Category: Uncategorized

MY CURRENT OBSESSION – ELEANOR AND PARK

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

In searching my favorite audiobook site about a year ago, I found this title called Eleanor and Park with a cover that caught my eye. The story looked to be set in the 80’s (a sure tug on my heart) and centered around music and two misfits who fall in love. SOLD!

Long story short, a year later, I finally loaded my iPod and sat back for a listen. Let’s just say, the book came to a close, and I hit the button to start chapter one again, and listened through a second time straight away.

I don’t want to rehash the story here because I want you to read the book and experience this strange exquisiteness for yourself. But if you are at all in doubt, let me tell you who this book is for:

– Anyone who adores the magic of first love.
– Anyone who spent the 80’s with the alternative music of The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen,etc., blaring through the headphones of your Sony walkman.
– Anyone who likes to root for the underdog.
– Anyone who has ever been a bit weird or awkward.
– Anyone who is looking for a story to capture their heart and never let go.

So in celebration of my current obsession, allow me to give you a PLAYLIST of the week. In the book, Eleanor wants to listen to alternative music but can’t (you’ll have to read to find out why). If I were to give Eleanor a list of 80’s alternative music to get her started, this would be it. I’ll pepper in some songs Park did actually give her, which I coincidentally love.  🙂

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
The Perfect Girl by The Cure
Dressed in Black by Hoodoo Gurus (not released until 1991, but too perfect to exclude)
Debaser by Pixies
How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths
One of the Millions by XTC
No New Tale to Tell by Love and Rockets
Love Spreads by The Stone Roses
Anywhere’s Better Than Here by The Replacements
Lips Like Sugar by Echo and the Bunnymen
Bad by U2
Alison by Elvis Costello

If you do Spotify, click here to find this playlist in my shared playlists.

Enjoy the book and the music!

 

WRITING LONGHAND

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

I’ve been having weekly breakfast meetings with a fabulous writer colleague of mine, and each week I walk away with a wonderful piece of advice. This week’s little jewel is to take advantage of downtime away from your computer by writing longhand.

At first I’m all like, yuk. My hand will get tired, I can’t cut and paste or erase stuff, I’ll have to retype it all, etc. Then I quit being a Debbie Downer and started thinking about it. Why not fill these little pockets with productivity and something I love to do?

Now, let’s just get this straight. My preferred writing method is the computer. It’s by far the most efficient and workable method for me. But I’m really excited about this longhand thing. It may even drag me away from my desk at work on my lunch hour and to the park to write for a little while. And with my eyes being on a computer screen all day at work, and then all evening while writing, wouldn’t a little break with eyes on a notebook page be a nice relief!

Just a thought. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

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Song of the Week: Something May Catch Fire by Chuck Ragan

This song doesn’t match much of anything else in my library, but I really dig this guy’s voice. Worth sharing.

SONG OF THE WEEK

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

The only thing I love more than writing is…well, actually I love my family more than writing…and the beach…and ice cream…never mind. I’ll start over.

I love discovering new music. A friend of mine and I just recently exchanged playlists with one another, and I had as much fun putting hers together as I did listening to the one she made for me.

Seems like recently, the Spotify channels I listen to keep repeating the same old songs I’ve been listening to for the past decade. I need new music, so I scoured a slew of music blogs trying to track down new artists I’d never heard of and found some pretty cool stuff.

Since I know most people don’t care to dedicate their time to finding new music, allow me to help. I’m going to include a song of the day on my blog each week. I’ll try to stick with new stuff, but I’m not promising that I won’t toss in an 80’s or classic rock tune if that’s what I’m feelin’ that day.

I’ll also say a little something about the tune. What it means to me, what I like about it, or what it makes me want to do. (Scary thought.)

So here’s the song for today’s blog: Levitation by Circa Zero

My all-time favorite band is The Police. My husband mentioned that Andy Summers had a new band I should check out, so I dumped the single into a playlist and forgot about it. A week or so later I was listening to that playlist at work and this song grabbed my attention. I loved the eighties influences with a fresh sound. I selected it for this introduction to the song of the week, and it wasn’t until I Googled it that I realized this was the Andy Summers band. Of course it is. Please enjoy!

WHEN YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR LETS YOU DOWN

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

A good author is hard to find. I read (and listen to) tons of books a year. Some aren’t fantastic. Others make me smile. But it’s really rare for me to walk away with a new favorite author, which is why I treasure my existing handful of favorite authors so much.

Some of these authors only release a book a year if I’m lucky. Most of the time I savor every minute of the book and mourn it when it’s over, keeping the characters in my thoughts for months on end. Which is why on the rare occasion when one of my favorite authors slaps me upside the head with a bad book, that it is so irritating.

The bad (in my opinion) book actually pisses me off as I read it. I want to take to Good Reads for a nasty review airing all of my gripes about this book that robbed me of hours of my life and complain about this author who I once adored and how she let me down.

But here’s the thing. The writer did not set out to write a bad book that pissed me off. If the book was left of center that was likely intentional. Maybe she was stretching boundaries a bit and just missed the mark. Or maybe the bulk of her fans loved it and it’s just my own issues sullying the book for me. Regardless, it shouldn’t make me mad.

So as I close this latest book by one of my favorite authors, I shelve it and wait for her next to release which I will promptly pick up and give a shot, because I love her for a reason. She has gotten me in the past and will get me again in the future most likely. And besides, aren’t we all entitled to a bad day?

THE TRUE END

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

Do you remember what you were doing on the eve of September 7, 2008? I was sitting on my couch with a pilsner glass of Blue Moon, glued to HBO and the series premiere of what would turn out to be probably my favorite show of all-time, True Blood.

While it seems like old hat now, at the time I thought it was the most fantastically weird and freaky show I had ever seen, and I could have kissed Charlaine Harris for inspiring Alan Ball with this Southern bit of magic. Having been a fan of Six Feet Under, I knew I was in good hands with Mr. Ball, but what I wasn’t expecting was such an amazing (I don’t use that word often, mind you) cast of characters…particularly the supporting ones. From the fabulous Lafayette to the grumpy Tara, the no-bullshit Pam and the clueless Jason, I fell in love with these people and this rural Southern town.

There have been good seasons and great seasons. There were seasons that made me itchy and nervous like season four where witches took control of the vampires. I did not enjoy seeing Eric Northman powerless and sweet. *shudder* There were seasons that turned me upside down, like season five where I watched Bill shift his loyalties and transform into an egocentric bizarre vampire-god. And then there was the introduction of the werewolves and Alcide in season three where women across America swooned in unison.

Through the highs and the lows I was glued to all episodes and went directly into mourning at the end of the seasons. And now, tonight, I sit down with my husband and one last pilsner of Blue Moon to tune into the final, precious episode of the series.

Goodbye, Bill. I’ve been by your side, and rooted your love for Sookie on, even though I did want her to have little bitty affairs with Eric and Alcide on the way. But I always wanted you to win in the end. I have faith that you will tonight.

Goodbye, Eric. I’ll admit, it wasn’t until you cut your hair in season two that I truly fell for you. I’ll always remember the episode in season two when Sookie drank your blood and dreamed sweet dreams of you beside her, when Bill was really the one next to her. (he! he!)

Goodbye, Lafayette. I couldn’t be happier for you and James, even if you did steal him from Jessica.

Goodbye, Jason. I hope Hoyt’s girlfriend is the one for you.

Goodbye, Tara. Oh, wait. You’re already dead.

Goodbye, Arlene. Score one for the forty plus girls! I only wish we could have seen more of you and Keith. (name said breathlessly)

Goodbye, Pam. Thanks for showing us the true essence of aloof.

And finally, goodbye, Sookie. May you and Bill find happiness, and may you finally get some peace from the constant attempts on your delicious blood. Namaste, my faerie friend.

true blod pic

 

HITTING DELETE

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

Words are precious. At least that’s what I thought when I first started writing. I wrote 10,000 words! That’s incredible!

But now that I’ve written a lot of words (seven full-length novels and two novellas at last count — I swear I will release one someday), words are not nearly as important to me as they were in the beginning. In the editing process in those first novels, I would sometimes come across sections that didn’t work or that needed to be removed based on other changes in the book. That was always hard, and I would save those sections in a separate document in hopes of using them later.

But now, I actually like hitting delete. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever deleting whole sections…pages…chapters even. Because really, it’s fine. There are more where those came from. It’s actually cathartic. Out with the bad — in with the good. Toss out the riff-raff to make room for the poetry. Like when you scrub a dirty kitchen counter, washing away the grime.

I’ve talked to beginner writers who are afraid of changing their stories because then they’d have to delete sections or start over. I understand that fear, because when you are first starting out, you are really proud of your words, and most of all, you are afraid you won’t be able to come up with more that are as good as those are.

But trust me when I say that there are so many more WAY BETTER words in you, that won’t be released until you’ve written a bunch of words. Writing mentors say that you have to write a million words before you really “get it.” I’m not there yet, but I’m well on my way. And the more I write, the more ideas that come for more stories to write and more types of characters to develop.

Some great advice I got once in a workshop was to never save anything for later. If you have a good idea for a line or a character, a story, use it NOW. Because more will come to you later, and chances are when you read that line in six months to a year, it will be lackluster compared to the punch it packs now.

So write, and write, and write some more. And don’t be afraid to hit delete, because there are better words waiting to occupy that space.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

How many times have you been at a party, and the person you have just been introduced to asks you, “What do you do?” I know my first instinct is to drone on about my boring day job.

But that all changed a while ago. I met a young woman and asked the standard ‘get to know ya’ question, “What do you do?”

She replied, “You mean for work, or what do I enjoy?”

I absolutely loved this. I responded. “What you enjoy, of course!”

She went on to tell me about her love of music. She didn’t play it, but loved to listen to it, and constantly went to hear bands. This sparked a further interesting conversation between us as we talked about bands we’d both seen, and music we mutually loved. But best of all, her response left a huge impression on me.

Why do we identify ourselves with our day jobs? For those of you who are lucky enough to get paid to do what you love, kudos to you. You’re all set. But for the rest of us who consider our day jobs a means to pay the mortgage, let’s all start answering that question this girl’s way. I’ll kick us off.

Partygoer: “What do you do?”

Melissa: “I write novels, listen to tons of audiobooks and search for mango ice cream to rival that of Blue Mountain Beach Creamery in Santa Rosa Beach.”

Surely there’s something in there to start a decent conversation.

 

FUN SUMMER READS

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

I love that people read more in the summer. I certainly do. I listen to audiobooks nonstop year-round, but I have more time to read in the summer because that’s when I sit by the pool. I have several friends who have asked me for recommendations for light summer reading, and I love to give those recommendations based on what I know about the person and what I think they like.

For instance, I recently recommended Janet Evanovich’s Motor Mouth to a friend who I know to be a huge NASCAR fan, and who wanted something funny. Another friend wanted something sexy, so I suggested Maya Banks to her. Another wanted a good intelligent but witty book for her book club, so I suggested Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

My own book club helps me stay diversified in my reading, but if I’m doing my own reading for simple pleasure, I gravitate toward women’s fiction and chick lit. For me to actually purchase a book to read, not listen to, it’s a huge deal because there are SO MANY books that I want to read that I either can’t find on audio, aren’t available at the library, or are too expensive to purchase — although, I must say with Whispersync on Amazon audiobooks are becoming quite inexpensive.

So allow me to wrap up this post by sharing with you some of my favorite reads from this summer.

Still Life With Husband by Lauren Fox — I listened to her book Friends Like Us and adored her style, so I went searching for anything else from her and loved this one even more. She is hilarious, insightful, and has the most fabulously flawed characters I’ve ever seen.

Tempting Fate by Jane Green — Ms. Green has been one of my favorite authors since I read Jemima J. over a decade ago. When I saw she had a new book I snatched it up without having a clue what it was about. She’s that good. If you’ve ever considered cheating on your spouse, I urge you to read this book first.

Just One Day and Just One Year, both by Gayle Forman — If you like young adult/new adult (can’t decide which this is) and you enjoy international travel, pick up Just One Day. But be prepared, because as soon as you put it down, you’ll want to start Just One Year, the follow up.

That’ll do for now, I suppose. But if you want suggestions on a great book to pick up this summer, give me a holler here in the comments and let me know your interests, and I’d be more than happy to make a personalized suggestion for you!

Happy summer reading!

YOUR SUMMER PLAYLIST

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

Am I the only one who never wants summer to end?

People say they love all the seasons. Not me! Provided I remember to visit thecomfortdoctors.com/air-conditioner-installation/, summer is by far my favorite month. There is nothing better than spending a long day in the sun before returning to your perfectly chilled-out home. I’ll trade you icy conditions that you still have to trudge to work in for vacation days with a book and a lounge chair while the summer sun seeps into my (sunscreen covered) skin. I’ll trade you freezing cold nights in front of the television for sipping cocktails on the back deck on a warm summer evening. In fact, I’ll trade you anything you want to be able to have the chance to go abroad and spend time in the sun there. The Cayman Islands would be perfect. My friend has just come back from there herself and said that it’s probably the best vacation that she has ever been on. But I think that’s because she stayed in one of the most luxurious villas, from somewhere like Exceptional Villas, during her stay. And I’ve seen pictures – it looked amazing! So of course, this only makes me want to go there even more and spend time in the warm sun away from those cold nights here.


Wherever you are, summer evenings have the potential to get really warm. This is lovely until you have to try and get to sleep. That’s the only downside to summer. Trying to sleep without a good air conditioning system is almost impossible. If your air conditioning system doesn’t seem to be working, you could get in touch with Castle Home Comfort Heating & Cooling – White Heath HVAC to see if they could fix yours. That should make those summer nights more bearable. If you haven’t got one installed, it might be worth looking into getting something to cool the house down. For example, whole house fans can be useful for this. Perhaps some people could consider contacting Safe and Sound Electric (visit company website here) to see if they could install these fans for you. Hopefully, this will cool the house down significantly.

Anyway, though the start of school is around the corner, I refuse to let summer end. Summer is not over until September 22nd, and you better believe I’m going to make every moment of it count!

No summer would be complete without a summer playlist. So if you are hanging on for dear life to this summer, load this playlist on your iPod, kick back, and let summer seep into your soul.

Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams

Stone in Love – Journey

Summer Nights – Van Halen

Magic – The Cars

Summertime Blues – Rush

Boys of Summer – Don Henley

Summer Breeze – Seals & Crofts

Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Groovin’ – The Young Rascals

Vacation – The Go-Go’s

Wish You Were Here – Incubus

Rain in the Summertime – The Alarm

The Other Side of Summer – Elvis Costello

Girls in Their Summer Clothes – Bruce Springsteen

Tropic of Capricorn – Sammy Hagar

PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION

Posted on by Melissa Chambers

I was talking with a friend of mine who has come off of sugar, gluten and all artificial sweeteners. Needless to say, he’s feeling better all-around. He’s wide awake when he gets up in the morning and never lags throughout the day. He has lost weight, and pain in his joints has miraculously gone away. He says food even tastes better now.

So my immediate reaction is, “Sign me up!”

And then I go to the grocery store. Oh, I’m out of wheat thins, let me grab a box of…no, never mind. Hey, look! My Peach White Honest Teas are on sale for a dollar a piece. Wait…even though they are low sugar, they are still sugar. Okay, breakfast, where are the biscuits…doh!

So now my reaction is, “This is too hard. I’m giving up and going back to all my normal, comfortable stuff.”

And then his words ring in my ears. “We’re looking for progress, not perfection.”

Oh, so I can just try to make a few better choices, and that will help steer me in the right path, huh? Interesting. So maybe I trade my canned soup that I eat for dinner most nights for a bag of frozen vegetables and some chicken breasts. Maybe instead of a six pack of sprites I pick up a pack of Izze low calorie sodas. Maybe I pick up a couple of Peach White Honest teas, but I supplement with a large bottle of Gold Peak Unsweet tea, which I like as well. Maybe I pick up a pack of bagels for breakfast, but just forgo the dinner rolls.

Progress.

When I think about all I’m supposed to be considering when I go to the grocery store, it is SO easy to just throw my hands up. No gluten, no sugar, no bread, no pasta, organic-only, no hormones, no dairy, and I can only shop at Whole Foods for the items so I better pick up an application for a second job there while I’m at it. It’s enough to say screw it and pick up a diet coke, some fried, dinosaur-shaped, mechanically separated chicken nuggets and a pack of red hots at Walmart for dinner.

But I can work with progress. So this morning while I chow down on yummy breakfast pizza my husband made us, I do so without the guilt of veering off course, knowing that I will make better choices with the rest of my day, focusing on realistic life choices that I can manage rather than striving for perfection and falling flat on my face.

Maybe one day I’ll be as disciplined as my friend, but for now, baby steps.