Tag Archives: 2016

SCBWI

Have you registered for the (Los Angeles chapter) SCBWI Writers & Illustrators Day 2017? It’s happening February 25th at the Skirball Cultural Center, a venue I once frequented in order to exercise my former toddler in the  intriguingly lit Noah’s Ark … Continue reading

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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

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Brief Reverie (w/Iron)

As I was ironing my husband’s dress shirts last night: channeled a story about 3 lifelong friends who unfriend each other on Facebook due to arguments over whether certain basic inalienable rights should be basic and inalienable at all (buying … Continue reading

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Flurry

Newsflash: It’s December, 2016. I know because the seasonal falling snow plugin is up and running on WordPress. Tonight, we welcomed in December’s Holiday craziness with snowman carousing and a bit of tubing on Leo Politi’s old property in Elysian Park. … Continue reading

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Turkey Day Craze

I may as well have woken up in a luxurious spa-hotel, expecting breakfast in bed, or morning tea on an ocean-view patio, sipping from real china in a froofy dressing gown, in any case a stress-free morning despite it being Thanksgiving and I … Continue reading

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Dug Out

Eons ago my wisdom teeth came out far easier than this morning’s Tooth #4, which my dentist described as having a curved root, meaning: curve-ball for what should have been a pretty quick procedure. ‘See?’ my dentist said. He twisted my liberated tooth … Continue reading

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For The Boids

Election night: 2 friends offended. By me. Thought I was being funny with my online responses. Hah! Now? Rampant Victors assure me Trump won’t REALLY do all he assured us he will absolutely do if elected. Trump voters in post-election denial. I say: The high … Continue reading

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Island Infusion

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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Boo On Drugs

I wrote in a frenzy from 10 a.m. to 1:00p.m., then lay down for a nap before zooming to fetch my 3rd grader from school, but my iPhone was on mute, so I didn’t hear the alarm, but I did hear, … Continue reading

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Louise Penny

Where has Louise Penny been all my life? I was completely not swept up, but vacuumed into A Great Reckoning and have since been binge reading the Chief Inspector Gamache novels–but I have to say, so far the other books … Continue reading

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Fres-yes? (Wild Kratts Edition)

The Wild Kratts are based in Canada. In addition to their TV shows, which are broadcast all over the world, they occasionally venture over the border–mostly into eastern states and the mid-west–to entertain select child-filled crowds with their live show. The energetic brothers have … Continue reading

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Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH (In Percentages)

Because Maria Semple stated (in an article I read a few days ago) that she is planning to read Ann Patchett’s new novel, ‘Commonwealth’, I (who had no idea Ann Patchett had a new novel coming out, ‘Bel Canto’ still on my … Continue reading

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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

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Valley Chapbook

Part of our summer my son and I spent with family in my Ye Olde Hometown. We ate organic foods. Socialized con gusto. And my soon-to-be-3rd-grader attended a local summer camp. His hands were slobbered by the purple tongues of … Continue reading

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O Summer!

I’ve been quiet since May, after a brief, powerful writer’s retreat. I’ve been busy this summer with what the retreat inspired: Writing. Revising. Writing. Revising a new short story, one screaming for edits of late. It’s almost ready for submission. Compiling … Continue reading

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Remember the Bunnies

WRITER’S RETREAT! Oh, that’s long over now. ‘Tis a distant dream. T’was  2 1/4-ish days of nothing-but-revising, surrounded by foliage, sculpture/fountains and wild bunnies with super white tails. Sequestered in a simple room of my own with a nun’s bed, I … Continue reading

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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

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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

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