copping out

Okay, so I'm in a rush this morning and really didn't have much of a blog topic ready so instead of posting a youtube video like I usually do when I'm unprepared, I'm posting a blog I had on my website over the weekend.

Because frankly, I'm still kind over the moon about it. Sorry if you've read this a hundred-million times.


I almost watched 20/20 Friday night because they were featuring 'Real-Life Vampires' and then thought..."Seriously, what are the odds they'll feature my book cover for this story?" Apparently I should also buy a lottery ticket because the odds were 100%!! You'll have to sit through a commercial once the video loads but at -6:34 on the timer, you'll see my beautiful cover with my name front and center!

Inside the World of Real-Life Vampires

eeek! It's REAL

I have a book. A REAL FREAKING BOOK.

With my name on it and everything.
See, I have a blurry self photo of my book to prove that it exists. It's real. And it's mine. (and if you still don't believe that it's mine, you can open up the back cover to see my picture. so there. I win. :p)

What a thrill it was to get this in the mail the other day! What a lovely thing for my awesome editor to do. My entire weekend was made when I opened up my final revision package to find a pretty wrapped present inside.

And when I ripped off the tissue (which, coincidentally (or not) matched the blue on my cover) I nearly peed my pants when I saw the REAL THING staring back at me. (okay, maybe I did pee a little. But don't tell anyone, mkay?)

I'm a published author. I have an awesome book (duh) that YOU will be able to buy off the shelves at a bookstore in 22 days.

In 22 freaking days!

Holy smokes!!!!!

It's finally starting to sink in. It's real. And I have proof because I'm holding a real copy of my dream.

And I hope you will be holding a real copy of my dream as well. :D And for a good dose of Karma, I strongly suggest you buy two or more copies.

almost woodstock...

You may or may not know that my favorite band is STAIND. I adore them. Have considered running away and marrying them. The whole band. Not just the hot-n-angsty lead singer. No. The entire band. It's not polygamy if you think of the band as a singular entity...

Anyway, one of the items on my 40 Things to do at 40 list (y'all do know I'm 40 right?) is to see STAIND in concert.

That concert was this weekend. They came to MudEdgefest along with Hurt, Drowning Pool, Chevelle, and Slipknot.

It has rained here in central Arkansas for damn near 2 solid weeks, so we are pretty much floating away. This concert was outdoors. And it thunderstormed and poured rained most of Saturday.

I did not care. I was NOT going to miss my most favoritest band ever on earth. Rain be damned.

So I put on my high-waters, my duck-boots and wore my cutest smile and we set off for MudEdgefest.
See how cute my smile is? Srsly, I was workin' the cute Saturday night.
The traffic was horrendous. I was getting texts from my friend Griff who had been stuck in traffic for more than two hours. He was getting ready to give up. But I was determined to get to the concert. I didn't care if they concert coordinators didn't have a good contingency plan for 40 days of rain. I would swim through the swamp if I had to. I was going to see my future husbands favorite band live.

We decided to bypass the traffic and go down to the next exit to see if we could come in the back way. We found a place to park and set out on the hike to the cow pasture.
It was a huge procession. But it wasn't raining anymore and the temp was perfect, so we made the most of it.

After about a mile and a half, the procession came to a halt. The road was completely flooded out.

Knee deep in some places

I was undeterred. Yes it was swamp water. Yes it was disgusting. Yes I was slightly afraid a water moccasin would come and take me away.

But I didn't care. I wanted to see STAIND!

So we trudged forward. And not long after the swamp we arrived at the farm. And this is where the fun began.

There was mud:

And even more mud:

and even some mud 'rasslin:

and the obligatory concert mullet:

And then there was STAIND:


Totally worth the drama of getting there. So glad I went. The adventure was fabulous. Plus, I was rocking the cute-n-muddy look. As was my oldest son...

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly that you endured extreme circumstances to achieve your goal?

This just in

From: Mel Francis
Location: Tatoo Parlor
Re: Monday's post

Please reserve a space right here for pictures of my new tatoo coming soon:

The outline

The Finished Product: back
The Finished Product: Front

I LOVE IT and promise to blog about it next week!

(This is Gwen--it isn't every day someone texts you from the tattoo parlor and asks you to post an apology that the post is late. We can forgive her, so long as we get pictures soon!)

History Comes Knocking

How do you avoid getting excited about a presidential race that, FINALLY, looks a lot more like America? Whomever prevails in November, we are living in astonishing times. An African American is the nominee for the Democrats and a woman has been nominated as the VP pick for the Republicans. I'm tingling!

Think about it... hard on the heels of the anniversaries of both the 19th Amendment being passed and Dr. Martin Luther King giving his "I Have A Dream" speech, these two Americans have emerged to stand in the spotlight of history.

And so, regardless of which party takes the White House in this election, we will be making history. In January the nation will finally-- FINALLY!!-- be represented by either a black man as president or a woman as vice president. Change is coming. There is no longer a wimp-out option. The bigots of the country must be flipping out. We've nailed the back door shut!

Come on... you don't have to even have political opinions to get goosebumps. It's just plain AWESOME!