Melani Blazer

The trip was long, time mesmerized by the hum of tires on the road. The night sky was lit up by reflections of the dash on glass. Stars watched us, fighting for our attention with the multiple color lights of a modern highway.

There was little to see until dawn, when the first light cast everything gray, including the wide stretches of water, trees reaching upward from hidden roots, telephone poles stoic in midst of still ponds. The grand Mississippi seemed ten miles wide, it’s greedy mouth eating up farmland, threatening roads, erasing property lines and landscapes.

I love the hills. As we crested each, I held my breath, waiting for the vision that would be laid out before me. A ribbon of black road curling past farmland, wet and dry. Homes dotted the view, as did horses and cattle, longhorn and domestic. At times, the mountains had risen up to reclaim their land, giant teeth of rock closing up over the roadway. We might claim to have tamed nature, but nature’s glory remains for us to see, to honor and to take our breath away.
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Just took a quick jaunt to Arkansas to visit family (on my husband’s side) and basically get out of town for a breath of “fresh” air. A mental stretching of the legs, so to speak. Took lots of pics, and will probably post them as soon as I get them developed (like maybe tomorrow?)

I also pulled out paper and pen and on the way home, wrote fragments and run-ons (don’t think I managed a complete sentence in there) of descriptions and thoughts and impressions of the trip. I run through them tomorrow, after my brain isn’t boggled from 12 hours in the back seat of an extended cab pickup and post them to see if I can’t just “show” you some of the things I saw, but might not have backed up with photo proof.

One of my cats was nice enough (or mad enough) to hack up a hairball right in the middle of my bed while I was gone, so I need to log off, go rustle up a new sheet and blanket and remake the bed. Then crawl in it. Without hesitation.

It’s one of my intentions to catch up in blogland tomorrow. Amidst laundry, getting film developed, getting groceries and psyching myself up to go back to work. Why are vacations so short?

Had an interesting convo this morning with two fellow writers, both pretty good friends of mine. I think the convo started with us all talking about our current writing progress, and I shamefully admitted I was stilling writing the *whispers* sex scene I’d omitted when writing the story.

I’d thought I’d made progress, then realized I’d locked Hero and Heroine all up …. without condoms.

*gasp* *boooo* *huffs* *throws book against the wall*

How DARE I?

Maybe cuz I’m 30-something, been married to the same man half my life and do not/have never slept around, but I don’t automatically THINK about those things. I might get bitchslapped into Monday when I say this–but I hate reading about them. It ruins the mood and pulls me out of the story.

This is my thought pattern. We don’t talk about the heroine getting her period. We also don’t talk about either hero or heroine having to go to the bathroom, with few exceptions where a) it’s a comedy or b) it’s really leading to other action. (confrontation, discovery, even sneaking out the window…) We don’t, as a rule, see heroine pull down her panties and actually pee. (Heaven forbid she had to do ’something else’. I.DON’T.WANT.TO.KNOW)

And honestly, I feel the same way about condoms. If I’m still reading the book come sex time, then I like the characters. I’ll believe she wipes front to back like a good little girl. I’ll trust she brushes AND flosses and that the hero actually scrubs between his toes. Unless told otherwise, I’ll even believe he calls his mom every Sunday, cleans the cat litter box and feeds his animals appropriately. I’ll also believe their intelligent enough to use a condom. But damn, damn and more damn, if a writer had to spell all that crap out in a book just cuz someone ASSUMES if it’s not there, it doesn’t happen, well, lets just say I’d read SOOOOO much less.

I know it’s been brought up, argued, debated and everyone has a very real and honest opinion. I personally, have a DAMN hard time believing a heroine tastes oh-so-sweet when the hero kisses her after a night’s sleep. (see above comment about being married half my life–I ain’t sweet pre-brushing, and God love ya honey, neither is he.) I deal. See it all the time. Pretend they both had a chance to sneak off for mouthwash or a bedside mint.

So… my book will have ONE condom mention. Some of my books have none. I’m not apologizing. It’s life. Deal. If you need them to use them, then they did. It’s fiction. Fantasy. Come up with your own betwen the lines stuff.

Mark this on the calendars, friends. I finished a book!
Writing, not reading, just to clarify.

It’s short, and it’s still missing that sex scene (or two or three….. I’ve got a night to fill). The ending is rough and there’s a few loose threads I’ve got to go back and follow through—aka, lots of editing, but omg, I completed the arcs, I satisfied the plot and gave these two characters a long awaited and well deserved happily ever after.

Knock me over with a feather.

Now, I’ll let it stew a day, or at least a night, cuz I’ve gotta go visit my Grandparents, stop at the store for meat for my contribution to tomorrow’s dinner and….I knew there was something else I wanted to do… gah! I’ll think of it, I hope.

Anyway, I’m a heck of a lot more excited than this post can convey, mainly because I’ve shifted focus SOOOOO many times lately with so many books, I was beginning to doubt my ability to hit “the end.”

I mean every one of those!

And before anyone asks…I have no idea what I’m doing with it yet. Will depend on word count and heat level after editing, I guess. I’ll let you know. But I finished, OMG, I finished!!!

or why I didn’t finish the book tonight….

Lacing those was a huge

And of course, the kidlet wanted ALL the laces flat… no crooked ones, heaven forbid.

So, now I’m off to make pepper steak (with family help) for the husband’s “potluck” tomorrow.

Maybe I’ll sneak in a page in before I pass out. Maybe.

But you can pre-order THIS now, and it’ll arrive in November, just in time for a cozy read that’s sure to get you in the holiday spirit.

Yeah, I haven’t crowed much about it for a couple of reasons. Most of us are barely over last Christmas, who’s thinking ahead to next? And I wanted at least a solid, stickable title. Looks like this is it, since it HIT the Amazon page already. Whoo hoo!!!! I won’t be able to stop talking about it once it gets a cover!

I’m wicked thrilled to be in an anthology with two phenomenal authors, Lacey Alexander and Shelby Reed. Santa’s Naughty List is one of those you’ll want to put on YOUR list–to pre-order now, and maybe even buy it for a few friends who want to heat up their cold November nights.

Anyway, I’ll post again when I get a cover. And keep your eyes out at the bookstores and at Amazon. There’s a great Ellora’s Cave/Pocket books anthology hitting the shelves each and every month through this time next year, I believe. Yummy!!!

Just for you, Emma, I was all set to write a lukewarm love scene sounding like Scarlett O’hara. Of course, what I was supposed to be writing was a real sex scene between my characters in my current WIP. Fearful I’d have my characters, who are in New York, sounding like southern belle and suitor, I typed *insert sex scene here* and moved on to the action occurring the next morning. Really.

Yeah, still can’t shake that word. Working on it though.

This book is on it’s, oh, maybe 4th, 5th synopsis? Rough outlines of what I want to happen. First couple were based on a full length story, then I decided to….de-complicate it and shoot for quickie or novella length. I only tell you that because I don’t change my story THAT much. *cough cough* normally.

So I wrote about….15K then decided I need to really have a solid idea of how this is going to resolve itself. I’ve got the character arcs laid out, at least internally. I know, shaking on that though, what will need to actually happen (externally and internally) to give these two a happily ever after. So I wrote it down, about 2 1/2 notebook pages, handwritten in various amounts of detail and have been happily writing from that.

Then what does my hero do? Walks out of a room to face the “villian” without having a very IMPORTANT conversation with the heroine. That conversation would lead to a minor but understandable misunderstanding (huh? Mel, what????) and cause the hero to make a decision based on what he thinks the heroine wants and is best for her, rather than what she wants. Hero’s actions have also left heroine in possession of a very core piece of….paraphernalia that has been central to the story, and that the hero actually needs.

You know the whole advice about doing the very worst thing to your characters and then seeing how they react because it really brings out the emotions? Hello, they’ve just gotten even and done it to ME!

Someone give me IV valium and some blank paper. I need to completely rethink this. WHY, what if, and “oh no you didn’t” are doomed to be among the things exiting my mouth as I venture into this discovery time.

Pray for me.

Ya know, sometimes there’s just a word that keeps really repeating itself over and over. Really.

Any idea which word it is that’s really getting on my last nerve, but keeps escaping from the end of my pen?

yeah. really.
No… really.
I mean it. Really.

The word IS… Really.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!

Just and that are making cameo appearances. As are sentences that start with But or And, and of course, the famous So that likes to pop in and visit.

At least I know, if this book really goes over word count, I can search for those words and really make a dent.
Really.

I’m going back to typing now. And trying to avoid putting that word in my actually document, despite it appearing really frequently in my handwritten story. (Is there a pill for this? A really-holic anonymous?)

Happy Sunday, everyone.

Another boring blog post. I feel guilty when I don’t blog, but it seems pointless to blog about nothing.

I’ve embarked in a little writing challenge with a couple of pals. I haven’t said anything “out loud” about it, so I’m not going to, less I jinx myself. The good news is that the words are really flowing. Bad for hand cramps, since it’s all been handwritten, but I’ll take it anyway I can, though I’m a bit nervous about scribing in blood. I tend to write long books. Eeek.

My copy of Grimspace arrived. I look at it every morning and tell myself I need to start reading. Anyone else push reading away to not interrupt the muse? But I’ve agreed to review it on my blog, so I’ll probably grab that this weekend and power read. I’m eager to get to it.

Other than that, it’s been lots of the same ole, same ole. Went shopping for a new desk chair and printer, but didn’t buy…yet. Think I’ll go back for the chair (40% off sale ends soon… must jump on a deal like that). Weather here has been incredibly moody. We’ve had temps ranging from below zero to nearly sixty this month, with rain, snow, thunder, lightning, wind and then more of the same. Adds flavor to a usually dull, gray month. I’m eager for spring. Very eager.

Let’s see….Not much else I can ramble about, so I’ll mosey onto bed where I can prop myself up on some pillows and head off into the world I’ve created and see how bad I can torture me some characters. *evil laugh*

Cheers!
Mel

How the heck did it arrive already? Back when it was a fleck on the horizon, I’d wanted to do something special. Guess I’d gotten better at procrastination than I’d thought. Whoo hoo.

The weather is wonky. Think it has a toll on all of us. Today had sunshine, and despite the fact I’m on day four of the most heinous back-ache of my life (saw Doc, got meds and a diagnosis. I’ll live. but pain sucks) anyway, I really enjoyed the sight of the bright sunlight. Cheers the soul, brightens the spirit. All that jazz.

Doing writing when I can. Searching for a good heroine name. I’ll know it when I see/hear it. Nothing’s clicking yet. Anyone wanna toss a suggestion, I won’t complain–or make promises.

If you’re stopping by on the weekend. Pop over to Shan’s blog and check out her question, maybe offer an answer/opinion. I’m looking forward to what discussion will develop there.

Well, the meds are kicking in and my eyelids have become weighted. Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day filled with roses and chocolate and love–even if its the cyber kind!

Cheers!