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PB Rides The Unicycle!
UPDATE from Feb., 2013: 3 years later, the unicycle leans against a distant patio corner. When I remember (usually when watering the fern near tarnishing silver spokes), I tell it I will return. And I will. But not today. July 2017: Not sure where unicycle is...July 12th, 2017-
Written To Date…
Blogroll
- Adventures in Children's Publishing
- Agent Query dot com
- Annabel Ruffell–Journey for Earth
- Beth Hull
- Bridget Hoida, So LA
- Dreamprayact
- Guide to Literary Agents
- Henry Miller Library
- Jack Smith: Portraits of American Poets
- Jeanne Birdsall
- Jeanne DuPrau
- JK Rowling
- Joan Aiken
- Kathryn Stockett
- Linda The Esthetician
- Mad Woman In The Forest
- Miss MOL
- Moth Radio
- MT Anderson
- PB Rippey Website
- Philip Pullman
- Ransom Riggs
- Rhapsodomancy: A Reading Series in Los Angeles
- Rick Riordan
- SCBWI
- Scott Strohmaier Copywriter
- Veronica Rossi
- YA Muses
- Zilpha Keatley Snyder
My Website
Tag Archives: fiction
The New Now
I closed my laptop and asked my waitress, Lila, why she was clearly having a rough day. She started talking to me about her mom. I almost dropped my glass of lemonade. Lila’s mom rivals mine and I didn’t think … Continue reading
Coffee Kick & Go (Tremble Edition)
It may be poetry month in the USA, but here at PB Writes the author was up late revising her MG novel, prepping it for the agent requesting a read. This sweet, cool and sunny spring morning–after creating pancakes-secreted-with-carrot-puree for the boy, feeding … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Pets, Poetry, Writing
Tagged 2017, books, cats, coffee, Dogs, Family, fiction, life, Literature, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, muse, Pets, poetry, Poetry Month, revision, spring
2 Comments
O Summer!
I’ve been quiet since May, after a brief, powerful writer’s retreat. I’ve been busy this summer with what the retreat inspired: Writing. Revising. Writing. Revising a new short story, one screaming for edits of late. It’s almost ready for submission. Compiling … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged 2016, beach, fiction, Kauai, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, ocean, personal goals, poetry, writer, writer's angst, writing
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The Women’s National Book Association
I was made aware of the WNBA/LA thanks to my middle grade writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (ask me if I am lucky to have her as my mentor and you will hear amplified hell yeah’s). She gave one of this … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Tips
Tagged 2014, children's literature, Destiny Rewritten, fiction, fiction writing, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, middle grade writing, ocean, poetry, SCBWI, SCBWI CA/North Central, Women's National Book Association/LA, writing
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Walking to Floats (SoCal Edition)
Rose Parade Floats Viewing, January 2nd: I walked my son several blocks down a typically—for Pasadena—vast and nicely swept boulevard to another major boulevard (wider than the Rio Grande and as sungleamy in our December heatwave) mobbed by people like us … Continue reading
Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2014, fiction, Los Angeles, Pasadena, poetry, Rose Parade floats, shaved ice, space aliens, writing
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December Whinny
Sitting on the patio at Peddler’s Fork, alone out here as it’s a SoCal pre-Christmas bit of chilly, i.e., 60 degrees, way too cold for the cycling clan packing the tables indoors, brrr, but perfect for me as I’m the … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Poetry, Writing
Tagged 2013, children's literature, fiction, middle grade writing, Old Town Calabasas, Peddler's Fork, personal goals, writing
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Quote For The Weekend: Early Edition (Due To Colds, Flu, Pediatric Dental ER’s, Close-Family Close Calls, Going Away For The Weekend & A Unicycle That Still Needs Mastering…)
Try, fail. Try again, fail better. —Samuel Beckett In Sunday’s typically heat-knit twilight, I glance up from pinching pie crust into old-fashioned, part curtains patterned in fat cherries. A palomino trots down my street, its rider guiding with the blithe … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry, Theatre, Writer quotes, Writing
Tagged 2013, fiction, palominos, personal goals, poetry, unicycles, writing
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Quote For The Weekend
In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book. ― Junot Díaz Today I am a 56 year old academic who wrote only … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
Tagged 2013, Catallus, fiction, fiction writing, Junot Diaz, quotes on writing, writer, writing
5 Comments
And There Is A Storm And Here Is A Cat
Locust After the midnight bell, the battered book closed, flame of the inherited candle snuffed, we recover from stifling night, erasing radical dream-dyes we will never share (though not because we are secretive) and we remember I’ve just returned from … Continue reading
Links Time
It’s been a week of discovering useful blog links. I’ve hopped from link to link and then some, pausing only to drop the boy off at summer camp, pick him up, play Batman & Dinosaurs, fix dinner, twist myself into … Continue reading
Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Writing, Writing Tips
Tagged 2012, Alexandra Sokoloff, Beth Hull, children's literature, creative commons, fiction, middle grade writing, paninis, Pinterest, Pub Rants, public domain, Talia Vance, Veronica Rossi, wikimedia commons, writing, YA Highway, YA Muses
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Deep Summer Checkpoint
Two summers ago I wrote: I create escape beneath my yard’s wind- bent gazebo, books on spread gingham, the shrunk house I dragged into our shade, ticking stove, stranger’s voice in the toy wall phone he refuses. Create with a … Continue reading
Author Interview #1: Bridget Hoida And SO LA
Introducing Bridget Hoida, whose first novel, So LA, is due out in bookstores June 20th. I happen to personally know that Bridget is brilliant, but I can also tell you without a hint of bias that she writes about Los Angeles with … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Writing
Tagged 2012, Bridget Hoida, California, fiction, fiction writing, Joan Didion, Los Angeles, Michael Ventura, Robert McKee, So LA, writing
3 Comments
Wrinkly Time, Melamine
I recently discovered that anything made of melamine, i.e., my preschooler’s plates and bowls, should not be tossed into the dishwasher. Ever. And if you make a knife cut in melamine? Chances are toxins will seep into your child’s food. … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, Madonna, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2012, children's literature, fencing, fiction, fiction writing, life, London, Marcel Proust, melamine, Molly Ringwold, preschoolers, Swann's Way, yoga
2 Comments
Short Story Writing Drama
Because I’ve been a Glimmer Train Finalist several times and, once, long ago, when GT published poetry, a Top 25 Finalist, and because, of course, GT is one of the best fiction journals in the country, I subscribe and receive … Continue reading
Quote For The Weekend (Super Late Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Edition)
“The Californians are an idle, thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy, at a great price, bad wine made in Boston…” ―Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Well, Sir—we’ve come a long way. … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, Writing
Tagged 2012, beach, Dana Point, fiction, ocean, preschoolers, quotes on writing, Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before The Mast
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Critique Etiquette
The ever-interesting Beth Hull offers some valuable critiquing advice at her blog today. I highly recommend you check in–especially if, like me, you are gearing up for the Rocklin Spring Spirit conference, where critiquing will be in the air, … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Tips
Tagged 2012, Beth Hull, CA, Critique Etiquette, fiction, How To Critique, Rocklin, Spring Spirit Conference, Susan Rich, writing, Writing Critique
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Quote For The Weekend (Christmas Edition)
The best sitting room at Manor Farm was a good, long, dark-panelled room with a high chimney-piece, and a capacious chimney, up which you could have driven one of the new patent cabs, wheels and all. At the upper end … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Quotes, Writing
Tagged 2011, Charles Dickens, children's literature, fiction, writing
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Quote For The Weekend (Late Edition As was Ocean-Distracted–Luckily It’s Never Too Late For Quotes)
“One of my favourite places to read was my elder brother’s bedroom. It was a tiny room with a bed, a chest-of-drawers, bookcases full of books, and shelves where he kept his seashells, butterflies, pressed wild flowers and microscope, because … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, middle grade, Quotes, Writing
Tagged 2011, beach, children's literature, fiction, Joan Aiken, middle grade writing, ocean, The Cuckoo Tree
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DUMMY
I have a new special writing/revising trick. Starting with the first three chapters of my novel, I copy and paste them into a brand new fresh document, print, then edit/revise/correct/read-aloud/enhance/make-marvelous, etc. I throw the hardcopy edits into the brand new … Continue reading
