I am happy to be participating in a blog hop called, “My Next Big Thing.” I was tagged by fellow blogger and writer, June O’Hara, of The Nuerosis Files and asked to answer ten questions about my most recent writing project.
Here are my responses:
1. What is the working title of your book or project?
On The Pole
2. Where did the idea come from for the book or project?
I suppose life, in general.
3. What genre does it fall under, if any?
It’s a fictional story, inspired by true events.
4. If applicable, whom would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
I would love Christina Hendricks, Amy Adams, Isla Fisher, Kelly Monaco, and Vanessa Marcil to portray some of the women.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your manuscript or project?
I never participate in any memes without breaking the rules so here goes.
I usually joke about this answer.
Random Person: What’s your book about?
Meleah: A young girl’s strange and erotic journey from Milan to Minsk. The lead characters name is Rochelle, Rochelle.
Random Person: Really?
Meleah: No. It’s just a coffee table book, about coffee tables.
* Because, I would be nothing without my endless references to Seinfeld.
But in reality?
My book is an old story, really.
Good versus Evil. Right versus Wrong. Dark versus Light.
Oh, and there are: Strippers. Sex. Drugs. Rock N’ Roll.
6. Will your book or story be self-published or represented by an agency?
I would much rather prefer to be represented by an agency.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
** I’ve written about my process before. But I believe it’s worth revisiting. So I am reposting it for those whom may have missed it the first time around.
Once upon a time there live a girl named, Meleah. And in 2007, she decided to write a novel. In fact, her thoughts and ideas surrounding that novel kept her awake at night. Except that Meleah really didn’t know how to write a novel, mostly because she attended a very strange boarding school that didn’t exactly focus on education as much as it did cruel and unusual punishment. But that didn’t stop her from trying anyway.
She stayed up countless nights, diligently pecking away at they keyboard, emotionally vomiting on paper. Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, thoughts and ideas flowed, for days, and weeks, and months.
But then she got sick.
And then she got sicker.
And in 2008 Meleah’s world came to a sudden halt.
And so did her novel.
In 2009, Meleah toyed with the idea of returning to her novel, mostly because after blogging for three years, and she had a much better grasp on the written word. She had made friends with fellow writers and one person in particular was kind enough to steer Meleah in the right direction. And then she learned how to use the comma, properly. Along with other valuable tools like correct spelling, and spacing, and other necessary punctuation; all of which are basic skills Meleah never learned in high school.
Once again, she stayed up countless nights, diligently pecking away at they keyboard, emotionally vomiting on paper, rewriting and re-editing everything she has previously written. Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, thoughts and ideas flowed, for days, and weeks, and months.
But then she got sick.
And then she got sicker.
And by the end of 2009 Meleah’s world came to a sudden halt, again.
And so did her novel.
For nearly two years, Meleah’s novel stayed locked in a box, collecting dust, underneath her perfectly made bed. She never looked it. And she certainly never talked about it. She was ready to chalk it up as one of her greatest failures. She even considered burning it.
But as much as she wanted to forget all about her book, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Especially when the character voices screamed inside of her head. And plot twists plagued her dreams. However, when people asked about her book or how it was coming along, she would cringe at the very notion of ever returning to it.
So she came up with all kinds of excuses, and even some logical reasons, in order to avoid working on her novel, mostly because she knew just how much work it entailed, and just how difficult it would be.
And then one day in 2011, her grandfather, scolded Meleah.
“Stop being so hard on your self!” Poppa Sye shouted, after listening to her bash another piece of writing. And then he proceeded to remind Meleah, “It’s never the story you tell, it’s how you tell the story.” And then he said something she will never forget, “You, my dear, made writing about the lack of toilet paper an interesting read. The only thing holding you back is you. So get off your behind, quit playing games, and get back to writing. Will ya?”
And that very conversation, gave Meleah the inspiration, she very much needed.
Once again, Meleah stayed up countless nights, diligently pecking away at they keyboard, emotionally vomiting on paper. Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, thoughts and ideas flowed, for days, and weeks, and months.
And right before Poppa Sye passed away, Meleah promised him that she would finish her novel, no matter what.
In 2012, Meleah wrote with more passion and more dedication than ever before. She finally got real. And she finally got serious. And nothing could stand in her way. In fact, with the help of someone incredible, also known as MWJ she managed to make extraordinary strides and character developments beyond her wildest dreams. And she never felt happier, or more at peace, simply because she fully embraced her calling in life.
And once again, Meleah stayed up countless nights, diligently pecking away at they keyboard, but this time, she wasn’t emotionally vomiting on paper. Oh, no. This time she wrote with a genuine purpose. And she had a very clear direction.
Word after word, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, thoughts and ideas flowed, with an unstoppable force, only furthering her determination.
And this went on for 39 weeks.
But then the summer arrived.
And Meleah got caught up in all of the fun.
And she didn’t make any time for her novel.
Or her blog.
And then she beat herself up for letting everything fall to the wayside.
But just when she was ready to get her act together…
She got sick in September.
And then she got even sicker.
And then she went for some new tests.
And she had to make all kinds of appointments with all kinds of new specialists.
And even though she should be used to all of this medical nonsense, it still totally freaked her out. And then she dabbled with adventures in depression for the entire month of December, before she was forced to spend three days in the hospital from a severe Crohn’s attack.
With the new year beginning, Meleah has come to accept whatever will be will be, with respects to her health issues. Mostly because there’s not a whole lot she can do about it.
And rather than dwell, she’d much rather laugh.
She has also learned the writing process is a very slow and very painful one. In fact, it’s probably one of the toughest jobs on the face of the earth. Meleah used to be extremely embarrassed about the progress of her novel, because while everyone else in blogville seems to be pumping out books, she isn’t even close to finishing hers. But that’s okay. Because nothing worthwhile has ever come easy.
And Meleah is learning it’s very important not to judge herself anymore. Everyone has different methods. And everyone gets different results.
Meleah is currently back on track and she’s even feeling somewhat healthier.
She has a routine, and a schedule, and everything is falling into place.
And, Meleah doesn’t care if she gets sick, or if she gets sicker, again.
She’s not coming up with excuses, again.
She’s not letting self-doubt trick her, again.
And she’s not giving up on her novel, again.
Besides, those darn characters are keeping her up at night, again.
** So…. to answer the original question, it has taken SIX years to get where I am today. But I consider 2012 as the only year I was ever truly serious about writing my novel and armed with enough education to follow it through. And you can bet your ass when I am not here blogging very often in 2013, it’s because I’m too busy working on my novel.
8. What other book or stories would you compare this story to within the genre?
A Million Little Pieces – James Frey
[In my humble opinion whether his book was true, or full of lies, it was still one hellova good read.]
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book or story?
My family. But mostly my mother, Pam. And my grandfather, Poppa Sye.
10. What else about the book or story might pique the reader’s interest?
According to my mother, the sex scenes!
I am tagging the following writers who are under no obligation to participate.
Kelly Pea
Dana Leipold
Selma Tracey
Chris Dean
And that’s a wrap, people!
Poppa Sye was right. You could write about anything and make it funny/interesting. The lack of toilet paper is just one of the countless stories you have entertained us with over the past few years. Don’t be embarrassed about your progress – it’s your story and I see no reason to rush it. Many great authors took years to get their works published and you are just working to make it right. I am glad you are feeling better and are back at the keyboard for another round. For the full Meleah story, we can wait. And remember, I called dibs on a copy when it comes out…
all sounds very interesting, can’t wait for your book to drop! now if you need a proofreader for question no. 10, then i’m your girl. wow you are my shero, i’d be too scared to let me mother read anything sexual i wrote. nerp. wait until after i’m dead.
there’s probably 100 typos in this comment, i’m no proofreader just *!
I think it is great you are sticking with your dream and can’t wait for you to reap the benefits of your long journey. It has been so up and down for you with all your health issues and I am sure that only adds to writer angst and frustration. Oh, and I loved that toilet paper story and so many of your other random funny ones. I am no longer amazed at how you can take an ordinary event and make me laugh or relate to it 🙂
I, too, believe that anything you would write would be entertaining. I would buy your book in a heartbeat.
Where did my comment go?
I am patiently waiting for this book. 🙂
Looking forward to the book, but no rush. It will take as long as it takes, and then it will be done.
Thank you SO much, Agg.
Yanno, I was watching the Real House Wives of NYC and one of them, Carole DiFalco Radziwill, is a writer.
It took her FIVE YEARS to write her book, even with her incredible education, and degrees in journalism.
That made me feel SO MUCH BETTER about my progress. Considering I’ve had like NO education!
XOXOXO
BAhahahHAhHAhahHAhAH!!
I guess I’m lucky to have the kind of relationship with my mom where we can talk about ANYTHING at all.
Including crazy sex scenes!
Awwww! Thank you, Lucy!!
And I’m sorry I haven’t been to your blog, lately.
Obviously, I’ve been busy over here.
But I will be playing catch up all week!
XOXOXO
Awww! YAY!!
XOXOXO
Disqus is an asshole sometimes.
Thank you, Courtney!
You’ve been such a big supporter of this book, ever since I first had the idea, and didn’t even know how to spell!
XOXOXO
Amen to that!
🙂
Meleah, just remember when you go on your book tour, that I’m coming with you as your personal stylist (hair, makeup, clothes and perfume) okay?
Thank you so much for giving us wonderful peek and tease into your novel!!!!!
“10. What else about the book or story might pique the reader’s interest?
According to my mother, the sex scenes!”
Vavoooom!….oooo….I can’t wait to read those!!!
And listen, if you can picture me in any of the roles for the movie let me know.
Is there a role for a man who collects Barbie dolls?
Bwhahahahahahahahaha!
X ya, girl. Hope you’re feeling better!
That was cool to read about your upcoming novel. One piece of advice: I wouldn’t fret so much about trying to get someone to publish the book. In this day and age with social media it’s easy to promote yourself and sell your book yourself through some place like Lulu, where you can essentially publish it for free. You just pay for the books you want for yourself and to send out for promotion. Too many people worry about trying to get an agent and agent’s are the first to tell you not to self-publish a book, because if everyone did this, they’d be out of work. An agent once told me that self-publishing in this day and age makes perfect sense, because if you can sell a decent amount, then you can approach publisher’s and say I sold this many copies on my own, just think what we could do if you got behind it. And, by the way, the agent was someone I knew and he said it off the record. Anyway, that’s my little self-publishing lecture, I can’t wait to read this book! Sex, drugs, strippers and rock and roll? I’ll take ten copies please!
Oh hell yes, Ron.
You are SO coming on tour with me.
And I will totally find a way to cast you in the movie too!
XOXOOX
I love you, Marty!!!!
XOXOXO
Great! I’ll be waiting for your call!
XOXOXO
Booyah!
Well!
I’m pretty much a newbie around here. I knew you were working on a novel, but didn’t know the story-behind-the-story, so really enjoyed reading this! Very inspiring.
Happy New Year, Meleah. I wish for it to be a happy, healthy, productive one for you, and not just for the sex scenes!
Aww! Yay!!
🙂
And thank you.
XOXO
I really wish I had your strength to write, even through all of your illness, but the truth is, I think I need help. I certainly need guidance as to how to tackle such a mammoth task.
It’s gonna be a fantastic book and a sell out. I just know it 🙂
Well, I’d like to pre-order my autographed copy, please. And one un-autographed copy for Jepeto because if it’s got sex and strippers in it, there’s no way in hell I’m letting him touch my copy!
Babs,
It really IS a mammoth task.
I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into.
But now that I’ve come this far, I can’t give up.
It also helps A LOT when you have, help, from people who know what they’re doing.
XOXOX
BAHAHAHhaHAhHAahh!!
I love you.
XOXOX
This post touched me when I first read it, and it touched me once again this time around! Poppa Sye would be so proud of you for committing yourself to finishing your novel! I, for one, can NOT wait to read it… but please, will it be a little tamer than 50 Shades? I have yet to recover from that series…
Oh, don’t worry. It will NOT be like 50 shades. I promise you that!
Go girl! Great story about your story. Can’t wait to read it! I love the quotes. I’ve got a great Stephen King quote from his book, On Writing.
“Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.”
Oh, you sound like me. I have two or three half-finished novels, been through the pecking at keyboard and emotionally vomiting stage, been through the learning the techniques stage, night school stage, learning how to edit stage, and also the dropping it because life gets in the way stage. My problem is that there are several directions I’m pulled in. I NEED to be doing something creative, and often it doesn’t seem to matter what that something is: photography, drawing, making jewellery, using art clays, writing, sewing … so I’ve ended up as a jack of all trades, master of none. I will no doubt get back to my novels, but the chances are I’ll want to rework them so thoroughly that I might as well start again, and also that I’ll get sidetracked. Again.
I have read most of P.D. James’ books and like most of them.
How are you feeling today?
Ah yes! That’s actually my favorite book he’s ever written.
Thanks for stopping by, Lauren!
🙂
It’s a crazy cycle, Jay!!
I’m getting better. Thankfully.
However, I literally have a doctors appointment ever day this week:
Tuesday – Rheumatologist. [Lupus/Sjogren’s]
Wednesday – Gastroenterologist. [Crohn’s/Colitis]
Thursday – Endocrinologist [Hashimoto]
Friday – GP Gendy [Vitamin injections and needs updated reports from all of the above doctors.]
It’s a full time job being sick all the time
Awesome post. Great graphics, too. My fave; Drink coffee and make stuff up.
I can’t wait to read it.
So… you have spent six years working on your novel, when others only think about it and have yet to even try. I’d call you a success.
Love you, Mommy!
XOXOX
xoxoxo
That comment? MADE MY DAY!
Thank you, Terri!
I LOVE A Million Little Pieces!!! It is, to this day, one of my favorite books of all time. I don’t give a crap if it was made up or not. Everyone thinks I’m an asshole, but I don’t care. It proudly sits in my book case, along side Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and others! 😉
Ohhh! I can’t wait for the sex scenes! Seriously, Meleah, this novel is going to be amazing, and when you’re big and famous and tour Europe, I’ll be there waiting first in line to have my photo taken with you. 😉
Hooray!! Finally, I am NOT alone!
I don’t give two shits if that book is ALL LIES.
It was an AWESOME read!
XOXOXO
Awww! Yay! Deal!
XOXOX
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
– Jack London
I love that quote! Thanks, Bob G!
🙂
That it is. And now I’ve just bought myself a set of Inktense pencils and a couple of sketchbooks …
YAY!
Well, we can obviously still be friends because I’m totally NOT intimidating because I’ve never even attempted to write a novel and so I can be in awe of you! I worship at your feet!
AhahHAhHAhh!
XOXOXOX
I am definitely going to do this one. Thanks for tagging me. I have no doubts at all that you will get representation from an agency for this book. You are a strong, talented, intelligent writer. The subject matter is current, interesting and highly readable. I’ll eat my shorts if you don’t get published. For real.
Awwww! Thank you Selma! And I am SOOO happy you decided to play along!