writer at play
Posted in writing process on Apr 30th, 2009
Two nights ago–being the disciplined and determined writer that I am–I sat down to write the last scene of a short story I’ve been working on. This, in spite of the fact I was so tired I was having trouble staying awake. The next day when I opened the document, I had to snort at [...]
Posted in inspiration, kids at play, random on Apr 27th, 2009
I’m back! Two days of traveling, two days of whirlwind activity, and back to a house that (inexplicably, since I picked up before we left) needs tidying. We got home around midnight yesterday, after being on the road for fifteen hours. I have lots of unpacking yet to do, stories to crit (hi, Jo!) and [...]
Posted in creativity, drawing, short stories on Apr 22nd, 2009
Light blogging this week and I’m off to my sister’s wedding, so no posts this weekend.
There have been no major happenings on the writing front. I’m still chugging along on that not-so-short story (probably 7K when done). I had wanted to complete it before leaving, but I’ve been too distracted this week (packing, mentally preparing [...]
Posted in linktopia on Apr 19th, 2009
The writer mom edition:
Christina Katz on how her writing schedule changed as her child grew up. I’m going to check out her book: Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids. It’s geared more towards non-fiction, but I love the subtitle and I’m ready to see if article-writing is at all my [...]
Posted in creativity on Apr 17th, 2009
So. You’re digging up a pumpkin patch. Next to a stone wall. In a patch of earth next door to a place that (for good reason) calls itself The Granite State. What do you find?
Rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.
After a while (say, two minutes), digging up rocks gets very boring. You start thinking about [...]
Posted in kids at play on Apr 16th, 2009
As a sequel to last year’s fall fingerpainting, I had the kids fingerpaint a vase with some cheerful red-and-yellow flowers in it. We are really getting into spring around here. The temperature’s going to be in the upper 60s tomorrow. Bliss!
Posted in inspiration on Apr 14th, 2009
From Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company, 2008), pps. 39-40:
The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: [...]
The I-have-too-many-open-tabs edition:
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Archaeology is so fascinating: The world’s oldest life-sized statue? It gives me the shivers. And, 11,000-year-old stone circles. Story fireworks are going off in my head.
And in entirely unrelated news: here’s the [...]
I finished A Suitable Boy early in March. Immense and sprawling, this book meandered from storyline to storyline, rich in detail, at some points suffocatingly so. While the descriptions of Hindu rituals and customs were fascinating to me, the pages devoted to political speeches and legalese were not and I had no qualms about skimming [...]
Posted in creativity, gardening on Apr 9th, 2009
Yes, I know this is a writing blog, but you really are not all that interested in my revision angst or my sullen moping about what an untalented hack I am.
Instead I give you:
Bread! Since we got back from Florida I’ve baked bread three times. We haven’t had to buy a single preservatives-stuffed loaf from [...]