Author Archives: PB Rippey

About PB Rippey

Writer, mother, wife, 7th gen Californian, and keeper of the mini-zoo.

Snow White Revisited (Part I)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by PB Rippey

And just like that, 2 hours of sitting in traffic was replaced by the type of couch that swallows you in a smooth, nerves-loosening manner, windows looking out on lush greenery, walls hung tastefully in my sister’s collection of California plein air, … Continue reading →

Posted in Faction, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Santa Barbara, Writing | Tagged 2012, fiction writing, ocean, poetry, Santa Barbara, snow white, writing | 7 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Make Believe Edition–Or IS it)

Posted on August 11, 2012 by PB Rippey

When it was decided (When was that again, and by whom?) that we were all supposed to choose between fiction and nonfiction, what was not taken into account was that for some of us truth can never be an absolute, … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Faction, Fiction, Writer quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Tips | Tagged 2012, Contents May Have Shifted, Corn Maze, creative nonfiction, faction, fiction writing, Pam Houston, quotes on writing | 3 Comments

All Heated Up (With Spiders)

Posted on August 9, 2012 by PB Rippey

We are experiencing triple digit weather. Triple digits means hatchings and unwelcome visitors indoors. Cloth-eating moths. Black widows. Giant waterbugs, which I call cockroaches, which my husband insists are waterbugs—regardless, they make the cats crazy in the middle of the night and startle … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Me and Us, Writing, WTF | Tagged 2012, black widows, Elizabth Peters, fiction writing, He Shall Thunder In The Sky, heatwaves, life, preschoolers, writing | 10 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Gore Vidal Edition)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by PB Rippey

You can’t really succeed with a novel anyway; they’re too big. It’s like city planning. You can’t plan a perfect city because there’s too much going on that you can’t take into account. You can, however, write a perfect sentence … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writer quotes, Writing, WTF | Tagged 2012, Bunker Hill, Echo Park, fiction writing, Gore Vidal, KCRW, Los Angeles, NPR, poetry, quotes on writing | 5 Comments

Links Time

Posted on August 2, 2012 by PB Rippey

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 | Leave a comment

Anteater Elegance

Posted on July 30, 2012 by PB Rippey

At the Santa Barbara Zoo, a fellow mother and I gazed at the anteater flicking its tongue at grass and slowly waving its unbrushed, showhorse-arched tail. Behind us, our 4 ½ year old boys practiced “Ninja” moves and tested their … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Santa Barbara, WTF | Tagged 2012, anteater, children's literature, fiction writing, Ninjas, preschoolers, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Zoo | 1 Comment

Quote For The Weekend (Yet Another “Revision” Edition)

Posted on July 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at leat 30 revisions. —Ha Jin In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don’t enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover … Continue reading →

Posted in ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, beach, children's literature, Ernest Hemingway, fiction, Ha Jin, John Irving, middle grade writing, ocean, poetry, preschoolers, quotes on writing, Rita Dove, T.S. Eliot, Viggo, writing | Leave a comment

Deep Summer Checkpoint

Posted on July 25, 2012 by PB Rippey

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 →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, children's literature, domestic bliss, E.B. White, fiction, fiction writing, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Follet, palominos, poetry, preschoolers, quotes on writing, revision, toddlers, writing | 1 Comment

Quote For The Weekend (Heatwave Edition)

Posted on July 21, 2012 by PB Rippey

Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good? Such thinking, in the words of … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Fiction, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, Author quotes, heatwaves, life, Paul Shepard, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, writing | 2 Comments

When Agents Call (Others)

Posted on July 19, 2012 by PB Rippey

If you’re agent hunting, you’re going to want to click on over to Beth Hull’s website for installments 1 and 2 of how she procured her literary agent. I find such stories fascinating. And Beth’s pieces are accompanied by drawings that always make … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Writer's Angst, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, Beth Hull, Literary Agents, writing, YA Novels | 2 Comments

Deadwhat?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by PB Rippey

Deadlines, deadlines, self-imposed deadlines. Sometimes, while the boy attends summer camp, I sit in a small boat in the silly above ground swimming pool and deadline-away. Floating, bumping into pool sides and ladder and capsized toy boats titillates the creative side of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Club, books, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, children's literature, Coral Reefs, fiction, fiction writing, Jason Chin, Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, ocean, personal goals, preschoolers, Rachel Carson, writer's angst, writing | 2 Comments

Quote(s) For The Weekend (Beach Edition)

Posted on July 8, 2012 by PB Rippey

The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea. –Isak Dinesen We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, ocean related, Quotes, Writer quotes | Tagged 2012, beach, CA, e.e. cummings, Isak Dinesen, Mother Teresa, ocean, preschoolers, quotes on writing, Rainer Maria Rilke, Refugio Beach, writing | 5 Comments

Not San Diego (Luckily)

Posted on July 5, 2012 by PB Rippey

Posted in Children's Books, Poetry, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, 4th of July, kettle corn, preschoolers, San Diego fireworks, Warner Center fireworks | 4 Comments

Phases (Moon)

Posted on July 3, 2012 by PB Rippey

As I drove myself and the dog home from dropping the boy off at summer day camp (where they create 4th of July art, squirt water at each other, learn how to play Red Rover and build Lego creations all … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, Pets, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, cats, chaos, dog, domestic bliss, Full moons, preschoolers, summer camp, writer's angst, writing, yoga | 2 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (N.E. Edition)

Posted on July 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

I don’t have much of a routine. I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don’t do anything. … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 2 Comments

Askew In The Valley

Posted on June 26, 2012 by PB Rippey

My poem is out in Askew Poetry Journal’s Issue #12 Spring/Summer 2012 (here’s the link to Askew in case you’re interested in submitting or subscribing). They also have a Facebook page with samples of poetry from this issue. Dorothea Grossman’s poems are a delight … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotes, Writing, Writing Publications | Tagged 2012, Askew Poetry Journal, Dorothea Grossman, Holly Prado, poetry, sonnets, writing | 2 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Solstice Parade Edition)

Posted on June 24, 2012 by PB Rippey

I love a parade… —Anonymous, Arden & Ohman and pretty much everyone who has ever stood on a curb with family and friends and cheered for utter fabulousness. Also: overheard all over town June 23, 2012, Santa Barbara.

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, WTF | Tagged 2012, Arden and Ohman, chaos, cowgirls, fiction writing, parades, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade 2012 | Leave a comment

Author Interview #1: Bridget Hoida And SO LA

Posted on June 18, 2012 by PB Rippey

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

Quote For The Weekend (Father’s Day Edition)

Posted on June 17, 2012 by PB Rippey

If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right. —Bill Cosby LATELY, our preschooler insists that … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotes, Writer quotes | Tagged 2012, Bill Cosby, Dubai, Father's Day, Lego, Ninjago, preschoolers, writing | Leave a comment

Quote For The Weekend (Ray Edition)

Posted on June 10, 2012 by PB Rippey

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, quotes on writing, Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man, The Veldt, writing | 5 Comments

Wrinkly Time, Melamine

Posted on June 8, 2012 by PB Rippey

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

Posted on May 30, 2012 by PB Rippey

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 →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, A Visit From The Goon Squad, Askew Poetry Journal, fiction, fiction writing, Glimmer Train, life, personal goals, writing | 2 Comments

Guest Blogging

Posted on May 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

Yesterday, which I thought was Sunday due to the 3 day weekend and synapses firing improperly or not at all after my husband and I watched a late-night Sunday (which I thought was Saturday) Mad Men marathon accompanied by intensely seasoned … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Writing, YA Novels | Tagged 2012, beach, children's literature, fiction writing, Santa Rosa Island, writing, YA Muses | Leave a comment

Quote For The Weekend (Super Late Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Edition)

Posted on May 28, 2012 by PB Rippey

“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 | 1 Comment

Roar While You Can

Posted on May 21, 2012 by PB Rippey

I picked up the preschooler from his place of happy learning and song and drove him up the coast to a museum party celebrating a new installation of animatronic dinosaurs. My husband phoned as I stood in a vast, beamed hall … Continue reading →

Posted in Me and Us, Santa Barbara, Writing | Tagged 2012, aging, Animatronics, Dinosaurs, life, pizza, preschoolers, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, T-Rex, Target, Triceratops, writing | 2 Comments