Category Archives: Avoiding My Writing

Quote For The Weekend (Tide Pool Edition)

Posted on February 12, 2012 by PB Rippey

“If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” —Rachel Carson … Continue reading →

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Time Spent

Posted on January 9, 2012 by PB Rippey

Roaming the house looking for my reading glasses when on top of head entire time: a good 15 minutes (additional minutes tacked on when distracted by each room’s white elephant: mound of clean yet hopelessly wrinkled laundry on guest room bed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Pets, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Little Nap Reading

Posted on January 3, 2012 by PB Rippey

I’m terrible when it comes to reading (cue echoing god-voice): books on craft. I used to ride horses that shied when the wind picked up, theirs withers trembling, nostrils flaring noisily. Hold Donald Maass’ book up before me and I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, Steps In Promotion, Writer's Angst | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

No Sickness (O My Stars)

Posted on December 26, 2011 by PB Rippey

I remember using the mini food processor chopper thing to within an inch of its life, opening cans of Christmas delicacies like organic kidney beans, tomato paste (yes, organic tomato paste—who knew) and what is Christmas without ye olde Christmas mandarin … Continue reading →

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Supernova (Boom, Crash)

Posted on November 21, 2011 by PB Rippey

When I’m tired, it shows. I don’t have bags under my eyes resembling Hugh Hefner’s ball sack (thank you, Crazy Stupid Love for that line, crud from a movie so crazy sexist it was: Stupid), but I miss things, like windows … Continue reading →

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Dive, PB, Dive!

Posted on November 9, 2011 by PB Rippey

Funny—I looked in the mirror and there she was—deep-sea darling—my mind instantly obsessing on the Mariana Trench and how even though it’s the deepest spot on Earth I’m barely acquainted with it and how silly is that for an author revising a novel filled with … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, fish, middle grade, ocean related, Writer's Angst, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wet Beach

Posted on October 25, 2011 by PB Rippey

Pashmina fog. You can’t really write that, but–“smoky” is cliché, the cat feet brilliance is spoken for and I have a gray pashmina I never wear that is the hue and untouchable texture of  last Saturday morning’s fog. You cannot write … Continue reading →

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See? Not So Proud

Posted on October 11, 2011 by PB Rippey

Tripping on stage at the very end of a performance, during the denoument, the final vital monologue. Tripping. So hard, so clumsily, there was no hiding it. Tripping. So that everyone in that theatre was yanked out of their suspension of … Continue reading →

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Avoiding My Writing

Posted on October 6, 2011 by PB Rippey

10:04p.m. Have been snuggled in writer’s armchair for 90 odd minutes, laptop on lap and discovered the following: Steve Jobs is dead, there are pictures of the Degeneres/de Rossi BH “lovenest” and you can look at them, The Pioneer Woman is giving … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Elusive Palomino

Posted on September 29, 2011 by PB Rippey

As I was writing/editing and avoiding my laptop’s Internet connection in my bed office yesterday (see canny Zadie Smith quote from previous post), utilizing the sweet patch of me-as-writer time following leg-destroying yoga and before I was to pick my son up … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, poetry reading, Quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Notes From The Armchair

Posted on September 26, 2011 by PB Rippey

And how is it going, PB, in your newly rediscovered armchair? Are you working under favorable conditions? Or does the scent of cat pee distract you, just as you’ve made yourself comfortable, laptop on lap, glass of wine on the bookshelf next … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, Me and Us, Pets, Steps In Promotion, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Poetry Reading

Posted on September 7, 2011 by PB Rippey

On Saturday, October 1st, 7:30p.m., I will be reading with other poets featured in The Pedestal Magazine at Beyond Baroque in Venice. Having just come from an extremely sparsely attended reading by the California Poet Laureate, I’m hoping there will … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Poetry, poetry reading, Steps In Promotion, To Explain, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Llama Laugh

Posted on September 5, 2011 by PB Rippey

His laugh: Vaguely hyena, part labrador-loose-in-the-surf, not mocking, but the tiniest bit cryptic, comically so. He made me want to write. Since it was too wonderfully cold for sitting outside by the fountain and attention-sucking candlelight, for two nights we kept company, this llama and … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Weekend

Posted on September 1, 2011 by PB Rippey

“Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on.” —John Steinbeck

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Spa Buzz

Posted on August 28, 2011 by PB Rippey

It sounds silly, but: I survived the MWO. Within an hour of being at our desert spa destination, I toured, floated on rafties in that one charming pool, flew on tiptoes to my chaise, applied Burt’s Bees sunblock to my nose, … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Weekend (early edition due to MWO beginning Friday a.m.–yee haha–er, sorry)

Posted on August 25, 2011 by PB Rippey

In honor of this writer’s upcoming MWO (Mama’s Weekend Out) at a spa in a tiny dry patch of non-descript California where she will experience mud, warm, constant bubbles and pools filled with bodies floating privately on provided rafts (the kind … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, Quotes, To Explain, Truman Capote, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gypsy Sunset

Posted on August 22, 2011 by PB Rippey

Now that summer preschool camp has come to an end, life is extremely busy as I organize excursions that will benefit the small mind and help it to expand in positive, utterly enriching ways (I’m talking about the enrichment that … Continue reading →

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Reveries

Posted on August 9, 2011 by PB Rippey

I’ve been seeing so many people from my past lately—I mean the past past, hazy-rocketing back to elementary school and working up from there—and it’s affected my dreaming. I have hosted reunions in my dream homes, welcoming total strangers to parties … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Weekend (Sunday Post-Reveling W/Family Edition)

Posted on July 31, 2011 by PB Rippey

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Me and Us, Santa Barbara, To Explain | 1 Comment

Avoidance: 10:30a.m.

Posted on July 27, 2011 by PB Rippey

Terrified to read my latest revisions, terrified to admit terror to self-terrorized Self, I have: Vacuumed, cleaned the parakeet’s cage, vacuumed, watered outside, worked out (oh the lengths my terror shoves me), and almost resorted to brushing the dog. Made … Continue reading →

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See World

Posted on July 18, 2011 by PB Rippey

Soon, this extremely amateur marine scientist, dolphin lover, anti-orcas-in-big-pools-putting-on-shows type, One Who Is Against Ray Petting Whether 2 Fingers Are Used Instead Of Your Whole Hand Or Not As You’re Still Diminishing The Ray’s Mucus Layer And Once That Happens They Get … Continue reading →

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Watermelon People, For Instance

Posted on July 15, 2011 by PB Rippey

My head and my brain are still at the writing retreat, clicking away, processing vitals, etc. I hope they are enjoying themselves. I returned home with my son to a house packed with visitors both human and canine, dinner for 8 … Continue reading →

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Retreat

Posted on July 6, 2011 by PB Rippey

Tomorrow I go off the grid and to my borrowed writing-house, get-away-pad, writing-retreat-with-fountain for a few days. Since there will be no wireless connection, I will revise sans the usual distractions (Facebook, The Pioneer Woman, Yahoo “News”, hulu) while my son eats … Continue reading →

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When I Write

Posted on July 1, 2011 by PB Rippey

I might wake up many times during any night due to: Nightmares involving fedora-wearing aliens intent on making off with my son. The certainty that I have heard a loud noise, which means rising from bed and checking my son’s room and the rest … Continue reading →

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Piddlings

Posted on June 10, 2011 by PB Rippey

I printed out a “finished” poem and left it on the chair next to my bed desk. I left the room. When I returned, I discovered that fearless, scratches-inflicting, wild, out of control, great white shark-mouthed and terminally cute Diggory-The-Kitten had … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, dog, Me and Us, Parakeet, Poetry, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment