Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Lucy Amanda's Heaven

I remember once when I was nine, running up the sandy hill between the grape rows, lifting my arms to embrace the breeze that stirred the leaves and exposed the green, half-grown clusters. It was near noon, sunny as usual in the desert country of eastern Washington. Grandma was coming along behind... Sign in to see full entry.

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Conversation with a Four-year-old

Few days ago, Brent read "The Elf on The Shelf" story to Maddie and Ethan, and that very elf was given a place of honor on the mantle. Maddie just turned six, a girly princess who loves ballet and tends to shyness. Ethan at four is a future tackle or line-backer, his laugh is contagious. They are... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, December 7, 2012

Mama, where do babies come from?

Yesterday, my child, a mother got her baby at Walmart. It was the happy story on this morning's news, a police officer working off duty as security at Walmart, father of four, been in the delivery room each time but no other training, pushed a couple of the benches together for a makeshift delivery... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:51 AM | add or view comments (13) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Twitterpated: 'tis the season

The word was introduced in Walt Disney's movie "Bambi," some time in the 1940s. There was a scene when all creatures great and small were reeling under the influence of spring, in love with life and each other - birds were singing, carrying twigs and nesting bits, bunnies were rubbing noses, even... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:18 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. - Rhett to Scarlett

I once had "Frankly, my dear" printed on a tee shirt and wore it down to ragged threads. That's how I felt about Charlie's first chapter. I couldn't make myself care about his characters or their problems. The story is like a carnival sideshow, all flash and guile, no heart. There's a method in my... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Sample of Charlie's writing style

ROARING PRESSES: The Night of the Maple-Sugared Terror CHAPTER 16 Chief James T. Cooper raised a querulous eyebrow as Sgt. Milligan, back from the telegraph office and the post office, poked his craggy old face through the doorway to deliver his report. "Nothing, sir," the elderly veteran said... Sign in to see full entry.

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Charlie's NaNoWriMo bit...

In the Library on Sunday came a guy who was a journalism classmate in the '80s. Charlie is a nerd of the best sort: a literary nerd. He reads "literature," comic books, romances, action thrillers. And he writes genre mashups packed with overwritten satire. Even in simple comments on Facebook he... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, December 2, 2012

Plus One...

Back in the dim distant NaNoWriMo past, I think it was '07, there came blowing out of the west a bit o' fiction called "Waltzing With Zombies," which if you recall had nothing to do with waltzing or zombies. Now the good guys in this story were a couple of odd men out, a wounded Gulf War vet now in... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Big words, high-fallutin' professory tone, or hey baby, let's get real?

My mother used excellent grammar, insisted we three little house apes glom onto some proper English. We had books in the house, no doubt second hand, but they were "good" books: biographies of people like Ben Franklin, scientists, figures from history.. We weren't forced to read them, but there were... Sign in to see full entry.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

For the sake of credibility...

It must be explained here that the "Winner" certificate applies to the word count, and not to the content of the entry. It's no reflection on the writer's ability to plot, describe or characterize. It's merely that she pounded out the requisite 50,000 words in thirty days. As for the novel itself,... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:31 AM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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