Category Archives: writing

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 →

Posted in ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Deep Summer Checkpoint

Posted on July 25, 2012 by PB Rippey

Two summers ago I wrote: I create escape beneath my yard’s wind- bent gazebo, books on spread gingham, the shrunk house I dragged into our shade, ticking stove, stranger’s voice in the toy wall phone he refuses. Create with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Quote For The Weekend (Heatwave Edition)

Posted on July 21, 2012 by PB Rippey

Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good? Such thinking, in the words of … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Fiction, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Deadwhat?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by PB Rippey

Deadlines, deadlines, self-imposed deadlines. Sometimes, while the boy attends summer camp,  I sit in a small boat in the silly above ground swimming pool and deadline-away. Floating, bumping into pool sides and ladder and capsized toy boats titillates the creative side of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Club, books, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, To Explain, Writer's Angst, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not San Diego (Luckily)

Posted on July 5, 2012 by PB Rippey
Posted in Children's Books, Poetry, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (N.E. Edition)

Posted on July 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

I don’t have much of a routine. I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don’t do anything. … Continue reading →

Posted in writing | 2 Comments

Askew In The Valley

Posted on June 26, 2012 by PB Rippey

My poem is out in Askew Poetry Journal’s Issue #12 Spring/Summer 2012  (here’s the link to Askew in case you’re interested in submitting or subscribing). They also have a Facebook page with samples of poetry from this issue. Dorothea Grossman’s poems are a delight … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotes, writing, Writing Publications | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Author Interview #1: Bridget Hoida And SO LA

Posted on June 18, 2012 by PB Rippey

Introducing Bridget Hoida, whose first novel, So LA, is due out in bookstores June 20th. I happen to personally know that Bridget is brilliant, but I can also tell you without a hint of bias that she writes about Los Angeles with … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Fiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Ray Edition)

Posted on June 10, 2012 by PB Rippey

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Wrinkly Time, Melamine

Posted on June 8, 2012 by PB Rippey

I recently discovered that anything made of melamine, i.e., my preschooler’s plates and bowls, should not be tossed into the dishwasher. Ever. And if you make a knife cut in melamine? Chances are toxins will seep into your child’s food. … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, Madonna, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Short Story Writing Drama

Posted on May 30, 2012 by PB Rippey

Because I’ve been a Glimmer Train Finalist several times and, once, long ago, when GT published poetry, a Top 25 Finalist, and because, of course, GT is one of the best fiction journals in the country, I subscribe and receive … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, Writer's Angst, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Guest Blogging

Posted on May 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

Yesterday, which I thought was Sunday due to the 3 day weekend and synapses firing improperly or not at all after my husband and I watched a late-night Sunday (which I thought was Saturday) Mad Men marathon accompanied by intensely seasoned … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, writing, YA Novels | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quote For The Weekend (Super Late Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Edition)

Posted on May 28, 2012 by PB Rippey

“The Californians are an idle, thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy, at a great price, bad wine made in Boston…”  ―Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Well, Sir—we’ve come a long way. … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Me and Us, Santa Barbara, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Pig Wings

Posted on May 14, 2012 by PB Rippey

This M’s Day I opened up the kind of box obviously designed for special gifts and found a glass pig. According to the teeny tiny piece of paper that comes with her, the pig’s name is Penelope. Nestled into satiny … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Pets, Writer's Angst, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Wildlife Edition)

Posted on May 11, 2012 by PB Rippey

You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, To Explain, Writer quotes, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Oak Drug

Posted on May 7, 2012 by PB Rippey

Oak trees are my valium. Last Saturday I listened to friends chatting and a creek dance over boulders as I gazed up into a canopy of arms at all angles and a puzzle of jagged green leaves on blue sky and—zzzzzz. Whatever … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, ocean related, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trickle-Down Poem For May (Thank You, April)

Posted on May 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

Full Flower Moon May (mostly), the petticoat swirl of rising pink meadow, petite showers, buds. I say: rose, peony, phlox. And I say: petal- shorn, plucked, blown until only the head remains, one pale sticky oval crushed by u- niverse … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Get Thee To Rivendale

Posted on April 27, 2012 by PB Rippey

Whenever I feel the slightest hint of a scratchy throat, whenever I’m knocking back the EmergenC or playing The Ladybug Game for the 5th time with a box of tissues in my lap, whenever I’m carrying on despite what I know … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Fiction, Writer's Angst, writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Roadtrip Edition)

Posted on April 19, 2012 by PB Rippey

What is the feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -it’s the too huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Poetry, Writer's Angst, writing | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tulip Red Umbrella

Posted on April 17, 2012 by PB Rippey

In case you missed it, Carol Muske Dukes has an appreciation of Adrienne Rich right here, in the Sunday, 4/16/12 edition of the LA Times. There you will find reference to a tulip red umbrella and its owner. Speaking of Carol, … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

KNOCK IT OFF, CUCKOO

Posted on April 16, 2012 by PB Rippey

Please go to this wonderful post by Beth Hull and read—especially if you are a certain literary agent. Or any literary agent or critiquing-type who believes they are so busy and important it’s perfectly fine to be brusque and quippish instead of … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Quote For The Weekend

Posted on April 14, 2012 by PB Rippey

Once the realization is accepted that, even between the closest human beings, infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Not A Zombie

Posted on April 11, 2012 by PB Rippey

1. Recently I slouched on a bale of hay, waiting for my son to appear at the bottom of a tube slide attached to a combine machine turned playset. A boy of about 10 popped out of the slide first, … Continue reading →

Posted in dog, Fiction, Pets, Writer's Angst, writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Switched Hats

Posted on April 5, 2012 by PB Rippey

All week I’ve taken a break from my children’s novels in order to scour my grownup novel—a few chapters a night. I have revised as I’ve read (of course), refusing to backtrack until I make it to The End. Or—something mostly kind … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, Poetry, To Explain, Writer's Angst, writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments