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PB learns to ride the unicycle!
UPDATE: my unicycle hangs from a hook in our garage. Sometimes I tell it: I'll be back.January 1, 2025-
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Category Archives: books
RIP Poem
Because my father resides in me I am what others expect to see– though not as or not ever without less this or that & always 1 count behind or is it ahead of much worse: that 70’s divorce, old split/split … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, books, Poetry, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2016, fathers, Los Angeles, poetry, writer's angst
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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
2 Comments
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
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
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
The Women’s National Book Association
I was made aware of the WNBA/LA thanks to my middle grade writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (ask me if I am lucky to have her as my mentor and you will hear amplified hell yeah’s). She gave one of this … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Tips
Tagged 2014, children's literature, Destiny Rewritten, fiction, fiction writing, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, middle grade writing, ocean, poetry, SCBWI, SCBWI CA/North Central, Women's National Book Association/LA, writing
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Farewell February
Because it’s my birthday month, because it’s not only a pink month, or red for hearts, or purple for amethyst (birthstone), because I had a milestone birthday and went all crazy in the head and panicky in the days (who … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Writing
Tagged 2014, birthdays, blessings, chardonnay, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, personal goals, poetry, Valentine, writing
2 Comments
Staying The Course
Saturday morning I rose when our son (impossible to wake on a school day) woke at 5:30a.m. to begin a weekend of attending birthday parties, completing school projects, and constant verbalized hankering for Minecraft (it was Survivalcraft, until we realized the … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Faction, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2014, children's literature, Dragons Love Tacos, faction, fiction writing, Iggy Peck Architect, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, personal goals, poetry, Quackenstein Hatches a Family, writer's angst, writing
6 Comments
Double Rainbow (Rainy Day Edition)
Not long ago a man left a nasty little comment in my comments section calling my blog piece sophomoric and trite and something else I can’t remember and why this person was so unevolved as to blog-roam and drop his … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, dog, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF
Tagged 2014, cats, children's literature, dog, double rainbow, fiction writing, Goodreads, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, poetry, Rhapsodomancy, writing
2 Comments
Walking to Floats (SoCal Edition)
Rose Parade Floats Viewing, January 2nd: I walked my son several blocks down a typically—for Pasadena—vast and nicely swept boulevard to another major boulevard (wider than the Rio Grande and as sungleamy in our December heatwave) mobbed by people like us … Continue reading
Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2014, fiction, Los Angeles, Pasadena, poetry, Rose Parade floats, shaved ice, space aliens, writing
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December Whinny
Sitting on the patio at Peddler’s Fork, alone out here as it’s a SoCal pre-Christmas bit of chilly, i.e., 60 degrees, way too cold for the cycling clan packing the tables indoors, brrr, but perfect for me as I’m the … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Poetry, Writing
Tagged 2013, children's literature, fiction, middle grade writing, Old Town Calabasas, Peddler's Fork, personal goals, writing
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Kickstarted (Coffee Blend Edition)
Back again—homing pigeon style—at Peddler’s Fork, I ordered a cup of the restaurant’s Kickstand Blend and a macadamia nut infused scone that tastes more like somebody’s gourmet birthday cake than scone, which is why I ordered it, and carted my … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing
Tagged 2013, fiction writing, Kickstand Blend, Los Angeles, Mallard Ducks, Muses, Old Town Calabasas, Peddler's Fork, pigeons, poetry, writing
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Bathroom Reading (Scouring Edition)
While holiday cleansing the bathroom, on my knees scrubbing corners usually in my blind spot, I glance up and notice books also, apparently, usually in my blind spot. I have no idea when Dylan Thomas arrived. Definitely wasn’t me who … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, dog, middle grade, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing
Tagged 2013, children's literature, domestic bliss, Dylan Thomas, fiction writing, Freshly Pressed, Henry James, Kindergarten, life, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, Nicole Kidman, personal goals, poetry, Portrait of a Lady, Reader, Sherman Oaks, The Turn of the Screw, writing
2 Comments
Gobbling Towards Vegetarianism
It became November. Day Two, I said: OMG THE TURKEY! Because this year, we’re hosting the beloved horde. I navigated to the Whole Foods website. During the Diestel ordering process I was asked to choose: Hen or Tom. My bedroom … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2013, chaos, domestics, fiction writing, green bean casserole, poetry, San Fernando Valley, Thanksgiving, Tom Turkeys, writing
1 Comment
Secret Equestrienne (Before Morning Coffee Edition)
$300 boots in the local saddlery. Gorgeous. And nothing a budget-minded, secret equestrienne would ride in. So the Amazon dot coms that arrived by mail shocked me. At $94+change, they looked way too regal for the price. I was expecting spray-painted cardboard. … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Poetry, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2013, Amazon.com, Calabasas Old Town, Equistar Riding Boots, Homer Simpson, horses, International Velvet, Kindergarten, Tatum O'Neal, The Scream
3 Comments
PB Rippey Writes 
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