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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: Fiction
Quote For The Weekend (Superbowl Edition)
1. In modern war…you will die like a dog for no good reason. 2. Man is not made for defeat. —Ernest Hemingway I regret not going into Hemingway’s house when I was in Key West. Instead I stood out on … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing, WTF
Tagged 2012, beach, Captain Tony's, cats, Ernest Hemingway, Key West, Papa Dobles, scotch and soda, Sloppy Joe's, writing
4 Comments
Quote For The Weekend (Seminar Edition)
Some writers, critics, and other assorted literati sniff at plotting as a tool of craft. A synonym of plotting, in this mindset, is slumming, something decent people just don’t do. —James Scott Bell Whose seminar I attended this morning in … Continue reading
Quote For The Weekend (Pulled Muscle Edition)
“Writers are notorious for using any reason to keep from working: over-researching, retyping, going to meetings, waxing the floors–anything.” —Gloria Steinem I opened the door to my son’s classroom and an invisible claw grabbed the muscles in my right side and … Continue reading
Time Spent
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 2012, children's literature, fiction writing, Llamas, Starry, starry night, tapas, Van Gogh, writer's angst, writing
4 Comments
A Little Nap Reading
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 2012, Donald Maass, fiction writing, personal goals, writing
2 Comments
Writing During The Holidays
My laptop sits on the kitchen counter as I cook. Right hand stirring the dumpling mixture, my left hand’s floury fingers type (not skillfully), Have you a mind to sink, the woman weeps to those gathered in the room, to … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Pets, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing
Tagged 2011, Christmas Spirit, creative process, preschoolers, whales, writer's angst
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Bit Of Info
From Writer’s Digest. Because I, anyway, always learn something (except how to make the perfect cup of coffee, I can never seem to learn that…): The 18 Most Popular Articles on Writing of 2011 We posted more than 1,300 articles … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing, Writing Tips
Tagged 2011, fiction writing, middle grade writing, Writer's Digest, writing, Writing Tips
2 Comments
Writer, Activist, Leader (And The List Goes On)
RIP “I would be glad if it was felt that I have done something generally useful. I don’t care much about personal fame or popularity. I would be satisfied with the feeling that I had a chance to help with … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Poetry, Quotes, Theatre, Writing
Tagged 2011, poetry, Vaclav Havel, writing
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Writer’s Day 2011
This photo is from the SCBWI Central-Coastal Writer’s Day 2010, at which I won a Special Mention for my middle grade novel and half off the price of this year’s Writer’s Day, which took place today, all day, and in which … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, middle grade, Writer's Angst, Writing
Tagged 2011, Lin Oliver, middle grade writing, SCBWI, Writer's Day 2011, writer's retreat
2 Comments
Quote For The Weekend (TGIF Edition)
Gore Vidal on E. Nesbit (1858-1924): “I do not think it is putting the case too strongly to say that much of the poverty of our society’s intellectual life is directly due to the sort of books children are encouraged … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, middle grade, Quotes
Tagged 2011, children's literature, E. Nesbit, Five Children And It, Gore Vidal
1 Comment
Quote For The Weekend (Late Edition As was Ocean-Distracted–Luckily It’s Never Too Late For Quotes)
“One of my favourite places to read was my elder brother’s bedroom. It was a tiny room with a bed, a chest-of-drawers, bookcases full of books, and shelves where he kept his seashells, butterflies, pressed wild flowers and microscope, because … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, middle grade, Quotes, Writing
Tagged 2011, beach, children's literature, fiction, Joan Aiken, middle grade writing, ocean, The Cuckoo Tree
1 Comment
NBF Torture
I find this disturbing and wrong and a certain deeply suspicious/dark sunglasses wearing/fedora sporting/trenchcoat draped (except not in this heatwave)/notebook carrying (yeah, enough already) part of me wonders what the real story is. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD YOUNG ADULT NOMINEES ARE BACK … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Quotes, Writer's Angst, WTF
Tagged 2011, children's literature, Lauren Myracle, National Book Award 2011, Shine, writer's angst, writing
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Quote For The Weekend (Early Edition As Family Member Arriving And Will Only Have Time For Sisterhood, Lion King, That Thomas The Train Game Which Is Much Better When Played With 3 Persons And Will Delight The Boy, The Consumption Of Healthy Salads For Dinner–Preceded By Slabs Of Brie And Chunks Of Olive Bread Ripped Savagely From Loaf With Bare Hands Then Dunked In Olive Oil And Balsamic Vinegar And There Might Be Almonds Coated In The Sweetly Outrageous, Plus Ice Cream For Dessert, The Kind You Add Scoops Of Peanut Butter To. And Storytime–Here, We Force Our Guests To Read The Bedtime Stories. So, You Know, Beware. And Then Adult Movie Night. Well, Not ADULT Movies, Ha Ha! And Let Us Not Forget Popcorn. Popped In Olive Oil. And Chardonnay Served In Colored Crystal Wine Glasses, Even Though Yes, I Know You’re Not Supposed To Drink Fine Wine From Colored Glasses, But, Frankly, It’s Fun To Be Plebeian. And This Weekend There Are Park Dates And Birthday Parties In Pumpkin Patches And Ducks To Visit And These Things Called Pedicures To Be Had And If You Ask Me When I’ll Be Writing This Weekend, I’ll Tell You: The Seconds I Can.)
“I won’t speak at schools where the students haven’t read my books. I have certain grades I like to talk to more than others. I won’t drive great distances. I am sort of a pill about all this. On the … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, middle grade, Quotes
Tagged 2011, Author quotes, City Of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau, middle grade writing, writing
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See? Not So Proud
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
Not Avoiding My Writing
See previous post. Now read this: THE PASSAGE OF AT LEAST 2 UNINTERRUPTED HOURS There is no blogging when working. There is no Hulu and bad actors living with dinosaurs. No Elephant Man. No social network. No Internet. They just. … Continue reading
The Elusive Palomino
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 2011, fiction writing, middle grade writing, Modern Family, palominos, personal goals, poetry, preschoolers, TV, writer's angst, writing, Zadie Smith
3 Comments
Notes From The Armchair
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 2011, cats, creamsicles, domestic bliss, domestics, fiction writing, life, personal goals, writer's angst
2 Comments
DUMMY
I have a new special writing/revising trick. Starting with the first three chapters of my novel, I copy and paste them into a brand new fresh document, print, then edit/revise/correct/read-aloud/enhance/make-marvelous, etc. I throw the hardcopy edits into the brand new … Continue reading
Quote For The Weekend (Late Edition Due To—Due To—Hm? Wot? Is Someone Speaking? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!)
I made up my mind at the beginning of my writing life not to write about my family and friends, since I want them to remain my family and friends. Others, it seems, have come to a similar conclusion. The … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Writing
Tagged 2011, Carol Shields, fiction, fiction writing, The Stone Diaries, writer, writer's angst, writer's block, writing
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Book Rave
I’m only 1/3 of the way in, if that, and: I love it. I judged a book by its cover and my decision is utterly paying off. I’ve read W.G. Sebald. So instead of my brows flying up in consternation/skepticism upon … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Writing
Tagged 2011, fiction, fiction writing, Ransom Riggs, teen drama, W.G. Sebald, weird books, writing
1 Comment
Quote For The Weekend (early edition due to MWO beginning Friday a.m.–yee haha–er, sorry)
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 2011, life, martinis, Truman Capote, writer's retreat, writing
1 Comment
PB Rippey Writes 
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