Tag Archives: fiction writing

SCBWI Events

Posted on March 15, 2021 by PB Rippey

A bright light in #stayhomestaysafe is being made aware (thanks to my SCBWI regional newsletter) of SCBWI regional events around the USA. Here are a couple I’m registered for: Austin, TX Webinar: To Plot or Not? , Tuesday 3/16 with … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2021, fiction writing, Jennifer Swanson, kidlit, middle grade writing, Newbery Awards, non-fiction writing, SCBWI, SCBWI-Los Angeles, Solve It!, STEMTeamBooks, The Night Diaries, Veera Hiranandani, writing | Leave a comment

SCBWI Winter Conference

Posted on February 21, 2021 by PB Rippey

I’m “here”! Full day today. Especially looking forward to the agent panel. Also have made new Twitter friends. Will be phenomenal to attend in real life one day. Yours in info dumps,PB

Posted in Writing | Tagged #fictionwriting, #kidlit, #NY21SCBWI, #SCBWI, 2021, Childrens Literature, fiction writing, writing | Leave a comment

Revising Is Writing

Posted on February 10, 2021 by PB Rippey

That’s it. That’s the post. Revising. Is. Writing. Also: When I remember that revising IS writing? It’s like I’ve downed a small shot glass of caffeine. Or at least an Americano. Pen, fingers liven up. In conclusion: Here is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2021, Black cats, fiction writing, stay healthy, stay safe, stay strong 2021, wear a mask, writers block, writing, writing fiction, writing woes | Leave a comment

Happy Inauguration Day

Posted on January 20, 2021 by PB Rippey

The future is bright! Finally. Also: #catsforbidenharris

Posted in Writing | Tagged #catsforbidenharris, #stayhome, #staysafe, #wearamask, 2021, Biden Harris, books, Breathe, COVID-19, fiction writing, hope | Leave a comment

Writing & Covid

Posted on December 7, 2020 by PB Rippey

Pulling a Trumbo.

Posted in Writing | Tagged #bathtime, #savethewhales, #stayhome, #staysafe, 2020, COVID-19, creativity, fiction writing, Pandemic 2020, Trumbo, WTF | Leave a comment

Note-to-Self (Pandemic Edition)

Posted on December 1, 2020 by PB Rippey

Posted in Writing | Tagged #stayhome, #staysafe, #wearadamnmask, #writing, 2020, faction writing, fiction writing, memoir writing, middle grade writing, novels, writing in the time of covid | Leave a comment

TG Countdown

Posted on November 25, 2020 by PB Rippey

Posted in Writing | Tagged #stayhome, #staysafe, #wearamask, 2020, Black cats, Christmas @Thanksgiving, Covid Thanksgiving, fiction reading, fiction writing, Santa hats, Thanksgiving2020, Valencia CA | Leave a comment

Doubt (Pub Cheese Edition)

Posted on August 20, 2020 by PB Rippey

I ferried my laptop to the kitchen table and brought up my novel-in-progress. A poppy-orange dawn filtered through window blinds and the coffeemaker hiccupped sighs and I relished being the only human in our house awake, tapping the pg dn … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Writing | Tagged 2020, 2020 mores, Akmak, animals, books, chardonnay, creative nonfiction, doubt, faction, Family, fiction writing, Fritos, iheartyetis?, Inspiration, Literature, National Geographic, NHL2020, positive advice, pub cheese, Tibet, TV, writer's block, Yeti | 4 Comments

It Happens

Posted on July 25, 2020 by PB Rippey

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2020, books, faction, fiction writing, Jaws, life, Literature, Sharks, writer's block, writing, WTF | 1 Comment

Washing My Inheritance

Posted on August 15, 2019 by PB Rippey

My then soon-to-be-husband stated (3rd date, my Echo Park, Los Angeles apartment with the spectacular view I couldn’t afford without working 2 jobs, the last apartment I ever lived in alone): You have a lot of rocks. My Echo Park … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2019, Big Sur, Decorative rocks, Domestic Zoo, Echo Park, faction, fiction writing, Laguna Beach, life, Lockheed, Mesas, moving, nature, Pets, quail, rocks of all sizes, Valencia, wild birds, writing inspiration | Leave a comment

Window Out Of Revision

Posted on March 29, 2019 by PB Rippey

As I continue revising, it’s good to take breaks, even if only for a few minutes, as you probably know. If I’m working in a Starbucks or a library, I bring up pictures on my laptop that are gaze-inducing and … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2019, beach, fiction writing, Inspiration, middle grade writing, poetry, revision, Santa Barbara, writing | Leave a comment

SCBWI WWR 9/2017

Posted on September 13, 2017 by PB Rippey

Me–prepping for the upcoming SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat: Fortunately I got in, thanks to iphone alerts, Alexa/Echo alerts, the wall calendar with a particular date circled so thickly in red it could never become invisible, no matter the … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Faction, Fiction, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2017, fiction writing, Karaoke, Meryl Streep, middle grade novels, SCBWI, Working Writer's Retreat, writing, Writing conferences | 1 Comment

Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH (In Percentages)

Posted on September 15, 2016 by PB Rippey

Because Maria Semple stated (in an article I read a few days ago) that she is planning to read Ann Patchett’s new novel, ‘Commonwealth’, I (who had no idea Ann Patchett had a new novel coming out, ‘Bel Canto’ still on my … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writer quotes, Writing, WTF | Tagged 1970's, 2016, Ann Patchett, Commonwealth, Divorce, fiction writing, Maria Semple, novels, State of Wonder, writing | Leave a comment

Seasonal Conundrums

Posted on August 14, 2016 by PB Rippey

Researching summer camps for my 8 year old, round about last March/April, I became frustrated: Sports camp in triple digit heat? No. Great white shark and hammerhead shark sightings along our southern coast. Surf camp? No. Science Camp? He loves … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Writing | Tagged beach, children's literature, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, ocean, personal goals, poetry, Santa Barbara, shark sightings, writing | Leave a comment

Remember the Bunnies

Posted on May 5, 2016 by PB Rippey

WRITER’S RETREAT! Oh, that’s long over now. ‘Tis a distant dream. T’was 2 1/4-ish days of nothing-but-revising, surrounded by foliage, sculpture/fountains and wild bunnies with super white tails. Sequestered in a simple room of my own with a nun’s bed, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2016, bunnies, children's literature, Dogs, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, writing, writing retreat | 3 Comments

Psychic

Posted on January 5, 2016 by PB Rippey

Somehow I now live in a neighborhood where the man next door is perfectly okay with hanging a sign from his rented eaves. PSYCHIC SERVICES, the sign declares–bold white on not-so-bold, pretty or eye-catching puce–followed by a phone number. When … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Faction, Fiction, Writing, WTF | Tagged 2016, chaos, fiction writing, gypsy curses, kittens, personal goals, psychics, writing | 2 Comments

Suckers Galore

Posted on October 24, 2015 by PB Rippey

I’ve read, of late: All The Light We Cannot See, The Luminaries (I sense a pun), Station Eleven, The Orphan Master’s Son (I sense a rhyme–no, it is, it is a rhyme), Plastic Ocean: How a Sea Captain’s Chance Discovery … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Fiction | Tagged 2015, fiction writing, mollusks, non-fiction writing, Oceans, Octopuses, Sy Montgomery, The Soul of an Octopus, writing | Leave a comment

Sugar Cookies (‘Is Mars in Retrograde’ Edition)

Posted on September 19, 2015 by PB Rippey

My son and his dad have a game in which my son pumps his legs hard and gets one of the swings on our creaky set to as high as he can without giving me a heart attack, and my … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Faction, Writing | Tagged 2015, Dogs, domestic bliss, fiction writing, gunshots, kids, Los Angeles, memoir on acid, personal goals, poetry, suburbia, writer's angst | 5 Comments

Fire

Posted on August 4, 2015 by PB Rippey

We left our drought-socked stifling valley at 815am and by 2pm—Hwy 99 to orchard-heavy back roads with stop signs, to another “highway”, to back roads with stop signs and colonies of slender giants we realized were members of the Stanislaus … Continue reading →

Posted in Faction, Poetry, Writing | Tagged 2015, CA, Dogs, fiction writing, forest fire, Groveland, poetry, Pyrite, Stanislaus National Forest, vacation, writer's angst, writer's retreat, writing, Yosemite | 12 Comments

Business As Usual, Please

Posted on July 27, 2015 by PB Rippey

My dad passed away last September, although ‘passed away’ sounds too ‘death-lite’ for the actual event. If you’ve never been at the bedside of someone moving on, all I can say is, it’s probably not possible to brace yourself for the experience. Try … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing | Tagged 2015, books, Earth, fiction writing, Last Tango in Halifax, life, Literature, Los Angeles, writer's angst, writer's block, writing | Leave a comment

Breaks

Posted on April 6, 2015 by PB Rippey

What I love about Spring Break? For a week I am Fun Mama–instead of: get dressed, brush your teeth, grab your Spidey hoodie, let’s go, go, go, homework, karate, shower time!, etc. It’s nice to be all: Ooooh—let’s scooter around … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, Writing | Tagged 2015, beach, children's literature, domestics, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, ocean, Parenting, poetry, writing | 2 Comments

This Just In (Elusive World of Poems Edition)

Posted on February 7, 2015 by PB Rippey

Bigger than George Clooney’s marriage. Bigger than my son eating cheese flavored Chex Mix for the first time yesterday (wish it had been broccoli, but at least he’s branching out…double edged sword, this pickiness business), bigger than the beachwalk I recently … Continue reading →

Posted in dog, ocean related, Poetry, Writing | Tagged 2015, alien invasions, Beach weddings, Chex Mix, dog, Family, fiction writing, George Washington Carver, life, Los Angeles, Louise Erdrich, ocean, personal goals, poetry, Santa Barbara, Wild, writer's angst, writing | 2 Comments

Screens

Posted on November 15, 2014 by PB Rippey

Staring at my writing, I heard what I thought was our younger cat pulverizing the bedroom window’s screen, as he does when he’d like to be let inside, despite the little Hobbiton upside-down-U’s we had cut in pertinent doors, just for … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Writing, WTF | Tagged children's literature, dog, domestic bliss, fiction writing, hobbits, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, personal goals, poetry, writer's block, writing | 2 Comments

Relief (Death’s Placards Edition)

Posted on October 17, 2014 by PB Rippey

There are fairly positive placards to be discovered–usually somewhere behind closed eyes–when Death (not waltzes in, there was no waltzing in my dad’s case) knocks down continents to claim, abscond-with, pose in a peasant blouse splotched in redwood forest mulch … Continue reading →

Posted in Faction, Me and Us, Poetry, Writing, WTF | Tagged 2014, beach, Death, fiction writing, grieving, Holbein the Younger, life, Los Angeles, ocean, poetry, writing | 2 Comments

Partial Poem For The Day

Posted on September 18, 2014 by PB Rippey

If thou art worn and hard beset with sorrows that thou wouldst forget, If thou would read a lesson that would keep thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep Go to the Woods and Hills! No tears Dim … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged 2014, beach, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, poetry | Leave a comment