Category Archives: Santa Barbara

Island Infusion

Posted on October 24, 2016 by PB Rippey

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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Snooze House

Posted on March 31, 2015 by PB Rippey

Lately, instead of writing at night I’ve resorted to rising early in order to revisereviserevise certain projects and I’ve realized: The loudest sound in the house at 5am? Despite our small zoo? And the programmable coffee maker’s generous peeps? And the refrigerator … Continue reading →

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Sad Santa Barbara

Posted on May 27, 2014 by PB Rippey

My son and I were visiting his cousins when it happened. My husband, at home in Los Angeles, called me early Saturday morning with the news. I felt the same shock thousands of others were feeling in my town. The sun … Continue reading →

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A Weekend Of “Instead-Of’s” (Big Beach Edition)

Posted on April 13, 2014 by PB Rippey

Instead of the LA Times Book Fest, the beginning of my son’s Spring Break: Instead of the LA Times Bookfest Poetry Tent, this: Also a cave (!): This: Er–and this (at a different beach–a short while later–if whiles can be short–why … Continue reading →

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Spacks Street

Posted on March 10, 2014 by PB Rippey

Sunday, a memorial for the poet Barry Spacks took place. I arrived at Santa Barbara’s Museum of Contemporary Arts 10 minutes early for the service to find it mobbed. Wonderful! Seats went fast. I sat next to the poet Dan … Continue reading →

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Notes From The Retreat #1: Books

Posted on January 22, 2014 by PB Rippey

At last weekend’s SCBWI retreat, 4 editors imparted useful information–and shared book titles they love–Picture Books (PB), Middle Grade (MG), Non-Fiction (NF) and Young Adult (Y the effing heck A). I know what the abbreviations mean. YOU know what they mean. But, … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, middle grade, Santa Barbara, Writing, YA Novels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

In the Wake of a Rejection

Posted on July 29, 2013 by PB Rippey

The last day of July hurtles into focus as I prepare for mini-break #4: single-mommying 3 kids for 3 days. Will be intriguing to see how I fit in writing time. I’m thinking between breakfast and the day’s planned outing, all outings … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Fiction, middle grade, ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mini-Break 3: There and Back Again

Posted on July 20, 2013 by PB Rippey

The doctor said a slight fever would come. “Reaction” to a shot. He was feverish for a day. The next, he sneezed and went a little hoarse. But the fever was gone and he was uber-perky and when I meekly told him that maybe … Continue reading →

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Clues

Posted on March 3, 2013 by PB Rippey

So it’s time to leave the Little House and tear him away from several days of precious Pottery Barn living and Angry Birds on the Kindle at odd hours and foods we don’t normally eat at home, like grated-cheese-and-nitrate-free-bacon-quesadillas-for-breakfast-with-1-maraschino-cherry-on-top, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, dog, Fiction, Me and Us, ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Beach Break

Posted on January 14, 2013 by PB Rippey

This was last weekend, all Winter beachness, crisp, clear light, air cold enough for us to wear sweaters we haven’t seen in over a year, sweaters with jeans and sweats and bare feet as we ran on glassy beach, Anacapa, … Continue reading →

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And May All Your Turkeys Be Bright

Posted on November 21, 2012 by PB Rippey

It is 197-something and there are cats on the kitchen counter pulling apart the cooked bird with their claws and fangs. It is 199-something and a slobbery Rottweiler mix has hold of a turkey leg and the entire baking pan with turkey … Continue reading →

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Note From The Writing House

Posted on October 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

As I write, a fountain bubbles outside remarkable windows. It was bubbling when we arrived. No note was left instructing me to turn it, or the fountain outside the guest bedroom off, and I wasn’t about to go hunting for control panels … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, Santa Barbara, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The After 9/11/2001 Post

Posted on September 12, 2012 by PB Rippey

Last year I posted this piece on 9/11/11, the crux of which is: One morning, as my boss and I walked across campus after a 9/11 tribute during which she’d read a poem to hundreds gathered at the special ceremony, … Continue reading →

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Tribute To Mike deGruy

Posted on August 22, 2012 by PB Rippey

Mike DeGruy loved the ocean. He wrote about it, filmed it, lectured on it (all over the world, to all ages), explored it. He died last February in a helicopter crash, in the midst of doing research for a film … Continue reading →

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Snow White Revisted (Part II)

Posted on August 15, 2012 by PB Rippey

I drove up to Santa Barbara by myself, for a change. High school reunion—the first I’ve ever been to, but not the first my friends have been to and it’s only because of Tdoll and Ddazzle and our nearly life-long … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Faction, Fiction, Santa Barbara, Writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Snow White Revisited (Part I)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by PB Rippey

And just like that, 2 hours of sitting in traffic was replaced by the type of couch that swallows you in a smooth, nerves-loosening manner, windows looking out on lush greenery, walls hung tastefully in my sister’s collection of California plein air, … Continue reading →

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Anteater Elegance

Posted on July 30, 2012 by PB Rippey

At the Santa Barbara Zoo, a fellow mother and I gazed at the anteater flicking its tongue at grass and slowly waving its unbrushed, showhorse-arched tail. Behind us, our 4 ½ year old boys practiced “Ninja” moves and tested their … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Weekend (Yet Another “Revision” Edition)

Posted on July 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at leat 30 revisions. —Ha Jin In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don’t enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover … Continue reading →

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Roar While You Can

Posted on May 21, 2012 by PB Rippey

I picked up the preschooler from his place of happy learning and song and drove him up the coast to a museum party celebrating a new installation of animatronic dinosaurs. My husband phoned as I stood in a vast, beamed hall … Continue reading →

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Brief Blog Break

Posted on March 27, 2012 by PB Rippey

I am stamping the blog with a poem instead of PB’s impressions as I prepare to hoof it out of town.  Hoping that this get-away reboots my brain and produces thousands of words as I work on a certain bit of sequel. T … Continue reading →

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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 →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Children's Books, fish, ocean related, Quotes, Santa Barbara, Writer quotes, Writing, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

I Told You So

Posted on January 16, 2012 by PB Rippey

We hit town late afternoon-ish and I immediately honor the request for the museum and its entertaining dinosaur footprints indented in cement, pgymy mammoth bones, taxidermied (the fraying sort) mountain animals and vultures, buttons igniting barn owl shrieks and snake … Continue reading →

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Miss MOL Break

Posted on December 23, 2011 by PB Rippey

Sometimes I live vicariously through Miss MOL, an art curator by-the-sea. I love her recent sojourn. She hits all the cool places and makes me laugh. Check out her latest post on the Springs. THREE DAY TOUR.

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Pass The Cognac, Baby

Posted on October 3, 2011 by PB Rippey

My husband and I are parents not used to going out in the evening together—just us— no preschooler in tow. I may hit a book club or Target by myself around 8p.m. My husband may work late one or two … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Me and Us, Poetry, poetry reading, Santa Barbara, To Explain, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Early Edition As Leaving, Again, Briefly, For Cooler Environs That Happen To Include Beach-Whooping, Intrepid Anemone Poking (parent-monitored), Kicked Sandcastles And The Kind Of Fresh Air That Knocks Out Preschoolers And Their Mothers In A Very, Very Good Way)

Posted on September 22, 2011 by PB Rippey

“To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept … Continue reading →

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