shout out. That was awesome. Pop over and tell her thanks for us. ;)
Check y'all later!
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:33 AM |
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
the house is quiet
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?
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:28 AM |
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Friday, November 14, 2008
end of the week report
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 |
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
fog and food
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 |
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Monday, November 10, 2008
monday blues
I've blogged at Fictionistas and FatChicksRunning! today. Pop by for a visit.
Labels: fatchicks, fictionistas
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:34 AM |
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Friday, November 07, 2008
Happy Friday!
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!
Labels: Bite Me, exercise, fatchicks, friends, Mel-O-Jumble, stats
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:23 AM |
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Thursday, November 06, 2008
a mélange of thoughts
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...
Labels: election, fatchicks, writing
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:52 AM |
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Monday, November 03, 2008
The boy had a cheap car, no money, but great hair...
We thought so...especially since it was the headline for the story of how I met Fishdog.
Yup, we were in the paper on Sunday. It was awesome. Here's a link for the whole article.
Here's a little taste:
“There has always been sort of a six degrees of separation thing between Mark and me,” says Melissa, who went to high school in Bryant and who had friends who knew Mark, a student at Little Rock’s Catholic High School. “Our circle of friends was kind of parallel.”Heh. He was a guy and I was agog.
On the night they finally did meet, Jan. 24, 1992, Melissa was on a date with one guy and was plagued by the unwanted attentions of another.
Mark had graduated from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro the December before and just moved back to Little Rock. He had seen Melissa, a student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the night before with her friends at White Water Tavern, but she was having too much fun then to notice him.
When he walked through the door at Juanita’s, though, she was all agog.
“I just remember being very smitten,” Melissa says. “It was his hair — which is really funny, considering he has none now. Back then it was long. He had a confidence about him, and he had a great smile and a great laugh, which I love.”
The best part of the article? (besides all the cutesy lovey-dovey stuff?) They plugged BITE ME! :) It was really cool seeing myself called a 'novelist' and then reading
Her first book, Bite Me!, is scheduled to hit bookstore shelves in fall 2009.Heheh.
Today in the blogosphere:
Today I'm at Fictionistas discussing the postmortem of Mel-O-Ween...
Yesterday I blogged at FatChicksRunning! about Week 2, Day 1 of training...and today, Dana is talking about jogging at 10:20 PM. That's dedication folks...
Labels: fatchicks, fishdog, holidays, lurve
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:53 AM |
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Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Mel-O-Ween!
Before I get started...did you know you can pre-order Maria Geraci's debut novel BUNCO BABES TELL ALL? Cuz you can. And you better. Or I'll haunt you. And you won't like it.
pre-order now. Go on. I'll wait...So today is Mel-O-Ween. You got any special plans? I'm going to be a Zombie this year. My friend Stinkydog says she's going to be a Mombie...cuz she's pregnant. See what she did there? LOL Yeah, she's not only Stinky...she's funny, too!
Fishdog and Rader or going to be Thing 1 and Thing 2. Nemo is undecided. He's gonna spray his hair and do some make up but really,
that's as far as he's gotten. I'm supposed to take him to Walmart after school today so he can buy some 'accessories.' I love it. He's going to accessorize a costume that doesn't exist. Awesome.I have to buy some worms to glue to my skin and stick in my ears. Zombies are wormy aren't they? I should use gummy worms so I can eat them and gross everybody out. That would be funny.
I blogged over at FatChicksRunning today about day 3 of my training. It wasn't pretty. But I survived.
For your viewing pleasure...here's a preview of tonight...
Labels: bunco babes, fatchicks, holidays
posted by Mel Francis @ 10:44 AM |
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
I'm a busy girl today
And Dana and I are into day three of our training at Fat Chicks Running. Pop over and see how we're doing.
In the writing world, I'm actually doing some reading. Both Maria and Louisa have Nov. 1 deadlines, so I'm going to be busy this weekend reading their manuscripts. Then it's back to writing, writing, writing. I guess it's a good thing that the only thing that doesn't really hurt on my body is my fingers, huh?
Labels: fatchicks, louisa, maria geraci, TKA
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:14 AM |
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
help a fat chick choose
Pop on over to FatChicksRunning and help her choose!
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:43 AM |
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Friday, October 24, 2008
Join Us
Come on. Pledge to get active. You don't have to be stupid and pledge to do a half-marathon. You just have to pledge to get active and post about your progress either at FatChicksRunning.com or on your own blog.
C'mon. The only thing you have to lose is weight. Oh and maybe low self-esteem.
Labels: fatchicks
posted by Mel Francis @ 5:33 PM |
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what have I done?
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...
Labels: exercise, fatchicks, friends, wtf
posted by Mel Francis @ 9:13 AM |
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Thursday, October 23, 2008
fat chick running
I'm a Fat Chick. It's true.
Not only am I a Fat Chick...I'm also going to be 40 years old in March. I'm not afraid of 40 (actually I'm looking forward to it) but I do NOT want to be a 40 year old Fat Chick.
I also don't want to ring in the 40s on my
Please join me and my pal Dana at FatChicksRunning.com
You can read my epiphany and how I hoodwinked Dana into joining me here.
You can join us and blog with us if you'd like...just leave us a comment.
Or you can just follow us as we journey down this torturous path. It's not going to be pretty. But I'm pretty sure it's gonna be funny.
Labels: fatchicks
posted by Mel Francis @ 10:38 AM |
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