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

Monday, February 27, 2012

Mary Poppins, Victor-Victoria, and Children's Book Author

Julie Andrews is just the kind of glamorous woman a plain gal like me both admires and detests. She sets an impossible standard. She sings like a lark, perfect pitch and a fabulous range (at least until nodes grew on her vocal chords and she had surgery). She's slim and flexible, dances with perfect... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:41 AM | add or view comments (9) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Author Avoidance

I've been avoiding Mickey D's. Partly because the food's not good for me, but the real reason is I don't want to run into Sam. Sam's a nice enough guy, a wannabe writer, retired 5th Grade teacher, popular with his students. Let's be honest, he's warm and fuzzy and loves the daily coffee klatch with... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:17 AM | add or view comments (15) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Writer's Notebook: About the "honeymoon" & etc.

The excerpt revision posted here the last few days is preliminary to the story of Herb and Louise and their kids. The circumstances surrounding his birth become a secret that comes out only when Herb's mother dies at 95. I know how it is to learn such a secret 40 years later, when you find out your... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:27 AM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Cold reading / revision -- good news/bad news.

About "My Disco Ball is Broken" the Herb & Louise soap opera: My mind is a grasshopper, now chewing on a blade of grass, now taking flight to admire the crystal hanging drop of dew on a hoe handle, skipping flying darting here there through the last version of the first draft. It flits, follows the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 3:38 AM | add or view comments (9) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, February 20, 2012

Meow... (bonus post for this day)

“You never liked me,” Alexis said, exhaling cigarette smoke. “That’s not exactly true,” Jan said with a wave of her hand. “This morning I looked for your name in the paper, and I was quite disappointed not to find it.” “You’re not serious?” “Dead serious, Alexis. I check the obits every day.” Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:41 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Remember Herb & Louise?

I woke up thinking about them this morning. As the fog began to lift from my mind under the influence of coffee, I began wandering around the story, picking up details. Herb was an accounting major going for his masters, on the verge of earning his CPA. Louise was a dancer/actor, looking forward to... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 3:36 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Reporter's Notebook: 2-28-2004

Someone gave me a Remington portable typewriter when I was eighteen. My family was living in a low-income project in south Seattle at the time, a 3-bedroom apartment with shiny white porcelain appliances in the bathroom, a working kitchen complete with refrigerator, electric stove, hot and cold... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:38 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Poetic Justice (you never know what a jury will do)

A few years back our county's circuit courts were known for record-breaking huge awards to plaintiffs in lawsuits against Big Corporations. Madison County was known as the armpit of the justice system and manufacturers, railroads, pharmaceutical companies, etc., did their best to avoid this... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:47 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, February 17, 2012

An argument for birth control...

Yesterday in a St. Louis suburb a woman went out into her yard to walk her dog. She saw a bundle of towels under a tree, heard mewling noises. At first she thought someone had wrapped a litter of puppies and abandoned them. She made phone calls, finally got the police to come. The bundle held a... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:31 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, February 16, 2012

New bullet train service between Chicago and Detroit

And it's coming soon to connect St. Louis to Chicago. Cruising speed for this Amtrak thing will be around 110 MPH. Bad luck to any cows that may wander onto the tracks in all the farmland between cities. Don't remember if they mentioned Kansas City, but how could they not? Lots of sports fans... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:44 AM | add or view comments (9) | 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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