Author Archives: PB Rippey

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About PB Rippey

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

SCBWI/LA TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

The SCBWI-LA booth was busy on Sunday 4/23! Wonderful for the authors signing books. So many parents and kids visited our booth, it couldn’t have just been the bubble machine attracting everyone–I mean, even meandering teens lingered. Zeena M. Pliska, … Continue reading

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Festival Weekend 2023

I’m going. Are you? Sunday I’m helping out at the SCBWI booth. Both days have a great lineup of kidlit authors signing books. Poetry tent will be quietly rockin’. Lots to explore, as usual. See you there!

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April: Poetry Month

Repair—Dorianne Laux After you fix the broken picture framewith wood staples and wire, take the glassrectangle to the kitchen and turn on the tap,hold it beneath and watch the water slide downthrough the dust.  Balance that expanseon the divider between … Continue reading

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Spring Break: High Desert (Mojave Edition)

Last year I thought we’d spend this year’s spring break in Costa Rica, but Rte 66 and the Mojave National Preserve were shall we say more 2023 practical: I hate you Covid. Mitchell Caverns. Calico Ghost Town. The Jenny Rose … Continue reading

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Except He Doesn’t Proofread My Blog Posts

Now that the Feb (me) and March (spouse) event-packed birthdays are over, it’s back to work. I purposefully let my MG synopsis and first 10 pages of the manuscript marinate while I ate cake and socialized with my people. Grateful … Continue reading

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Fielding Distractions

SoCal rainstorms, SNOW!!!, and my (feels-like-95th) birthday have distracted me from completing important tasks since Valentine’s Day (also a distraction), such as wiping puppy noseprints from windows, or filling in gopher holes. However, I’m not distracted from my creativity–writing, submitting, … Continue reading

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Time to Read

Valentine’s Day present from husband and the teen. Perfect! Wish I could start reading now. Yours in hearts and candy (whether chocolate or books), PB

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Absolutely the Place

Took me a while to finish this novel, but not because it’s not riveting. I was savoring each chapter. Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to introduce multiple characters on a page and pull out their souls for the reader to examine? A … Continue reading

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Cormorants

Loglines/writing break, waiting for the refrigerator repair person to arrive between now and 4 hours from now, recovering from the debilitating cold the teen had last week, took the puppy on a brief walk to the pond, where we quietly … Continue reading

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Hearts on the Horizon

Hurtling towards February, my birthday month, I’m still writing every day thanks to Nephele Tempest’s December Writing Challenge AND I almost have my synopsis ready (though–are synopses ever really ready?) for my women’s fiction novel AND the synopses for my … Continue reading

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December Writing Challenge Results

December ’22 was a zephyr on steroids, for me. For you, too? And yet–Christmas Day passed in slow motion: walks, long phonecalls with out of town family, cooking-while-socializing (sans panic), everyone snoozing by 10pm (except for the gaming teenager). So–Nephele … Continue reading

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More on loglines

Instead of grousing about writing loglines, I’m sharing my go-to list when composing them. My husband, the scriptwriter, calls this list a formula. Although the following doesn’t make my grousing cease, it does temper it and, truthfully, makes approaching writing … Continue reading

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O Loglines!

To be 100% honest, I hate writing them. I tell myself: fantastic writing exercise! Or: you’ve just written 5 potential maybe-winners! Or: it’s midnight WTH. And: time to pay somebody. Query letter, synopsis, logline are sometimes the ONLY bits in … Continue reading

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Night Writing Paradise

If I was to write solely by night, every night I would want to do it here: Which is also here: Here: And especially here: Sadly, this installation is temporary. I did let them know I’d be happy to take … Continue reading

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JANUARY 1, 2023

HAPPY WRITING NEW YEAR! PB

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The Flexible Writing Schedule

I love when authors I admire share writing schedules/non-schedules. Most seem to have a set routine–which I marvel at as I tend to ricochet around the hours–or the hours ricochet around me when I’m at my computer. I’m most focused … Continue reading

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Merry Christmas!

Hope that on the 25th you were warm, dry (even if in an airport), or getting sunburned, but most of all SAFE. Yours in love, PB

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Solstice Check-in

December 21st and I’ve written or revised novels every day this month except for 1, when I was in the throes of that chest cold going around. Still feeling the chest cold. Writing anyway, keeping to agent Nephele Tempest’s December … Continue reading

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O Holy Decor!

World’s tiniest Santa Claus tries to break into our house! Every night! Through January!

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A Breath of History

The last time I visited the Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, my then-boyfriend and I ordered drinks from the Tropicana poolside bar, our waitress wearing a copy of Marilyn’s ‘Seven Year Itch’ white dress. We sipped alongside 2 Spideys and a Batman … Continue reading

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December Writing Challenge

Each December agent Nephele Tempest reminds writers about her month-long writing challenge. Write. Every. Day. Even Christmas Day. Carve/axe/cement-drill writing time for yourself, even if only 10 little minutes. I’m in. Adding reading to the challenge–the tower of books on … Continue reading

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SCBWI-LA and CenCal Writers Day ’22

So happy to finally attend in person again. Looking forward to seeing one of my favorite kidlit authors, librarian and conference host, Sally Rogan. Full day of mass-info-absorption in an inspiring environment. See you there. #WritersDay2022

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Welcoming the Warg

So–recently we adopted my son when he was a baby, only in puppy form. My son is 14. It’s been a while since the cutest-of-babes escaped under tables and chairs with deadly pens/pencils (scooted to the floor by our cats) … Continue reading

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Summer Goals (Part 2)

I’ve enjoyed summer despite living in fire country, which means our vital documents are packed in travel boxes until maybe November, pet carriers lined up in the garage, everything ready to be loaded, if necessary. My summer-normal. Yours, too? I … Continue reading

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JULY (Miranda Edition)

Whenever I hear complaints about July, most of which have to do with hot weather, I immediately think of Miranda July, her quirky stories, films, and mostly the bagged goldfish on top of the moving car…especially that image, which for … Continue reading

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