The big picture...
Author: mapelba
I'm a writer, artist, teacher, mother, wife, daughter, friend, coffee addict... What else? A success, a failure, a mess, a fan, a hater of housework, a lover of dogs, a liberal, an obsessive, and a bunch of other things that probably would never occur to me. I reveal myself in more ways in my writings and art than in any list of adjectives. And whoever you are, I hope most of all that you are a reader.
A great threesome.
Listen to Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume, and Neil Gaiman talk books! They talk about Young Adult fiction, but plenty of folks out there who want to put a story on the page ought to enjoy it too. (And I'm specifically thinking of you, Shelli!) And by the by, I totally agree with Sherman about Neil. …
The Rewrite Chronicles: The Killing Spree
After spending a couple hours trying to write one tiny scene, I had to admit that the scene did nothing to progress the story. Out came the special scene killing blade--and I closed my eyes and cut, cut, cut... This hurts me more than it hurts you, I told the characters. Now, if it were …
My Lying Heart
A student said she doesn't read fiction. Why? I asked. Well, you spend all this time reading it and it isn't even true. A dagger to my lying heart.
Can’t Stop.
I just keep cutting and cutting...
Take scissors, glue, and one novel…
An early draft of my novel sat under my desk and mocked me. So I took my scissors to the pages and gave the silly thing something else to do. If it can't be art one way, it can damn well be art another way.
Badgering: The Sweet Dream Edition
Tiny Badger is tired. Tired! But that won't stop tiny badger from nipping at your heels if you aren't doing your writing. I don't know what other badgers dream about, but tiny badger dreams of humans hunched over desks marking up pages until there is a thing called a book. Tiny badger wants all these …
The Rewrite Chronicles: These Things Must Be Done Delicately
Takes magic of all kinds to get to the end. Over here in my corner of the world, I've just dropped a house on half of my novel, and now I'm going to go outside and see where I am. The problem is that I'm not as innocent as Dorothy (meaning I dropped the house …
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Wanted for Crimes against Writers
The dreaded girl gang of three are capable of taking out a writer anywhere at any time. The malevolent Angstintina, Obsessisa, and Neurotichka can smell coffee from a thousand paces. They spot their prey as it sits illuminated in the light of a computer screen. If necessary, they can also hear the rustle of paper …
Where the blog goes on forever, and the neurosis never ends…
Thanks to angst encouraging nonsense like sitemeters and stat counters, I can see that some people have read the chapters that I so anxiously-optimistically-ridiculously posted. First thought is something like, Oh wow. Someone's reading it. Second thought is like, Oh shit. Someone's reading it. Third thought is more like, Oh great someone's reading it and …
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