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Dreaming of Key West

fantasy-fest
During one of the Fantasy Fest parades in Key West, 2012. I’m laughing at something epic the pink haired girl just said. Or maybe just checking out their body paint. Wish like hell I could remember which it was.

Yesterday, yet another of my facebook friends posted that they were vacationing in Key West. For jealousy inducing proof, they included a beach themed photo with their announcement. That’s my 3rd friend to visit the keys since early December. As winter has moved into Northern Wisconsin, I’ve been treated, via my Facebook newsfeed, to tanned bodies lazin’ on the beach, romantic boat rides at sunset, and happy people getting their drink on.

And it’s killing me. Seriously.

You see, from 2012-2014 Key West was my stomping grounds. Thanks to my husband’s job, we were renting a little house on Raccoon Key (aka Key Haven) just a mile and a half from Duval Street and living life completely in the moment. At least, when he was in town. Though the perks of his job were great, he was out of the country more than he was in. Six weeks gone, 4 weeks home, lather, rinse, repeat. When he wasn’t around, all the lazy bike rides, magical sunsets and getting my drink on didn’t make up for…wait, where was I going with this? Just kidding. Being alone all the time gets old really fast. After two years, we’d had enough. He retired and we headed to Northern Wisconsin to spend some time near family. Yeah, I got a lot of ribbing from folks reminding me that we were heading in the wrong direction.

But despite all the sour grapes I’ve been drinking watching happy friends in my former playground, it’s been nice reconnecting with my not so distant past. If you’re headed that way and looking for things to do, spend a little time on the blog that Mark and I wrote while we lived there, A Twist of Key Lime. (It was easier to blog than to have to repeat the same stories over and over and over and…) The last entry posted in July of 2014, but according to friends still there, not much has changed. If you’re stuck at home or bored at work, check out some of the island’s more eccentric offerings.

NSFW – Fantasy Fest is a week long party where everybody lets down their hair. And most of their clothes. There’s so much nudity, that after a few hours, you don’t even realize you’re surrounded by naked people. In part that’s because everybody is covered in elaborate body paint. The photo at the top of this post is from one of the parades in 2012. I forget what the theme was that year but most people did their own thing. Don’t worry about painting yourself or your best friend. You’ll find stalls up and down Duval Street with artists charging a variety of prices. Check out several for the best deal. For 2016, the week long party is set for Oct 21-30th. And the theme is one I will be sorry to miss: Political Voodoo and Ballot Box Barbarians. With a national election so close to Fantasy Fest, it’s the logical choice. If you plan on going, remember – leave the kids at home. The place gets pretty raunchy as parties let out and the streets fill up with revelers. Though, we’ve seen nakedidity as early as 8 am. And remember, if you take your unclothed self outside of the nudity zone, you will end up in jail.

SFW – If you need to get your drink on, here’s a list of 18 of our favorite bars. Check out the one on the World’s Smallest Bar. We had a friend come all the way down to the keys just so she could have a drink there! (I think they were closed that day. Pretty sad, right? But don’t worry, as I remember, we found some pretty good alternatives)

SFW – Critters. There’s lots to choose from. Feral cats, Iguanas, sea life, chickens. Oh those chickens. Back in the old days, cock fighting was a thing. The story goes that after it was outlawed, everybody just set their birds free. Nowadays, you’ll find the feral fowl strutting their stuff all over the island. Restaurants, (I’ve seen them wandering around inside), outdoor patios (where they rule) and even at the beach. The locals hate them. The goofy things never seem to shut up. Even after they fly up into the trees at night. We’ve been downtown at 3 am and heard roosters still crowing madly away. Oh and for your own safety, don’t pick them up. They have spurs on their legs and they will hurt you. Nothing makes the locals snicker louder than the look of terror on the face of that silly tourist who’s holding a wiggling chicken and wondering, okay, now what do I do?

SFW – Ah, sunsets. They happen almost every night. Thanks to Key West’s tiny size, you can catch one from pretty much anywhere on the island. For craziness, head to Mallory Square. For a zen like experience, you need to be on the pier at Southernmost Beach Cafe.

There’s lots more but I’ll leave the rest of the discoveries up to you.

While Key West is my idea of paradise, I have a friend who thinks that the promised land is frosted with snow. Bless her heart. 

What makes your paradise work for you? Leave a comment and Write On,

Melissa

ps

the girls in the photo at the top were sporting full frontal body paint. You’ll find their photo on the Fantasy Fest page listed above.

pps

No. I didn’t partake in the body painting. It was much more fun wandering with my camera and recording the madness.

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Lovin’ the Quickie (book update)

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A common symptom affecting readers of my Sunday Word Count category.

My 11 month experiment with tracking my writing has bored me to epic proportions. I can’t imagine what it did to others. From now on, I’ll keep infrequent updates to a 30 second read. (don’t worry, that’s only for updates on my books. I will still ramble endlessly on all other topics)

How to Sex Your Snake – I may have found a cover artist. Waiting to hear back. Manuscript goes to my editor soon.

My horror series, currently in outline mode, is based on a disturbing monster from a screenplay my writing partner’s and my agent submitted to the X-files. They passed on our script but the concept is too cool not to pursue. Possibly, my writing Scully almost completely out of the script was an issue. Also, they had just moved the series from Vancouver to LA so they only wanted “city” scripts.

More another day.

Write on,

Melissa

a ps cheat (not included in those 30 seconds)

Sunday Word count will move to this category but remember, anything below this entry will require lots of caffeine and probably lead to issues experienced by Mia in the photo above.

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Fosterdog Mia

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I love my hat so very much.

Take a look at that face. That’s foster dog Mia. She loves that hat so very much. She came to live with us when a cousin decided to take a year long trip around the world. (think mostly Asia and South America) In the 13 or so months that she’s been with us, she’s learned to love snow, kill voles, chase chipmunks, annoy her 15 year old doggie second cousin Stitch, and generally snuggle her way into our hearts.

She lectures us when we’ve been gone too long, insists on playing squeaky football before breakfast, and has carved out a permanent spot between my husband’s calves when he reclines in his favorite chair.

In 9 days and a wake up, she goes home. A small part of me is devastated. She’s personality times a zillion. Most of me is relieved. She’s tiring. But in a good way. Like a toddler. I will miss her tons but be happy knowing that she’s home again with her human mom and dad and four legged brother and sister. (cat and dog and I’m guessing on their sexes)

I’ll probably post more photos and videos as I ready myself to let go.

Snuggle your babies and Write on,

Melissa

ps

Tell me about your fur babies in the comments below. That might help me overcome my sorrow.

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Go Packers!

 

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gross remnants of some delicious chicken.

Packers play the Vikings for the division title. The anthem is about to be sung, dinner has been gobbled up, and I’m all snug in my jersey  – for this game, I’m wearing number 52, Clay Matthews. It feels like there’s more mojo there tonight. That and I’m freezing and my Matthews jersey is really big and the only jersey I have that will fit over my t-shirt and hoodie. Though, as I type this, I’m suddenly horribly hot. I guess I need to delayer. Anyway. As I ramble, they’re chatting with Matthews. Good God man, shave.

Go Packers and Write on,

Melissa

 

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New babies!

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Two of the babies peeking out.

 

The clutch is finally hatching! These silly babies are like a month over due. Have I mentioned the babies before now? I don’t recall and I don’t feel like looking back over previous posts. I think these are green rat snakes but I could be wrong. I’m just an innocent bystander, they’re my husband’s hobby. Though, for a year, I was mom in charge while he was stationed in Turkey. At that point in time, he had a collection that, including babies, topped out at about 100. It would take me an entire Saturday to feed everyone. Then I had to play with new babies to get them used to humans. And by playing I mean holding the little rascals, letting them crawl all over my hands. If I had a nickel for every time one of them bit the skin between my thumb and index finger….

I hope everyone had a lovely Hanukkah and Christmas. I took too many days off work and played with company. Any weird gifts? The strangest thing we got was…well, I don’t think there was anything strange this year. We discovered a nifty video game called Never Alone. It’s a gorgeous 2 player with fascinating stories and history of Alaskan natives. Check out their website and read up on how the game came to be. A great lesson on not letting someone tell you something can’t be done.

I suppose I should do a quick word count. (as I’ve mentioned before, this is more for me to keep track of my progress as I can’t imagine anyone being all that interested!)

I think I mentioned that I didn’t like the ending to the A story and cut about 7 thousand words giving myself a mini heart attack. (that’s 23 pages at 300 words per page) Well, I finished 3 new chapters, ended up ahead in the count and love the new direction. I was so happy with it, I almost stood up in Mcd’s to read what I’d wrote. At least, I would have cut into the crazy old man collection that was bashing the President. (by 10 at night, the place is pretty empty. Just the crazy old man club and me. We always nod to each other but keep our distance)

How to Sex Your Snake

Genre – Mystery
New this week – 2,436 words
Total Count – 46,962 words 
Release date: Early 2016

Chapters 1-17 are done. (I rewrote 15-17) Ch 18 needs some work but is completely outlined. Ch 19 is done. Ch 20 might be done. Ch 21 needs a bit of work. Chs 22-24 are just in outline stages still. My editor has me giving her daily updates with the goal of sending her the manuscript on Jan 2. We’ll see. It will be a push because I have commitments on new year’s eve and day. No, not the drinking kind!

Stay safe if you’re doing the drinking kind of things. Use Uber (or the like) or stay home and as always

Write one,

Melissa

Ps.

Did you get something weird for Christmas or Hanukkah?

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Naked with Wet Feet.

I’ve been writing all day in wet feet. Which begs the question, why do we say in the nude? If you’re naked, you’re not in anything. That’s the whole point of the word.
I’m currently sitting in my car outside of Mcds about to start on my second 5 hr writing session of the day and I foolishly put on the seat heater. That makes it especially difficult to shut off the engine and brace the rain as I dash for Mcd’s front door.
I guess it’s just as well that I didn’t change my socks. My feet are about to get wet. Again.

Word Count- not much change in totals. Still working on the ending’s rewrite. The end is in sight. Of the book. Not the rain.

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Holy freakin’ wipeout Batman Scrivener saves the day

middle finger to PCWell, I finally got fucked by my computer. I was writing at a mcd’s and closed my little PC to go meet my huband at the gym. He was running (I’m still recovering from a cold) and I was going to write while I clicked off his laps for him. There’s a lovely chair with a foot rest in the corner on the upstairs track and I got myself all setup, opened my laptop and stared at a blank screen.

Now, I’ve always been one of those people that is a little too liberal with the F word. I like to say it. Alot. It’s my favorite word in the whole fucking universe. But, as I stared at my computer and silently begged for the screen to come to life, I was stangely calm. This continued even when the computer finally started up and I opened up scrivener to discover that two chapters had been wiped clean. Maybe it’s the lack of energy thanks to my cold or maybe I’ve found some unknown inner peace but whatever the explanation, I didn’t use the F word a single time over the next 90 minutes as I tried to recover what was lost. In a way, I feel kinda cheated.

Scrivener is a really neat program. It has lots of backup features. And if you have dropbox, you’re even luckier because that program keeps old versions of files for 30 days. So, I had 4 places to look for the lost chapters. And that’s what I did for most of those 90 minutes, patiently working my way through tons of rtf files.

In the end, I recovered all of one chapter, thanks to the rtf files and 2/3rds of another thanks to snapshots, one of the lovely features in scrivener which creates uneditable copies of your work. If you rewrite something, and you’ve saved the previous version in a snapshot, you can revert to an earlier version or just use it as a reference. If I had taken a snapshot of the chapter when I deemed it officially finished, I’d have been able to restore the entire thing. But….I stupidly shut my computer without doing that. Or without creating a pdf of the entire book and emailing it to myself, which I always do when I change locations or go home for the day. Hopefully, I’ve learned my lesson and today’s writing will end with snapshots and pdfs.

Did I learn anything else? Why yes I did, thanks for asking. I learned that PC’s are unrealiable. Well, I knew that. You see, last night wasn’t the first time this computer has crashed. Twice before, it failed to turn on. I wasn’t as concerned though, because all my writing is stored in dropbox. I figured, if the computer was dead, I’d just go buy another. My husband, who uses a MAC and has always used MAC, has never had his computer crash. Ever. So, until I can afford to buy my own, I’m stealing his Macbook Air. Well, starting tomorrow. Today, I grabbed my PC as I was walking out the door. Fuck. I’ve really learned nothing, have I?

Learn from your mistakes and Write On,

Melissa

PS

My word count hasn’t changed much. I’ve been working, but most of Nov was lost to nanowrimo ( I wrote the outine for my next book) and to our annual trek to Disneyworld, a 10k on the east coast and some touristy stuff. I’ve been sick since we got back and it’s hard to write when you’re constantly sneezing. And cleaning the drippy stuff off your keyboard. And screen. And the table around you. And your pjs when you’re holding your laptop. The dog took care of herself. Now that I’m almost back to normal, and my next book is outlined, I’m ready to finish this sucker. My daughter comes to visit in ten days so that’s my new deadline. This time, I think I can do it. I tell you, I can zip out an excellent feature length script in no time at all. Well, 1-6 weeks and when I did a webseries I was writing a 22 page script a week for production. Switching to prose has almost been the death of me. And my husband. He’s tired of me saying fucking almost when he asks if I’m done. So am I sweetie, so am I.

PPS

I didn’t use fuck in the title because I grew up watching reruns of Batman and Robin and I just couldn’t see that Dick Grayson cursing.

PPPS

Fuck. Imagine that repeated about a zillion times. Okay. Now I feel like myself again.

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11-2-15 Word Count

fosterdog mia in her new sweater
Fosterdog Mia, sitting on a rug that needs vaccuminig, while wearing her new sweater.

Had enough of Lisabeth Salander for the moment and I took Girl with the something or other back to the library. I think I’m on page 290. Ish. It’s written down. Somewhere. Reading this book has felt like the girl with the everyday mostly uninteresting life. Do I really need to know what she and her cohort Mick do every day? Especially when it has what feels like nothing to do with the main story? If there is one. While I liked the part with the math, why were those first 150 or so pages included? If you tell me via the blurb on the back of the book that I’m about to dive into a double murder mystery and then you don’t even have that happen until almost page 300, I’m gonna be unhappy with you. If, in December, when I’ve got some free time, and if I wonder, hey, whatever happen to that Girl with the something or other, I’ll swing back up to Crandon library. Until then, I’ve got a half a dozen ebook samples I’m going to look through to try and figure out what I need to read next.

On to the word count.

I spent the last two weeks in high gear trying to knock out the rest of the rewrites before Halloween. Like I keep telling my husband. I’m close. Oh, so close.

How to Sex Your Snake

Genre – Mystery
New this week – 5460 words
Total Count – 44,547 words
Release date:  Pre-orders Dec 10

Gonna leave the release date as is for the moment. There’s still a chance that it will all come together.

Goals from last week: 8 chapters of rewrites. I got about half of that done. I’m back at it in the morning.

Goals for next week: did you see that I wrote week and not time? To keep on track, I have to finish and get this off to my editor. I’m also doing Nanowrimo this year. My 50k words will be a very detailed outline for my next June Nash book. Today (or rather yesterday, I’m writing this on the 1st to upload on the 2nd. Ain’t technology grand) I’ve written a whole 340 words for namo. Pretty amazing, huh? Actually, not bad since I’m not feeling well. I woke up dizzy this morning. Something that just happens. Doesn’t seem to be caused by anything. I just wake up dizzy and write off the day as lost. I’ve been planted on the couch, watching football and I’ll move to the bedroom, shortly, to watch more football. The one bright spot today, was a quick video chat with one of my favorite friends, James.

So, if you missed it in there, cause I kinda did, goals for next week: finish the damn book. Send it to my editor. Have 15,003 words on my namo book completed. Now, I’m gonna get set up for the packers game. Go pack!

Write on,

Melissa

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10-13-15 Tuesday Word Count

 

bear poop
poop!

A black bear has hitting the apple tree on the edge of our back yard leaving lots of piles of lovely poop. So far, the dogs haven’t spotted him. (we haven’t either) The last bear I saw near our house, was off in the brush, watching us stroll by with the dogs. (I think I’ve mentioned that horrible day) Bears freak me out a bit. They’re huge. After two seasons here, I’ve still only run into two bears while on foot. I’m hoping that never climbs to three.

Onto the word count.

How to Sex Your Snake

Genre – Mystery
New this week – 564 words
Total Count – 39,087 words
Release date:  Pre-orders Dec 10

Writing has sucked this last month. I’ve been running ’round in circles with rewrites since early Sept not liking any of the drafts.

wiz of oz puzzleFeeling really blocked, unlike the bear who has been scarfing down all the apples from our tree, I turned to one of my favorite mind-freeing activities that doesn’t involve rum.

Puzzles!

I love puzzles so much. Always have. One of my favorite memories of my dad is working together on a giant puzzle of a lion head. I think I was about 10.

So anyway, after about two weeks of non stop puzzling, I got back to the computer and churned out the rewrites. They went off to the retired cop and came back with a big thumbs up. I’m moving through chs 3-11 fixing a sentence or two here and there so that the changes make sense. I’ll be back to work on the ending of the book either today or tomorrow.

Goals from last time: Getting the rewrites done. It took long enough but it did happen.

Goals for next time: See, I didn’t write next week, since I’ve had some issues getting a blog post out every week. I have 8 chapters that need that final draft touch. If I can tackle each chapter over 2-3 days, I can finish by Halloween. Then the draft goes to my editor for a final pass. Once I get that back, approx mid Nov, I will implement the changes and then send copies go out to my format readers who will be looking for anything that was missed. (Not by my editor but by me not getting the change fixed correctly. My editor is a seasoned pro) Hopefully, the readers will be sending manuscripts back to me the first week of Dec. The book will then move into pre-sales on Dec 10. Sooner if the stars align.

Nanowrimo. Are any of you doing it this year? I love this event. It’s part of the reason I want to finish this month. I have enough of my outline for the next book in the series and I’d like to knock out a rough 1st draft in November. If you’ve never heard of nanowrimo, it’s national novel writing month. You write a 50k word book in 30 days. If you decide to do it, make sure you plan ahead and put together as much of an outline as you can. It will make the writing flow easier. Outlining always does. Now I’ve got to get back to work. Today is a double run day. (easy 3 miler this afternoon, yasso’s later tonight) We’re training for another half marathon.

Hope the leaves are beautiful where you are. (they kinda suck here. None of the gorgeous reds we had last year)

Write on,

Melissa

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9-15-15 Tuesday Word Count

dogs sunning on porch
when we move, the surviving voles and chipmunks will thow a block party.

Today marks day three of my Harvey Fierstein impression. At least I managed to get up off the couch, stuff a few tissues in my pocket and head to breakfast at the casino. I used lots of hand sanitizer and tried not to stand too close to anyone. Right now, I’m out on the patio at home, basking in some of the last rays of sunshine before winter hits. This time last year, we’d already had snow. I think. I remember it coming early.

I managed to get some work done on the book this week, despite being sick. I tried to think of a completely non writing related post and failed beautifully. I’ve already written about the trees and the occasional bear and that’s pretty much it.

Nothing else interesting. Oh, I got 4 out of 5 double 7s this am so I won 45 bucks instead of 7K. Thank goodness. I don’t know what in the world I would have done with all that money. On to the word count.

How to Sex Your Snake

Genre – Mystery
New since Thursday –  664 words
Total Count –  38523 words
Release date: Pre-orders mid October

Goals from last week: edits on the fixes to the crime scene. I’m almost done with that. I’m feeling pretty good so I might have the energy to sit out here for a while. Uh oh. I just saw husband give me his I’m starving look through the sun porch (snake room) door. I might get sidetracked here shortly.

I wrote a couple of drafts of fixes to ch 2 and 3. One more pass and they should be good to go. After that, I need to get back to a my second and in some cases third drafts of 13-18. Though, chapter 18 might get absorbed into 17 and 15 might end up being split into two. In any event, I still have quite a bit to do to finish. If I can get a good two weeks of work in, I could still be done end of September. Maybe. Probably not though. If the next couple of weeks are like the last couple of weeks, I’ll still be plugging away come Halloween. I just hope my beta readers don’t get bored and wander off.

This log has definitely been helpful to me in analyzing my work flow. If you haven’t kept track, it sucks. I think I write 3 to 4 days a week, usually for 3 hours but sometimes for up to 6. I am making continuous notes though, so when I do sit at my computer, I work continuously. That’s something I suppose.

Goals for next week: as usual, finish. Other than that, finish. Oh and I’d like to finish. Realistic goals? Final draft of 2, 3 (with the changes) final drafts of 12 and 13. We’ll see what happens. Have a good week and enjoy the warm weather if you’ve got it.

Write on,

Melissa