Category Archives: books

SCBWI WRITERS DAY 2020

UPDATE: EVENT CANCELED (but you probably already know this) Stay safe, self-quarantine as much as you can, take deep breaths, don’t watch too much news, CALM is a great meditation app, hydrate, catch up on reading the tower of books … Continue reading

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Winter Busy

As the countdown to 2020 begins, I wonder how it is I forgot how busy the holiday season is. VERY busy. We’ve: been to Santa Barbara and back, hosted relatives and their little dogs, hosted a Christmas party, followed a vital … Continue reading

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Poem

Flawbag There is the girl, woman this 3:02p.m., midway on twinkling crosswalk. Her voice thumps her hip, tucked in a dropped- bottom bag working on its 5th shoulder strap. Walk-lope: she doesn’t like you, though it is doubtful she could … Continue reading

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Birthday Alarms

I was wide awake before Monday’s morning alarm chimed, plotting what errands I would accomplish, in what order– when my brain was hit with edits to my novel-in-progress. I threw back the covers and staggered for the dining room table, … Continue reading

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Octopus Garden

Because of my love for the ocean and its creatures, I aspire to hosting this kind of ocean-themed party (thus avoiding my fear of scuba diving, while still having a great time, and without attracting great white sharks–no matter their … Continue reading

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Rain Or Shine: Strike On

A couple of weeks before the strike, I was John Snow: I knew nothing. There are always excuses I can credit a busy mother. But everyone is busy. I simply wish I had paid any attention to events leading up … Continue reading

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Ho!

Busy keeping my butt in a seat this week before Christmas (see everything Anne Lamott has ever written about the writing process). My son is under-the-weather, and while his feeling sick is not great, we are taking advantage of the … Continue reading

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Hunting

230am, the dog’s nose a wet Q-tip on my ear, his drunk-carny’s breath. I rise, stumble to the patio door, let him out. Waiting, I realize my right foot is wet. I panic:  blood? Cat vomit. I stumble to the … Continue reading

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Dav Pilkey in Redondo Beach

Whenever it was tickets first went on sale for this event? Stayed up until 12:01a.m. so that I could be one of the first to nab them. Can I just say–I’m glad I was a night owl as the event … Continue reading

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Lost Time

Yesterday I was driving home from Trader Joe’s, my mind deep in my novel. I am SO close to finishing it I can see the end and I was excited about what I was seeing. Then a street sign yanked … Continue reading

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This Happened (Dolphin Edition)

The last day of my son’s Spring Break, I took him whale watching. The only thing missing from this cloudy + exceptional day was my husband, who had to work, but he was adamant that my son and I get … Continue reading

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SCBWI Los Angeles Writers Day 2018

  I’m going. Are you? Gary D. Schmidt is giving the keynote. That’s right, author of one of my favorite YA books: ‘The Wednesday Wars’. You’ve probably already read it, but here’s the SCBWI GDS Interview from 2/16/18. I especially … Continue reading

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Home

Usually I’m the one taking our kid on a road trip and usually during the summer, but this week my husband took our kid on a road trip for 2 days to visit family up north and I was suddenly: … Continue reading

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Fire Update

It’s always an emotional rush to post great news: All evacuations have been lifted in the Santa Barbara fire zones (see previous post pbwrites). Best news, best news. In my little bit of the valley it’s blowing like heck again. … Continue reading

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Disaster Adjacent (Eavesdropping Edition)

Time: 1:00p.m. Temperature: 109 & rising I was in Trader Joe’s for last minute holiday weekend supplies. I don’t usually notice conversations going on around me in Trader Joe’s as I squint at my list, trying to remember what I … Continue reading

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Where I Discovered Poetry Last Weekend

Here: And here: How my family inspired me last weekend? Via this: And this: And this: What it feels like to finish a pre-mini-vacation writing goal and move to the next? This: Came down with the flu upon returning from family shenanigans. However, today … Continue reading

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Third Eye (April Edition w/Cat)

Woke up at 430am, pressed on with the last 40 pages of revision, my 3rd eye drowsy, but game. Now that I’m wide awake, overly caffeinated and the little boy is at school and the husband is off to heroic … Continue reading

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Heat Wave Revision

Today’s spring temperature high is predicted as: 86F. Which, in my sweltering valley, probably means: at least 90F. If not more. The MG novel I’m almost finished revising (this time around) has everything to do with global warming, pollution, the (mis)use … Continue reading

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SCBWI-LA Writers & Illustrators Day 2017 (Links Edition)

I was asked by SCBWI-LA to write about my experience at the recent WID. The piece is up on the Kite Tales blog. 1, 2, 3: LINK. Such a luxury for me to discard certain hats (taxi-mama, chef of sorts, … Continue reading

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Healing By Degrees (FB Edition)

“What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” —-WS, Othello  I’m talking Snapchattish-brief degrees. My impatience won out. I weeded Facebook ‘friends’ after the election and the first peaceful march–in which I marched, peacefully, surrounded by like minds. After this weeding and … Continue reading

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Hearts

Just. So. Simply. Timely. And simply nice.

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SCBWI

Have you registered for the (Los Angeles chapter) SCBWI Writers & Illustrators Day 2017? It’s happening February 25th at the Skirball Cultural Center, a venue I once frequented in order to exercise my former toddler in the  intriguingly lit Noah’s Ark … Continue reading

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Island Infusion

Recently a boat deposited me on Santa Rosa Island for a few days, one of a handful of remote scapes comprising the Channel Islands National Park . I traveled with a geologist, an art dealer and two canvas artists who … Continue reading

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Boo On Drugs

I wrote in a frenzy from 10 a.m. to 1:00p.m., then lay down for a nap before zooming to fetch my 3rd grader from school, but my iPhone was on mute, so I didn’t hear the alarm, but I did hear, … Continue reading

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Louise Penny

Where has Louise Penny been all my life? I was completely not swept up, but vacuumed into A Great Reckoning and have since been binge reading the Chief Inspector Gamache novels–but I have to say, so far the other books … Continue reading

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