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Tag Archives: fiction writing
SCBWI WWR 9/2017
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
Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH (In Percentages)
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
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Remember the Bunnies
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
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Psychic
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
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Suckers Galore
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
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Sugar Cookies (‘Is Mars in Retrograde’ Edition)
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
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
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Business As Usual, Please
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
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Breaks
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
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Screens
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
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Relief (Death’s Placards Edition)
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
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Partial Poem For The Day
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
Overcast In The Valley
Craving a view, I rode the escalator to the 3rd and final floor of that Macy’s and speculated on valley through tinted windows grand enough for a museum. No thunderheads. Not the merest ribbon of blue sky. No sun. Mounds … Continue reading
Posted in Faction, Fiction, Poetry, Writing
Tagged 2014, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, poetry, writer's angst
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Never Fails
Text conversation with my writing mentor as I attempted to send her crucial re-written novel pages before her plane took off, pages I was anxious for her input on so that I could meet a writing deadline ASAP, pages she … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Steps In Promotion, Writer's Angst
Tagged 2014, children's literature, Conures, fiction writing, life, personal goals, writer's angst, writing
4 Comments
Mornings Become Them (Birds Edition)
615am–I get out of bed to let the dog outside and get back in bed forgetting to let the dog back in and he barks and I shoot out of bed not wanting the dog to wake the first grader … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Parakeet, Pets, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF
Tagged 2014, cats, children's literature, Conures, dog, domestic bliss, fiction writing, First Graders, Freelance Writing, life, Los Angeles, poetry, writer's angst, writing
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I-5 Pretty
In a previous post I regaled our drive from Los Angeles to parts further Northeast known as Tracy, Stockton and Sacramento. Namely, that interminable length from the end of the grapevine to whatever that KABOOM exit is that has Corral in … Continue reading
Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Fiction, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2014, CA, children's literature, fiction writing, I-5, life, Los Angeles, Sacremento, storms, Tracy, writing
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Spring Break Snoozing (Wide Awake Edition)
During this luscious week of no school for the Kindergartner, we snooze well. Except when we are awakened from chasm-sleep somewhere between 2a.m. and maybe 4:30a.m.—after the bars have closed, but before the rooster across the alley busts its lungs—after we’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, middle grade, Pets, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF
Tagged 2014, cats, children's literature, dog, domestic bliss, fiction writing, Kindergarten, Kindle Fire, labrador, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, personal goals, poetry, writing
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Spring Spirit 2014
We’d hoped to leave our valley by 10am. 430pm we were finally on the road. The little boy erupted in sneezes and coughing fits at the top of the Grapevine. When we stopped somewhere on the other side of the mountains … Continue reading
Discoveries (Balancing Edition)
The huge benefit of being thrown by a horse and not being able to exercise for over a week or lie down on the bed without screaming in pain or do anything in between carrying on as a mother except … Continue reading
Article At ‘Through The Tollbooth’!!!
My writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, was interviewed by Catherine Linka (I’ve heard Catherine speak at SCBWI events–she is positively famous in our SCBWI Los Angeles circles) over at Through The Tollbooth. The interview is about Kathryn’s mentoring experience–er, of me! … Continue reading
Falling (Whinnying Edition)
Leapt down the vastly spaced steps to the stalls, rounded the corner, Indy saddled up and ready to go, I talked to him, rubbed his cheek as I led him to the ring, a man opened the gate for me, … Continue reading
Posted in Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, Poetry, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2014, Equitation, fiction writing, horses, Los Angeles, poetry, writing
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