Tag Archives: personal goals
Fielding Distractions
SoCal rainstorms and SNOW!!! and my (feels-like-95th) birthday have distracted me from completing important tasks since Valentine’s Day (also a distraction), such as wiping puppy noseprints from windows, or filling in gopher holes. However, I’m not distracted from my creativity–writing, … Continue reading
Night Writing Paradise
If I was to write solely by night, every night I would want to do it here: Which is also here: Here: And especially here: Sadly, this installation is temporary. I did let them know I’d be happy to take … Continue reading
December Writing Challenge
Each December agent Nephele Tempest reminds writers about her month-long writing challenge. Write. Every. Day. Even Christmas Day. Carve/axe/cement-drill writing time for yourself, even if only 10 little minutes. I’m in. Adding reading to the challenge–the tower of books on … Continue reading
SCBWI-LA and CenCal Writers Day ’22
So happy to finally attend in person again. Looking forward to seeing one of my favorite kidlit authors, librarian and conference host, Sally Rogan. Full day of mass-info-absorption in an inspiring environment. See you there. #WritersDay2022
Welcoming the Warg
So–recently we adopted my son when he was a baby, only in puppy form. My son is 14. It’s been a while since the cutest-of-babes escaped under tables and chairs with deadly pens/pencils (scooted to the floor by our cats) … Continue reading
Summer Goals (Part 2)
I’ve enjoyed summer despite living in fire country, which means our vital documents are packed in travel boxes until maybe November, pet carriers lined up in the garage, everything ready to be loaded, if necessary. My summer-normal. Yours, too? I … Continue reading
JULY (Miranda Edition)
Whenever I hear complaints about July, most of which have to do with hot weather, I immediately think of Miranda July, her quirky stories, films, and mostly the bagged goldfish on top of the moving car…especially that image, which for … Continue reading
Update: Nanowrimo
My 2021 Nanowrimo (aka momomo) middle-grade novel from last November is in the revision stages, especially the first 10-20 pages. Revising what I mo-ed like geyser-gush from a broken sprinkler head last year is: good. I truly enjoy the challenge … Continue reading
Post Birthday Questionnaire
How old are you? Not old enough.What do you want? Greater physical/emotional strength. To write more than I am writing. To see more wild sea otters.What have you given your teenager that is worthwhile, or impressionable? Apologies when I’m wrong … Continue reading
NANOWRIMO UPDATE (Shingles Vax Edition)
10 days since the start of Nanowrimo. I have missed 2 days of showing up. Because I got my shingles vaccine and had no idea it would slay me. “Just a sore arm,” I was told. “Like the flu shot. … Continue reading
O Revision!
Ever since the SCBWI Big Five-Oh summer conference, I have been the Madwoman of Revision. Lots of adhering to red ink exclamation points. Filtering critique. On not just my manuscripts, but synopses, loglines…You, too? Whenever I’m convinced my writing is … Continue reading
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
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
Sugar Cookies (‘Is Mars in Retrograde’ Edition)
My son and his dad have a game in which my son pumps his legs hard and gets one of the swings on our creaky set to as high as he can without giving me a heart attack, and my … Continue reading
Screens
Staring at my writing, I heard what I thought was our younger cat pulverizing the bedroom window’s screen, as he does when he’d like to be let inside, despite the little Hobbiton upside-down-U’s we had cut in pertinent doors, just for … Continue reading
Never Fails
Text conversation with my writing mentor as I attempted to send her crucial re-written novel pages before her plane took off, pages I was anxious for her input on so that I could meet a writing deadline ASAP, pages she … Continue reading
All Schedules Thrown
And, suddenly, for a week, until summer camp started, the newly ex-Kindergartner and I were face to face over our morning pancakes, not an elementary school deadline in sight. “Let’s go to the beach!” he suggested. We did. “Museums!” We went there, … Continue reading
Spring Break Snoozing (Wide Awake Edition)
During this luscious week of no school for the Kindergartner, we snooze well. Except when we are awakened from chasm-sleep somewhere between 2a.m. and maybe 4:30a.m.—after the bars have closed, but before the rooster across the alley busts its lungs—after we’ve … Continue reading
Discoveries (Balancing Edition)
The huge benefit of being thrown by a horse and not being able to exercise for over a week or lie down on the bed without screaming in pain or do anything in between carrying on as a mother except … Continue reading
Article At ‘Through The Tollbooth’!!!
My writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, was interviewed by Catherine Linka (I’ve heard Catherine speak at SCBWI events–she is positively famous in our SCBWI Los Angeles circles) over at Through The Tollbooth. The interview is about Kathryn’s mentoring experience–er, of me! … Continue reading
PB Rippey Writes 
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