Tag Archives: Inspiration

School Days 2020

Posted on August 27, 2020 by PB Rippey

Bring your pet to school day for my son’s English class. It is this mother’s opinion that my tween’s middle school is rockin’ this distance learning business. #englishteachersrule  

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Doubt (Pub Cheese Edition)

Posted on August 20, 2020 by PB Rippey

I ferried my laptop to the kitchen table and brought up my novel-in-progress. A poppy-orange dawn filtered through window blinds and the coffeemaker hiccupped sighs and I relished being the only human in our house awake, tapping the pg dn … Continue reading →

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Spring Heralds

Posted on May 5, 2020 by PB Rippey

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” ― Anne Bradstreet  

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Poem for the Last Day of April

Posted on April 30, 2020 by PB Rippey

And just like that, poetry month is at an end, but Tracy K. Smith will still send us a poem each weekday via The Slowdown, or we can visit the site and listen to her read and perhaps we’ll springboard into: … Continue reading →

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Easter Sunday

Posted on April 12, 2020 by PB Rippey

Wishing you a poetic day.

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Never Forget (Fav Coffee Mug Edition)

Posted on April 9, 2020 by PB Rippey

Yours in coping, PB

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Winter Busy

Posted on December 29, 2019 by PB Rippey

As the countdown to 2020 begins, I wonder how it is I forgot how busy the holiday season is. VERY busy. We’ve: been to Santa Barbara and back, hosted relatives and their little dogs, hosted a Christmas party, followed a vital … Continue reading →

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STARTING NOW

Posted on December 13, 2019 by PB Rippey

I mean, why wait? W.R.I.T.I.N.G.

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Happy Rainsgiving

Posted on November 29, 2019 by PB Rippey

‘Tis the season to remember how to get cozy and not because the A/C is running. At least–I hope ’tis… Happy Thanksgiving Holiday

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Poem

Posted on November 13, 2019 by PB Rippey

Flawbag There is the girl, woman this 3:02p.m., midway on twinkling crosswalk. Her voice thumps her hip, tucked in a dropped- bottom bag working on its 5th shoulder strap. Walk-lope: she doesn’t like you, though it is doubtful she could … Continue reading →

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Retreat!

Posted on September 26, 2019 by PB Rippey

Heading to the SCBWI Working Writers Retreat tomorrow. This will be my second time attending this annual event. The workshops are small and focused. I learn tons about my work (my middle grade novels) and it’s a joy to read … Continue reading →

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Peace To You

Posted on June 30, 2019 by PB Rippey

When I was seven to ten years old, I begged her to let me stay home from school so I could hang out with her, picnic in the park behind our house (she made cheese and tomato sandwiches), just be … Continue reading →

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Festival Weekend (creativity-obsessed edition)

Posted on April 15, 2019 by PB Rippey

Saturday morning, my husband and my middle-grade son zoomed to the Los Angeles Convention Center for its uber-serving of Minefaire. Minecraft. All. Day. While up the street at USC I attended the Los Angeles Festival Of Books. Mostly I hung … Continue reading →

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Window Out Of Revision

Posted on March 29, 2019 by PB Rippey

As I continue revising, it’s good to take breaks, even if only for a few minutes, as you probably know. If I’m working in a Starbucks or a library, I bring up pictures on my laptop that are gaze-inducing and … Continue reading →

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Retreat!

Posted on February 17, 2019 by PB Rippey

Faced with views custom-made to inspire writers, I didn’t. Write. Or edit the 50 pages I’d brought with me. Instead, I continued reading Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Occasionally I glanced up from the book and gaped at the storm–then I’d consciously … Continue reading →

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BACK TO SCHOOL

Posted on January 27, 2019 by PB Rippey

I sing-songed like Snow White as I whisked open his curtains. I raved about the smell of cinnamon pancakes filling the house as I jumped on his bed. I hit him with a pillow as I encouraged him to seize … Continue reading →

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Rain Or Shine: Strike On

Posted on January 17, 2019 by PB Rippey

A couple of weeks before the strike, I was John Snow: I knew nothing. There are always excuses I can credit a busy mother. But everyone is busy. I simply wish I had paid any attention to events leading up … Continue reading →

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~2019~

Posted on January 1, 2019 by PB Rippey

May the year be merry and bright and productive. And may I acquire a new laptop. And definitely completion of the current novel and definitely long before the end of this shiny new year. And may I continue to exercise … Continue reading →

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Hunting

Posted on October 29, 2018 by PB Rippey

230am, the dog’s nose a wet Q-tip on my ear, his drunk-carny’s breath. I rise, stumble to the patio door, let him out. Waiting, I realize my right foot is wet. I panic:  blood? Cat vomit. I stumble to the … Continue reading →

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Dav Pilkey in Redondo Beach

Posted on October 23, 2018 by PB Rippey

Whenever it was tickets first went on sale for this event? Stayed up until 12:01a.m. so that I could be one of the first to nab them. Can I just say–I’m glad I was a night owl as the event … Continue reading →

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REVISION

Posted on July 28, 2018 by PB Rippey

I finished my novel. All the writing, beach walks, and kitten-breaks seem to have paid off. I’m finished. Let the revising begin. Actually I’ve been revising all along. I adopted a habit of backing up a few chapters, reading/revising them … Continue reading →

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Lost Time

Posted on July 3, 2018 by PB Rippey

Yesterday I was driving home from Trader Joe’s, my mind deep in my novel. I am SO close to finishing it I can see the end and I was excited about what I was seeing. Then a street sign yanked … Continue reading →

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How It Is

Posted on May 2, 2018 by PB Rippey

There is only finishing my middle-grade novel. Getting my son to school, helping him finish his science project and get it to school; hurtling towards summer–school, science projects, math tests, helping at the school book fair, end-of-school-year requirements and the … Continue reading →

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This Happened (Dolphin Edition)

Posted on April 12, 2018 by PB Rippey

The last day of my son’s Spring Break, I took him whale watching. The only thing missing from this cloudy + exceptional day was my husband, who had to work, but he was adamant that my son and I get … Continue reading →

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THIS HAPPENED

Posted on March 23, 2018 by PB Rippey

I won runner-up (there were only two of us who won in the Middle Grade category). SCBWI-LA Writer’s Day, Skirball Cultural Center . I pitched an agent, connected with a dream agent, dashed around assisting the totally-on-it RA’s, made new … Continue reading →

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