Melonie Johnson

Friday Fast Five

November 5, 2010Cool Stuff, Products, Time Wasters, UncategorizedWrite a comment

I started building this week’s Friday Fast Five on Sunday, adding to it here and there throughout the week, so the post itself won’t seem quite so “fast,” but the act of me putting it up today is very fast indeed, I assure you 🙂

1. Having been a Smart Bitch test driver for a Sony e-reader last summer, I have found I really enjoy Miss Scarlett – my favorite feature, and one that other devices are not able to offer (from what I can tell) is the ability to borrow e-books from my library’s digital “Media Mall.” I have to say though, that the wi-fi only Kindle priced under $150 is very tempting. Kindle offers soooooooo many free e-books, and there are a lot of features the Kindle has that the Sony doesn’t – but I really, REALLY don’t need two e-readers. I wouldn’t mind an ipad though (an item I can never ever see myself buying, I have way too many other things for me to spend $500…or whatever they currently cost, it’s still too much…on). Which is why I’m entering the Family Circle sweepstakes to win a 16GB ipad (they are also giving away a few Wii’s) You can enter here – if you win, I expect a thank you. 😉

2. Vanilla Rooibus tea. I love it. It is dee-licious with not a thing added to it other than piping hot water. Starbucks carries it, and it’s great because I can get a drink that feels almost as indulgent as a cafe mocha but has several hundred less calories and is half the price. It’s even cheaper when I brew it at home; World Market sells Republic of Tea, and yes it’s a little pricey, but I stock up when I have a $10 off purchase coupon (frugalness is a just a part of my blood I think). Next time I go on a tea shopping spree, I think I’ll have to try this one:

3. I want to buy Lil’ G some type of electonic-y device for Christmas…I’m debating between 3, er, 4:

Any advice, comments, reviews, suggestions or general opinions on these products are welcome. I’m leaning towards the Fisher-Price device. TIA

4. Speaking of holiday shopping, Black Friday is 3 weeks from today…do I give in to the insanity and go out shopping at 3am? Is there even anything I want to buy that badly? What do you usually do?

5. If you look in the upper right corner of the sidebar, you’ll see Miss A asking for your vote. Yes, election day was this past Tuesday – but Miss A needs your vote for a chance to go to Disney World! She’s entered the Balloon Time Put a Face on Fun contest. To vote for her, just click on that pic and then click vote! You don’t need to register for anything and can vote up to 5 times a day. If she wins we’ll bring you back something nice from the Magic Kingdom. The contest closes on my birthday…I’m going to take that as a piece of luck.

E-reader Test Drive Friday Fast Five

Naming My Babies…and My Books

October 12, 2010Uncategorized, WritingWrite a comment

I have often heard writers refer to their novels as their “babies.” It’s a metaphor that may seem to skate the line of hyperbole, yet is one I recently came to appreciate. Completing a manuscript is labor intensive, but it is a labor of love. (And yes, I intentionally used the word labor…twice…my apologies). Like I said, I have heard the baby/book comparison before, and never really thought about it much until the other day – when I was updating my NaNo page. As I mentioned in a recent post, the idea I have for this year’s NaNo book is bright and clear and I have an incredibly confident feeling that it will be published. I’d risk saying I know it will be published – and I’m not one to make outlandish claims like that. On the NaNo novel info page, they have a space to fill in the book’s title. Granted, many titles are, like the novels themselves, a work in progress – and it is assumed that the title you choose to type in on your NaNo page may go through as many revisions as the book itself.

If I’m confident about the viability of my 2010 NaNo novel, I’m even more confident about its title. The book has its name. Oddly enough, it’s my absolute surety concerning the name of this book that made my fingers hesitate on the keys…in the end, this is is what I typed:

Like the names of my children, the title is being kept secret until delivery day!

Lemme explain by stretching the baby/book metaphor even further.

Let’s think about the most common questions that pop up when people know you are expecting a baby:

1 – How are you feeling? (How’s the baby?)

2 – Do you know what you’re having?

3 – Any names picked out?

And now let’s think about the most common questions that pop up when people know you are writing a novel:

1 – How is the writing going? (How’s the book?)

2 – What kind of book is it?

3 -Do you have a title picked out?

With both my babies (the offspring of my body, not my brain) the husband and I kept the potential names very quiet. It was a very special, personal thing for us – something neither us felt ready to share with anyone until our baby was here and named. Maybe because we didn’t care to hear anyone else’s opinions or comments – positive or otherwise – whatever the reason, it felt more comfortable to keep both Miss A and Lil’ G’s names under wraps until they were born.

That’s how I feel about this new book – protective and secretive and a little afraid that if I speak its name aloud before I’m ready, some of its power, some of its incredible potential, will fade.

And speaking of my babies, please tell me how this:

Turned into this:

Miss A will be 7 1/2 this Friday. That’s half way to 8. Which is half way to 16. I think I’m half way to crying.

NaNoWriMo

Things I Could Accomplish If Only I had My S Together

October 7, 2010Time Wasters, Uncategorized, WritingWrite a comment

Or at least if I had it together better. Or would that be better together?

Peanut butter and chocolate. That’s better together.

Anyways.

I have a to-do list a gazillion miles long, but the real problem is, I have a gazillion to-do lists. One for chores around the house. One for stuff to fix around the house. One for what I need to do for the kids. One for want I want to do with the kids. One for vacation ideas. One for gift ideas. One for where I need to be and when I’m supposed to be there. One for what I need to buy. One for what I need to budget. One for what I need to sell (or just get rid of). One for working out. One for my business. One for writing. One for hobbies like scrapbooking and photography. I make lists, some of them only mental, of books I want to read and movies I still want to see. I even have a list for blog posts I’d like to do. Lists help keep me sane, but they also freak me out by putting just how much I want/need/would like to do in black and white. So I tend to scramble from one list to the next, never seeming to get enough done on any single list of to-do’s.

High up on the what I wish I had more time for list is completing a novel (you know, like the one I wrote for NaNo last November) and getting it on the road to being published. I have a list for that too.

I recently signed up for the Carina Press newsletter and was excited to see that they are hosting an “online editor pitch” – they are calling for a two paragraph blurb of a manuscript in any genre and will choose 5 of the submissions to enter a “pitch chat room” where each of the five writers will have 1-on-1 time with editor(s) to sell their book.

It’s a cool way to bring attention to your novel. Submissions are due by October 12th. I’d be totally all over this.

Except my current manuscript is not complete. If I had my S together, I’d have finished the darn thing before the end of last year. Or at least in time to get my free printed copy (all NaNo writers who cross the 50k finish line are entitled to one). But nope. Still not done. Since last November I have managed to fill in some holes and flesh out a few more scenes but there are at least 3 or 4 chapters that need to be written. Two characters who need to develop more and an ending that needs serious polish.

When I first saw the pitch info I thought, “I can do this! I’ve got a few weeks! This is the push I needed!”

Except I forgot about all those other to-do lists for a moment. Ones that required immediate attention (involving kids, clean underwear, bills, and my sink full of dishes). I also had a 20 page script to write from scratch, songs that needed dance choreography, and insurance for my growing business.

Yes, I could/should have been working on the manuscript instead of posting stuff here, or entering all the contests at Pioneer Woman (I want one of those cameras, darn it!) or scanning and posting old pictures on FB…I should have, and I would have – if I had my S together better.

Part of the issue is my road to publishing list starts with querying agents first…pitching to e-pubs is farther down the road. Granted I’d be happy with any type of publishing contract, but I do have my list of preferred methods and scoring an agent is at the top.

This is all pointless speculative chatter until I get my S together and finish the freakin’ manuscript!

NaNo starts up again in less than a month and I have my novel idea for this year brewin hot and heavy in my brain. It is crazy, but I have an incredible feeling about this book-to-be…I just know, KNOW, it will get published. I have rarely felt such confidence about something, but there it is.

I am quite aware that once the above novel gets going, the current WIP will get further shelved…which is why I really wish I would have devoted myself to it more. Ah well, let’s hope the adage, “Things happen for a reason” is more than just emotional balm and really does prove true. Meaning, the time is right for the current story taking up a great deal of my grey matter, and its completion (and publication!?!) will open the door for the other neglected one.

That is what I’m telling myself anyway.

It’s helping me keep my S together.

NaNoWriMo

Defining One’s Self

September 16, 2010Life, UncategorizedWrite a comment

Book Binge, a fun review site – is having their annual month long Back-To-School book giveaway. Each day they offer up a selection of novels as a prize – all you have to do is leave a comment to enter. Each day’s prize comes with a different conversational question…today’s was: Were you part of a pack aka clique or were you more of a loner?
Answering this question somehow provided me with a definition of myself I had never thought of before – but once writing it down, it really seemed to fit – it just seemed right. In high school, I had a variety of friends from different traditional cliques – I had my sporty friends I would hang out with in the Commons since, as Varsity players, we got to skip P.E. I had my brainy friends from the Honors classes I was taking (it was pretty much the same group of kids in all the various A.P. classes, so we got to know each other rather well). Then I had my friends from theatre – and these were my closest pals – the ones I stayed in touch with long after high school.

facebook pics_0006 — That's me on the far right (yes, I was wearing jean shorts with nylons - don't ask) with my closest high school pals, clearly we all had more than our fair share of dramatic flair.

So, looking at my interests, my passions, my friends – I decided that I was an eclectic soul…and really, that pretty much sums it up.

Next time someone asks me to describe myself, that’s what I’ll say: “I have an eclectic soul.”

And then I’ll say I’m a red head.

Because that in itself says a lot.

In My Defense…

May 18, 2010Uncategorized, Website, Working OutWrite a comment

…so all good intentions aside; my goal to post something here everyday in May has pretty much gone down the…well, you can use your imagination.

In my defense, my other goal for May: to wake up every day at 5am and fit in 30-60 minutes of workin’ out before my life as a Mama takes over at 6:15 am has been a COMPLETE SUCCESS! I have not missed a day, proud to say. My abs have a few things to say about it too, but I told them to quit their bitchin’.

Now, if I could lay off the booze in the evening, I might lose more than 2 pounds in a week.

My Biggest Fear

May 10, 2010Life, Uncategorized, Working OutWrite a comment

Putting aside all the major stuff like anything happening to my family, cancer, car accidents, tornadoes, and what not…my biggest fear in all the world is…are you ready?

Wearing a swim suit.

In public.

I haven’t done it in nearly 10 years…2002 was probably the last time that much of my skin was exposed at one time outside my own house.

The idea of strolling around with all my imperfections on display for anyone’s inspection makes me more than a little queasy.

I know, I know – I need to get over myself.

We are heading out for a lil’ vacation this summer – and I really can’t avoid it – I’m going to have to wear a swim suit. I promised my husband I would.

So it’s time for my personal boot camp – I swear I am more motivated to look good then I was for my wedding! (Maybe because I already looked pretty darned good then?)

Started this morning with a 5am alarm so I could squeeze a workout in before Mama duties called. I may have been a bit overzealous with the alarm…my husband made some comment along the lines of “I think you just woke Jesus up.” Whether the King of Kings sleeps on U.S. Central time lies beyond my knowledge…but I got his general point. So, I managed to get out of bed Day 1…let’s hope I can do the same tomorrow.

Cuz’ you know what’s looming ahead of me, don’t you?

The thing I fear only slightly less than wearing a swim suit in public…

shopping for one.

Come Vacation…in Beautiful Wildwood

May 7, 2010Life, UncategorizedWrite a comment

Eh?

Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought when the husband and I were doing a blind search of possible lakefront vacation spots in the mid-west…

Check out this beauty:

Wow. What luxury!(Turns out this baby isn’t on Lake Michigan, but the Mississippi river instead.)

For a little background info, Wildwood is that lake neighborhood we all know – it’s sort of a modern white-trash (if you’ll excuse such an un-pc term) Wild West (or Wild Mid-West). Fireworks every night, garages turned into dens of iniquity (well, if guzzling beer, watching sports and burning stuff in portable fire pits qualifies as iniquitable), and kids buzzing around on various noise polluting scooter-type vehicles.

I joke about Wildwood, but places like this are in many ways great neighborhoods to live in – there are no annoying regulations about what color mailbox you can have, what type of wood your fence should be made of, and whether that plastic Elvis is allowed to take up residence on your front lawn.

Sure, such freedom comes with a price, and you have to endure noisy fire work-drenched nights and navigate streets filled with boats parked on the curb…but overall, the character and flavor the freedom in these neighborhood allows is refreshing.

Except when you’re planning a vacation.

At least for me anyway…when I think of vacation, I think of spas and maid service and leisurely breakfasts in which I don’t have t do the dishes.

I certainly don’t think of shed-like buildings miles away from the nearest restaurant.

But that’s just me.

As for finally reaching a desicion on where to have an enjoyable vacation – I’ll tell you more about that later.

But right about now, I need a vacation from trying to plan a vacation.

I’ll tell you one thing though, we won’t be going here:

If this is your idea of a getaway, that’s cool – have fun lightin’ some fireworks and burning stuff.

I plan to be chillin’ on my balcony off the lake, without a garage door party in sight.

Two For One…

May 2, 2010Uncategorized, WebsiteWrite a comment

It’s the weekend, so give me abreak. I know I said, “everyday in May…” but y’know, the weekend might have to count as one day.

Things…they get busy around here.

And my life is full of conundrums…like how Miss A can brush her teeth at the speed of light, yet manages to get toothpaste EVERYWHERE and on every surface…including the doorknobs.

Parenting is full of conundrums big and small, some serious and some silly. I’d love to hear some of yours.

Here’s something about parenting that IS NOT a conundrum: no matter how frustrated being a mama can be…no matter how exhausting…I’m so very lucky to be the mama of Miss A and Lil’ G.

Drama Mama over and out.