Friday, March 2, 2012
Harrisburg was the deadliest, the most devastating. Everything's destroyed in a minute, the damage lasts from now on. Usually there's torrential rain but it looks like yesterday's attacks by mother nature were just wind. Just wind? Just death in a hurry, destruction that falls on the just and the... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
I need to -- just updated -- my "About Me."
Amanda, one of my favorites on Blogit, makes useful, encouraging comments on getting published, not giving up. Yesterday she wrote something to the effect that Pat_B is a lot younger than Herself. Now, that brought a great big smile to my whole day and this morning... Would that that were so. Or at... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sing a little song, make a little love, get down tonight...
Sometimes I react to something I see, something that's going on, with song lyrics that just pop up to the front of my mind. I used to worry and wonder how song lyrics could just pop up that way as thumbnail observations. But I got a little kick out of them -- they were usually flip comebacks that I... Sign in to see full entry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.