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UPDATE: Uni--whaaaaaa?February 1, 2022-
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Category Archives: Writing Progress
Heat
I don’t know about your environs, but ours will be blessed with consecutive days of triple digit heat, again, later this week. It’s helpful for my psyche and staving off writer’s block to remember that last year at this time … Continue reading
Posted in Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2020, books, Calif heatwave, Earth, Facebook, Family, Health, Heather Cox RIchardson, humanity, hurricane, Instagram, Jill the squirrel, Julia CHild, life, Rachel Cargle, squirrels, The Joy of Cooking, Valencia, Vote2020, writing
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Crucial Weekends (Moaning Myrtle Edition)
There is still only finishing my middle-grade novel (see previous post). However, life outside writing continues to happen– my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday AND Mother’s Day, during which I was presented with a Hufflepuff hoodie, a Mother’s Day card … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, middle grade, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2018, books, Butterbeer, Dobby, English Breakfast, Gryffindor, Harry Potter, Hogsmeade, Hufflepuff, JK Rowling, Luck, middle grade writing, Moaning Myrtle, Mother's Day 2018, Three Broomsticks, Universal Studios Hollywood
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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
Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2018, books, Gary D. Schmidt, Inspiration, LA Writers Day 2018, Literature, Middle Grade Fiction, SCBWI, Susan Orlean, The Wednesday Wars, Twitter, writing, YA Novels
1 Comment
SCBWI WWR 9/2017
Me–prepping for the upcoming SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat: Fortunately I got in, thanks to iphone alerts, Alexa/Echo alerts, the wall calendar with a particular date circled so thickly in red it could never become invisible, no matter the … Continue reading
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
Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Poetry, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2017, books, Kate Messner, life, Lisa Cron, Literature, Los Angeles, middle grade writing, Picture Books, SCBWI, SCBWI Writers & Illustrators Day, Skirball Cultural Center, Wired for Story, Writers Conferences, writing
2 Comments
On Rejection
Recently I was lucky enough to have a conversation with someone I deeply respect and I was moaning a little about rejections I’ve received lately. The person suggested I stop calling them ‘rejections’ and refer to them instead as ‘No … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Tips
Tagged 2016, Critique, life, life advice, Literature, rejection, writing
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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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Chapbook Publication
Finishing Line Press is releasing my chapbook of poetry, Valley Meditation (with Palomino), March 23rd, 2016. Yes, that’s right: This March, the one right around the corner from El Nino–except that EN isn’t really hitting my portion of summer-deflated valley. … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry, Steps In Promotion, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2016, chapbook, Finishing Line Press, Los Angeles, poetry, San Fernando Valley, writer, writing
7 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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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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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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Speaking of Passivity
It went like this: Google. Amazon. Facebook. Facebook IM. Back to Amazon. Weather (from Bing–weather.com is too hideous). Figuring out how to make Bing stop showing up whenever I clicked on a new tab. The Holy Checking of Email. And then … Continue reading
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
Notes From The Retreat #2: Critiques
Yes, I am going to go here. Out of the 10 copies of the first 25 pages of my novel returned to me, scribbled on by the writers in my core group at the SCBWI retreat, I kept 4. Those 4 … Continue reading
The Truth Is…(Maintenance Edition)
The truth is, I’m way too busy to blog—sprawling on the couch eating bonbons takes up a lot of time. And let me make this extremely clear: NOT milk chocolate bonbons with cherries tucked inside them. If I was even … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Pets, Poetry, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2013, cats, children's literature, chocolate, chocolate bon bons, dog, domestic bliss, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, memories, middle grade writing, Reader, writer's angst, writing
8 Comments
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
Na? No. Hope? Yes.
Amidst the latest horrifying US events, poetry—much of it fresh off the brain—whirls tirelessly through every non-existent corner of the internet. Look: In dark times, people go looking for poetry and I’m glad there is plenty to assuage, aid, comfort and … Continue reading
Posted in books, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Writing, Writing Progress
Tagged 2013, dog, fiction writing, Herman Hesse, Jane Hirshfield, labrador, poetry, The Dad Poet, Walt Whitman, writing
4 Comments
Update 2: NaMeSitDif (etc.) Projekt
Since I forgot to Na on Monday, as I promised myself, and since I didn’t Na on Tuesday due to pressing engagements (Target, the teeth people), upon leaving the stables today I stopped at a No’ridge Starbucks on my way home, hobbling delicately inside, … Continue reading
Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF
Tagged 2013, African elephant, DSW, fiction writing, middle grade writing, poetry, Starbucks, thoroughbred, Western Bagel, writer's angst, writing
2 Comments
Courage! (Neigh Edition)
I was late to retrieve the boy from school because I Face Sucked like a fiend AND watched the latest episode of “Once” on hulu AND in another open hulu tab caught up on the latest episode of “Revenge” WHILE checking … Continue reading
Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Pets, Steps In Promotion, Writer's Angst, Writing Progress, WTF
Tagged 2013, chaos, children's literature, Downton Abbey, Facebook, fiction writing, horses, hulu, life, Los Angeles, Masterpiece Theatre, middle grade writing, Once Upon A time, personal goals, preschoolers, Revenge, smoothies, writer, writer's angst, writing
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