It’s not You, it’s Me. Wait, never mind, yes it is You

“I’ve got eight things in the air and the phone’s ringing off the hook…”
Crack the Mirror ~ Melissa Ferrick

So we went off and traveled the country, saw family and friends, went to sporting events and all that other happy crap I told everyone we were planning to do a fracking month ago when I last updated my blog (!!!!!!) which got me thinking… Clearly at least one of those eight things has got to go.

I began evaluating all the stuff I do, or want to do and realized that up until a year or so ago I was getting along just fine without two daily interferences -- paying my bills and Facebook.

Although they have come to make a home in a corner of my living room, unfortunately a person is only allowed to file bankruptcy once in a six year period so the bills are here to stay. It isn’t an ideal situation but I’ll just toss a shoji screen up in that corner to hide their piles of laundry or something and go on with my day as if they don’t live here. We can co-exist just fine as long as we only have to see each other once a month.

Facebook on the other hand…

That evil bastard not only moved into the house, he took over three quarters of the bed, my sofa, ate all the food in the refrigerator and left his dirty laundry in the middle of the floor. I’ve known for a long time that our relationship is slightly dysfunctional but I thought I had enough effort to give for the both of us.

I was wrong.

The time that Facebook sucks out of my life is time I can never get back again and really I could find such better use of that time. For example, I could visit my old friend Random Lunacy who I have seriously neglected over the past few months in order to spend time with the new boyfriend. I’m so very sorry RL, why I ever gave up on you I have no idea, I guess I felt as if there might be something better out on the horizon but it turns out I was wrong. I hope you can find it in your virtual heart to forgive me.

It also wouldn’t hurt to spread a little joy to a few of my other lovers, like my drum kit (yes a real live one finally purchased), treadmill, or sewing machine. Heck even my paint brushes are feeling slightly left out in the cold and they’ve seen the light of day in the past couple weeks.

What I’m really trying to say, Facebook, is that I have no problem having lunch occasionally, or maybe a morning cup of coffee, but I just can’t hang around and play Scrabble with you at all hours of the night anymore and share links with you for stories that you never even read. I’m taking a break from you and focusing on the things that matter again. I’ll miss you a little bit I’m sure but we’ll find a way to make it work.

Friends?

The End is Rapidly Approaching

It’s been a while, yes that’s true, and I wish there was some excuse other than I have mostly been writing the book like a complete fool junkie for Chick-lit but there isn’t so here I am now. I do have to admit, I miss my blog and miss reading blogs but in February when I have a well crafted publishable novel that I can start shopping (read: lots of down time while I get rejection letters in the mail) it will all have been worth it and I promise to get back with everyone before then.

To keep my mind semi off the book I have been continuing with drum lessons, which have been going really well and my instructor is branching me out of the instruction book and into more real time beat driven stuff that doesn’t involve me reading along with anything and keeping the beat in my head, not on the page. It’s awesome to escape for the hour and just not think while I bang out some real music; albeit very slow music.

Speaking of music… Something strange that has happened, and I didn’t at all expect, is that I have not been able to bring myself to listen to my favorite music this month. No Jason, no Melissa, no Foo Fighters and no Dave Matthews Band. Since I tend to sing along with every word most of the time I didn’t want them infiltrating my brain and clouding up my own words for the book. Weird, because I love to listen to music while I write most of the time and especially lyricists like those folks.

Speaking of Dave (and Jason)... Last night the band (including Tim which was so awesome!) was the musical guest on SNL. Lately I make it to the Weekend Update and that’s about it but last night I think there were only one or two skits that didn’t make me laugh out loud. I was impressed by Joseph-Gordon Levitt as a host, I haven’t seen this kid since he was in 3rd Rock From the Sun but he was awesome! Great monologue, no shame, never forgot a line & he stayed in character, no matter what the skit, all night.

The best skit ever came somewhere near the start of the show. Anyone who’s a fan of Dave, Jason, Jack Johnson or Ozzy Osbourne will enjoy this. Even if you’re not and just know the general personalities of any of those musicians you should get a kick out of it.

The Mellow Show with Jack Johnson

Still makes me laugh. Hysterical.

So I’m breathing down the door of 40,000 words and bloody well plan to be at 44-46 by the end of the day today. I plan to hit the 50k mark on the first day we’re allowed to upload the book to claim the certificate, that way the pressure is off and I can just finish the beast knowing, if nothing else, I let myself win this challenge.

In other awesome news…you may have noticed there is a stagnant post at the top of the blog. It is a story on local Nano writers and I was featured in the article. Woo hoo! Matt Reid from the Medford Transcript and Malden Observer contacted me to see if I’d be interested to share some info for the article and it went up this past week on line and into the print copy last Thursday. Not only was it a front page story it was the lead off headline! It is very exciting that locals will get a chance to learn about Nano and I was so happy to be a part of the piece! Thanks Matt!

So that’s about all the news to report in my life.

My character, Sara, on the other hand... Well so far she has had to deal with the break up of one of her friend’s relationships (because she just got signed and is about to go on tour with her band), discuss the possibility that another might be having an affair with a much younger man in London, find out that another friend might be selling his bar and sandwich shop (which is her touchstone location) and she is trying to decide if its appropriate to sleep with a guy on their next date (because she isn’t really sure if its their second or fifth) and that guy is about to reveal the biggest secret that will affect all of them forever.

Whew!

She is on a month long roller coaster here but I’m so glad to be able to be along for the ride. Luckily I have her to live vicariously through; my own life sometimes seems kind of boring in comparison. Of course that isn’t exactly a bad thing.

See you all again in December!

It’s All About Music, It Always Is

There is no news, no television or computer and not a whole lot of conversation when on the job. My dad has this guy Timmy who helps him out and he is a great guy, very hard worker and willing to pitch in and do just about any job you throw at him from demo to finish work. I have been picking him up and dropping him back off every day and we have had a chance to chat and get to know each other more which has made working together a more pleasant environment.

But here is the thing about Tim, he isn’t exactly up on the ins and outs of the daily world as he lives in his truck and primarily listens to Oldies 103.3. So, although I like sharing stories about the fact that the DPW has decided the perfect time to cut the trees along route 2 is rush hour or he tells me about the time he spent working at the base as a military “brat”, we have very little in common aside from my dad (who by the way is almost never out at the job).

When I get home at night I am so exhausted I barely talk to anyone and have extremely low motivation to get on the computer. I feel out of touch and it is a foreign concept to me. In some ways it’s liberating to be free of the little electronic box but for the most part I just don’t like it.

To work out my psychosis called ‘left out-ness’, I turn to my favorite music. Although the other day I said Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains were making a come back, at the end of the day, on the hour long ride home after dropping Timmy, I need something far less heavy. So I turn, as I often tend to do, to Melissa Ferrick.

Recently on her digital release Goodbye Youth she covered the tune “Glycerine” by Bush. It is just her & an acoustic and it is awesome. I have seen her in places where there might have been 100 people at best and I was about a foot from the edge of the stage but although that is amazing, I really feel that this woman should be playing for crowds of thousands.

I have talked about her before but have probably not given her the insane props she really does deserve. Answering a survey the other day I mentioned something about all of her albums are as if she came over, read my journal and wrote her lyrics and it is totally accurate. She is raw, emotional and oh yeah, one hell of an amazing guitar player.

She has released 13 albums (including 2 live albums, one of which is a 2 disc) and if someone asked me to choose my favorite I would immediately name all of them before settling on ‘I can’t decide’. If I were to recommend one to get started on the road to Ferrick fandom however it would have to be either Freedom or Valentine Heartache or a mix cd with a sampling from everything. That might be a four disc set though.

I have seen her live at least 10 times, with a full band in a decent sized venue like the Ironhorse in Northampton, Mass or with nothing but a guitar and her honesty at Club Passim in Cambridge. Once Matt and I were even lucky enough to catch her show outdoors at the Museum of Fine Arts and we had the chance to meet her after the show. She was gracious and sweet and genuinely appreciative of our drooling fan-ness. It was so sweet how excited she was to hear we were going to be playing “The Stranger” at our wedding. Then she was sweet enough to let us snap a photo with her.

So speaking of sweet and to share one of my top 10 of hers of all time here’s a little live action to whet the eardrums, not only does she play guitar but trumpet on this one. Buy her stuff. She is amazing & you will not be sorry.