Author: melissaperea

I almost always get sidetracked by Facebook or my child or cleaning or a phone call or texting or reading when I sit down and try to write. Even if I save my writing until 8:00pm after the kiddo is in bed and most of my friends, family and *weird internet stalkers have more important things to do (weird internet stalkers the only exception) distractions are always present. It’s gotten to the point where I have literally disabled my internet.

Unfortunately, doing that only frustrated me when I needed those “breaks”. The problem is my 10 minute breaks always turn into a week long vacation on the island of Facebook. Grrr. Somehow, I still manage to find a way to put down some words. I do really need to learn better self-control though. I’m working on it.

Here’s a bit that I fell in love with tonight during my re-read. 

“Stepping out of the car, I felt like the air had turned into thick molasses. The simplest movements required so much physical exertion. Closing the door, I placed both hands on the top of the car and tried to get my breathing under control. What had changed since the last time we were together? I stared into the driver side window and narrowed my eyes in confusion. Is this what love feels like? There was so much painful doubt and anticipation. Before, everything seemed so natural between us. Now, I felt like there was this unseen force-field flowing around me- it was simultaneously telling me to run into the house and kiss the hell out of her and get in my car and run away.” – Javier

I hope it made you squirm 🙂

xoxo

*weird internet stalkers: you know who you are and I still love you. Why? Because I party with you all day and most nights. We are kindred spirits. Keep up the good work.

I came to the conclusion the other day that I need to stop caring what people will think about what I write. And no, I’m not talking about getting bad reviews or people complaining about how I write. I’m talking about content and my word choices.

My world is comprised of a very diverse group of people. Conservatives, liberals, democrats, republicans, straight, gay, christian, atheist, muslim, catholic, black, white, mexican, egyptian, korean, short people, tall people, fat people, skinny people, singles, married couples, people who enjoy alcohol A LOT, people who enjoy it a little and people who hate it. With that being said there is no way on God’s green earth that I am going to please everyone. It just isn’t possible. Plus, my point isn’t to please you with my writing. It’s hopefully to teach you something and share a piece of my heart with you. If you can’t read it for what it is then don’t read it.

My mother and I had an interesting conversation the other day about whether or not she would read my book. She said she probably wouldn’t. And that’s fine. I think my story would probably scare her to pieces, being that she is the most precious, innocent little bug on the planet and I would hate to have her be squashed by my words. The funny thing is I’m a lot like her, but somehow I’ve managed to stumble upon this story and these characters that are the exact opposite. I guess since I know I’m writing “characters” that are separate from me that I can see the difference. I realize not many people can do this.

More often then not, people assume that the writer is the writing and not just the writer. Don’t get me wrong there are pieces of me all over the book. Either in the characters personalities, their likes/dislikes or maybe how they respond to certain things. But let me make it very clear that my characters are not me. Writers are creative people and thus have the ability to make-up a plethora of crazy shiz. Seriously. So hopefully when you read Nate dropping f*bombs and his mother and father participating in a myriad of evil you won’t think WOW this girl is one sadistic little wench.

Because guess what – I AM NOT.

If anything I hope this showcases my talent as a writer- to have the ability to write things in which I have little to no experience with. Because dark and emotionally heart-wrenching situations are pretty much the exact opposite of my life.

At the end of the day my goal is two fold:
1. That my writing causes you to think. Whether it changes your perspective on things or how you approach people or anything really, I want to get your wheels turning.
2. That you are able to taste every page. I want the words to melt in your mouth like a Thanksgiving Day feast.

Even if you hate it at the end, but you can say yes to those 2 things, then personally, I will have succeeded. There’s not much else to it for me.

I finally found something I want to do for the rest of my life. Write.