Tag Archives: fiction writing

Author Interview #1: Bridget Hoida And SO LA

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

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Wrinkly Time, Melamine

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

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

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Guest Blogging

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

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Pig Wings

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

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Quote For The Weekend (Wildlife Edition)

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

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

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Get Thee To Rivendale

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

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KNOCK IT OFF, CUCKOO

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

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Quote For The Weekend

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

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Not A Zombie

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

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Switched Hats

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

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3 Days Of Light

I’ve been visiting here since I was 4 years old and still this beach works magic on my psyche. At least, it feels like magic. I don’t wait to be struck by lightning and don’t need certain slants of light in … Continue reading

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Brief Blog Break

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—Blrrrrrrrrrrgh

This is what I remember about Friday: feeding the boy, hug-sandwich as we said bye-bye to his dad, finally getting the boy to preschool (I thought I was a slow eater!), speeding to Starbucks as forgot to buy coffee for … Continue reading

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Book Bits (Courtesy of NPR)

You’ve probably already been here  as I’m never the earliest anywhere except the zoo, museums, playgrounds and places in which excessive queuing is involved. But here is an excerpt anyway and you can listen to the whole interview with Jonah Lehrer … Continue reading

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Middle Grade Tidbit

In case you’re missing it, agent Michael Bourret from Dystel & Goderich and editor Molly O’Neill are conversing via their blogs about middle grade novels–what they look for, what they like, what middle grade is or might be or possibly isn’t but … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Yet Another Late Edition)

I am repeat quoting. Visiting the museum this weekend, I was once again struck by Marcel Proust’s words high on  a wall overlooking the displays of dinosaur bones. I am constantly trying to quickly evolve new eyes as I revise my novel … Continue reading

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What I Can Do To Promote World Peace

548a.m. Pretty dark through the curtains. No birdsong. The bed is mine, S walking the dog, the boy snoozing anywhere from the next 15 minutes to the next hour. Barely awake, I feel the effects from gazing at my work … Continue reading

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And Now This

Remember in the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs when Flynt pulls up that kitten bit on his computer screen and 3 hours fly by? Or maybe you don’t as, unlike me, you have not seen the movie 40,000 … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, To Explain | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Tide Pool Edition)

“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

Tropic of Dentist

Sharing this delightful list after a harrowing dentist appointment for my son (and his parents), in which despite kiddie valium being administered, despite the unfortunately Hannibal-Lecter-like restraints and despite the nose mask pumping in “giggle stuff”, my son raged quite effectively at … Continue reading

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Quote For The Weekend (Seminar Edition)

Some writers, critics, and other assorted literati sniff at plotting as a tool of craft. A synonym of plotting, in this mindset, is slumming, something decent people just don’t do.   —James Scott Bell Whose seminar I attended this morning in … Continue reading

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Oak Ents

This was the morning: camellias and oak trees. And koi ponds, a small, very green lake with coots and mallards drifting, a Japanese garden with an unattended snack bar my son immediately took over, stepping behind the counter (which came … Continue reading

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I Told You So

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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