Z is for Zee End

Stick a fork in me...I'm done.

Thank you all for playing along as I took on the A-Z Challenge.

This has been a really busy month for me with travel, family visitors, blogging and writing, and I'm glad I kept up with the posts. It was touch and go for a while. But the discipline was beneficial in surprising ways. It helped me be more disciplined with my fiction writing. Because it was such a busy month and I planned to make a really big push on my novel, it required me to carefully plan my writing time. In addition to these 30 posts, I also wrote 14,000 words of my WIP (as of 4/25, when I'm scheduling this post.) I hope to get a little more before the month ends.

My only regret is that I got really behind on my blog reading and I'm still catching up on a lot of posts. Please know that I love visiting your blogs, but I had to be a little selfish this month and use a lot of time for my WIP. It's really important for me to finish it soon. I'll be back to visit as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading this month! Things will be back to normal on the blog in May. And you should look forward to a giveaway very soon...

Y is for You

Yes, you!

This A-Z Challenge is about to kill me. I've never blogged this much in my life and, I've gotta tell you, I'm sick of hearing from myself. I'm thinking you're all sick of me too. I don't blame you.

So, I want to thank all of my old followers for always being so lovely and commenting on my posts. And say 'hi' to all of my new followers and hope that you haven't experienced too much Melissa and are scared away.

Since I don't know how much more I can possibly say, I want to use this opportunity to hear from you.

But first, a little more about me (lol) : For the first year or so that I blogged, I was a pretty big lurker. I read a lot of blogs but I didn't join in the discussion. Once I did, I made a lot of wonderful writing friends and met critique partners and felt a part of a larger writing and reading community and it was nice.

So I hope, if you are lurker you will comment on my blog today. And if you're not a lurker I hope you do your thing and comment like you always do.

Want to play along?

This was inspired by Allison at Allison Writes

1. What do you blog about?
2. What is your twitter handle?
3. Where do you live?
4. Are you going to BEA in May by any chance?
5. What is your favorite snack of all time?

X is for X-ray

When I was in high school, I had to have an MRI because I had these strange bumps on my legs. The MRI detected that all was well, but it didn't explain the bumps. I had to go to several doctors before a specialist determined that the sheath around my muscle was weak and that my muscles were bulging out of the sheath. Kind of like sausage breaking through the casing. He said there was no treatment and it's not dangerous in any way.

To this day, when I engage in repetitive physical activity, these bumps become more pronounced. I have yet to meet another person who has this happen to them.

But, then again, I was that kid who had all the weird diseases. The kind that multiple doctors had to diagnose.

The first was impetigo. I'm told this is a common problem. But, like the leg bumps, I have yet to meet another person who has ever had this. It's not the most attractive description, so let's just say it involved lots of oozing and scabbing around my nose.

The next was lice, which is quite common. However, I haven't heard of anyone who had it more than 3 times. Yup, I was that kid. And it's pretty funny, because:

1. My mother is obsessively clean.
2. I'm an only child.
3. I got it when school was out of session.
4. No one else I played with around the neighborhood had lice.

I guess it has to start with someone...

However, I've saved the best for last. The strangest ailment I had as a child was Fifth Disease. Fifth Disease is real. My doctor told me they named it because, quite literally, it is the fifth kind of skin rash you can get. The others being: measles, scarlet fever, rubella, and roseola (thank you wikipedia). The symptoms are:looking like you've been slapped in the cheeks and a lacy red rash all over your body. This took a few trials and errors to diagnose but ultimately some doctor out there had paid attention in medical school.

I bring it up because I have heard of one other person who had fifth disease! My father's coworker's daughter's friend. Who was actually quarantined in the hospital because no one knew what the heck she had.

I'm sure you're really glad you came to my blog to learn about all the weird diseases I had as a kid. But hopefully, if you or someone you know has bumps on their legs or looks like they've been slapped in the face repeatedly, you'll be able to shed some light.

And, what can I say? I'm on X of the A-Z challenge and I'm losing steam.

W is for Bookstore Wedding

This past weekend, I went to a wedding at the Housingworks Bookstore in Soho. Tyler's cousin, Mathias, and his (now) wife Allison were married amongst thousands of books. In the past few years we have come to know Mathias and Allison really well and I'm so excited that they will be a part of my family (more officially once Tyler and I are married). I adore them so much that Tyler and I often joke around that I'm only marrying him so that Mathias and Allison can be my cousins.

Well, for a book lover like me, there is no greater treat than celebrating the marriage of two people I love in a bookstore. Sipping my wine next to a little Stephen King. Dancing next to new non-fiction. Eating falafel beside Hemingway. I mean...wow.

Can we buy books while we're here? I asked Tyler.

He looked at me like I had five heads. I don't think that's an option.

There are a few books on my TBR list right over here. Do you think they have the cash registers up and running? The prices are really good.

I don't think so. Why don't you sit down and eat.

It's a non-profit bookstore, Tyler. They need the money. They really should let me buy books. It's only practical.

Sit down, Melissa.

Apparently, the only downfall to a bookstore wedding is that the guests can't go home with any books. Hmph.

V is for Victory

Ah...the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat...

I have begun to think seriously about what I consider a 'victory' when it comes to my writing. To be perfectly honest, this writing 'journey' often feels more like a battle and not a pleasant stroll to a particular destination.

And with every battle, there are victors.

Some victories are small: I wrote 294 words today and I didn't die! Because there are days when I can sit for hours and the words are just not flowing and it is both physically and emotionally painful. These are the days I click on microsoft word count and nearly fall out of my chair when I realize I'm only at something like 294 words and those 294 words took every fiber of my being to get on the page.

Some victories are pretty big: I wrote a novel and I didn't die! I know some of you are knocking out multiple novels a year. I bow down to you. It doesn't work that way for me. I started writing seriously in October 2008 and I have 1.5 novels to show for it. Right now, I'm in the midst of my second uphill battle and the fighting is pretty bloody right now. But since I did it once and I didn't die, I figure this will have a similar outcome. I guess the big concern now is how many psychological wounds I'll come out with in the end.

For me, there are some victories that still need to be won. I want to see a book I wrote sitting on a real or virtual shelf somewhere actual people shop. I don't want Tyler or my poor critique partners and beta readers to be my only readers (though I bow down to you as well and thank you from the bottom of my heart.)

The big question is, which victories are enough? Is it enough to say: today I wrote 500 words? Or: this year I wrote a novel?

I really, really want these victories to be enough but lately they feel like nothing at all. In my head, I know it is NOT nothing. But in my heart, it feels like the battle has not been won.

What do you consider a victory in your writing life?

U is for University

More specifically, Cornell University, which is where I got my undergraduate degree. I always think that Cornell is where I found my voice. Not just a voice in my writing, but an actual voice as well. Up until that point I had been a little frightened to speak up and be the person I wanted to be. But, in my time there, it seemed I was not afraid to say or do anything.

When I think of the things I did, I surprise myself with the memory. I think of the classes I spoke in front of, the singing auditions I attempted, the actors that gave voice to my short plays in theatre classes, the stories I read out loud in workshops. And of course, I remember my closest friends, who are the friends I always imagined having. The bars we frequented, the plantations we wandered through, the midnight swims in the steep gorges, the drives to the secret swimming hole where I sat underneath waterfalls in the pouring rain.

It's been nearly ten years since I graduated, but I remember that being a time of true freedom. A time to explore and become.

I always think of this bench which sits on top of the slope and overlooks the lake. The quote carved into it encompasses everything I felt during my time there. It was a time of extreme emotions. The first time I felt a part of something larger and more real than anything I had experienced before it. It might also explain why I never felt afraid.

To those who shall sit here rejoicing

To those who shall sit here mourning

Sympathy and greeting

So have we done in our time

1892


Photo Credit: vonhohenstaufen

T is for Tyler

Tyler warned me that the T post can not be sappy in any way. I don't even think I'm allowed to use the word love. So, in no particular order, here are the best things about Tyler that are not sappy. Not even a little bit.

Tyler does the dishes while I'm writing. It's, seriously, the nicest thing a person can do for another person.

He does a really good, exaggerated Lawng Island accent, which means that if someone had a hidden camera, they would find us wawking around the apartment tawking like that all day. And while we're wawking down the street on the way to the subway. And while we're on the subway when we think no one is listening. Oh, and while we're tawking on the phone.

He watches golf all Sunday afternoon so that I have no choice but to go in my little office and write. It's, seriously, the second nicest thing a person can do for another person.

He likes to ride bikes with me.

He is a human GPS. I don't even pay attention to where I'm going anymore because I just assume he knows where we are. And if he's not with me, I'll just call him on the phone and ask him where I am. And he'll know and tell me the landmark that's right in front of my face. And I'll be like, oh yeah, that's right in front of my face.

He knows everything that is going on in the news. He has to explain every current event to me because I can't understand the newspapers or the Rachel Maddow show.

He has a knack for making parallels between dog behavior and people behavior. For example, someone will make a face and Tyler will say, "That was a total Bella face." (Bella is his sister's dog) And the best part is, I'll say, "Oh my god, I know. And that's a Charlie stance." (Charlie is his parents' dog)

And finally, the best part about Tyler? The boy can cook. 'Nuf said.

Anyone have anything to say about the Tyler in their life? It can't be sappy.