Tag Archives: fiction writing

Mother Nature Wins

Around here, the skies are flannel and pursed. We can wear sweaters and scarves, for once, as we bring in our trash barrels from alleys. Pulling in the second recycling barrel, enjoying the feel of my silly polka-dot rain boots I … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend: Squirrel Edition Via Eliot

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heartbeat, and we should die of that roar, which is the other side of silence. … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Super Late Edition)

This time of year is also, always, about how against all humanly odds, there was enough oil to keep the Menorah lit after the temple in Jerusalem was sacked. And how–well, you know the pitch: let there be light, and … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Publications, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gopher Genius

Today, over on Nebula, writer Beth Hull’s website, Colonel Shifty offers up some vital, handy-dandy definitions  of publishing terms. Secretly (or not) I am hoping that Colonel Shifty’s next post will be to announce the launch of his gopher T-shirt line–perhaps similar to … Continue reading

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Steps In Promotion, Writer quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Publications, Writing Tips, YA Novels | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Quote For The Weekend (The After The Turkey Edition With Cats & Corn Pudding)

What greater gift than the love of a cat. —Charles Dickens We returned to find the dummy comforter on our bed upchucked on, the real bedding beneath saved (mwahaha!), a puddle of cat pee under the slopsink in the laundry … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Strickland Speaking–W/Swedish Au Pair)

You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be — I had a Mother who read to me. –Strickland Gillilan Who read to me: Mother, great-grandmother, grandmothers, godmother, great … Continue reading

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Writing Advice

Just when I think I’ve read it all (which usually means it’s time to read more), the YA Muses post this. Loads of advice from debut authors. In fact, all week the Muses have been posting helpful writing advice from … Continue reading

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Space Aliens Blow Up Fast Food Joints

Or: Writing In Increments (daylight edition) Between the post-workout shower and the trip to Redbox to return movies you suddenly noticed on the bookshelf as you craned your neck to see if your leg was straight as it pulsed to … Continue reading

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And There Is A Storm And Here Is A Cat

Locust After the midnight bell, the battered book closed, flame of the inherited candle snuffed, we recover from stifling night, erasing radical dream-dyes we will never share (though not because we are secretive) and we remember I’ve just returned from … Continue reading

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Good Morning Boo

I know it’s a grand revising day when I sit down at the computer to check email, but end up obsessed with the Word document on the desktop instead, until my son reminds me it’s time to brush his teeth so … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, To Explain, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Nebula

As I work insanely on revising and getting used to my new progressive reading glasses (gah!), I urge you to pop over to Beth Hull’s website and read what she has to say about pitching agents and matters of that … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (The Let’s Pretend It’s Still Saturday Edition)

Quote potpourri! Quote jambalaya! Quote papier mache! Quote mixed bean salad (with balsamic vinaigrette and BPA-free writing instruments)! There is no need for a writer to eat a whole sheep to be able to tell what mutton tastes like. It … Continue reading

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Once Upon A Time In Gloomy Oxford

1970-something, bookstore, downtown Oxford, England. Cloudy, moody late afternoon (there were so many, which makes the memories of sunny days–sky a blue to gasp over, cottonball clouds, Radcliffe Camera’s dome sunsparked, even musty old Carfax Tower rinsed and bright—stand out all the … Continue reading

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Coasting From One Weekend Quote To The Next

Maybe I’m a writer because I’m desperately trying to clean up my mess. Other people go into therapy or become psychiatrists just to clean up the mess. Well, I couldn’t afford therapy at the time I needed it the most, … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (The “I Totally Forgot” Edition)

Finally going to read the book. The daily act of writing remains as demanding and maddening as it was before, and the pleasure you get from writing – rare but profound – remains at the true heart of the enterprise. … Continue reading

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Dear Lucky Agent Contest

I’m going to enter. Are you? Follow the link below for complete details. Link: Lucky Agent Contest CONTEST DETAILS This contest will be live for approximately 14 days—from Aug. 13, 2012 through the end of Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, PST. … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Saroyan Edition)

How do you write? You write, man, you write, that’s how, and you do it the way the old English walnut tree puts forth leaf and fruit every year by the thousands. . . . If you practice an art … Continue reading

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Snow White Revisited (Part I)

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

Posted in Faction, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Santa Barbara, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Make Believe Edition–Or IS it)

When it was decided (When was that again, and by whom?) that we were all supposed to choose between fiction and nonfiction, what was not taken into account was that for some of us truth can never be an absolute, … Continue reading

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All Heated Up (With Spiders)

We are experiencing triple digit weather. Triple digits means hatchings and unwelcome visitors indoors. Cloth-eating moths. Black widows. Giant waterbugs, which I call cockroaches, which my husband insists are waterbugs—regardless, they make the cats crazy in the middle of the night and startle … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Gore Vidal Edition)

You can’t really succeed with a novel anyway; they’re too big. It’s like city planning. You can’t plan a perfect city because there’s too much going on that you can’t take into account. You can, however, write a perfect sentence … Continue reading

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Anteater Elegance

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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Deep Summer Checkpoint

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

Deadwhat?

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

Quote For The Weekend (Solstice Parade Edition)

I love a parade… —Anonymous, Arden & Ohman and pretty much everyone who has ever stood on a curb with family and friends and cheered for utter fabulousness. Also: overheard all over town June 23, 2012, Santa Barbara.

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