Sometimes blogging is like running around the schoolyard, and now I'm It. Shelli was It, but she got me--seems I slowed down to adjust my bookbag and she tagged my hand that holds my pen. So, now I shall skip on over to the picnic table under the tree (imagine apartment wall as giant tree …
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.
Concrete Makes a Strong Impression
I've got five thousand other things to write and rant about, but I just want to rant about children's books and movies that must spell out a moral lesson or self-destruct. Hey, of course I'm all for children learning about right and wrong and everything in between, but I object to lectures (sermons) that poorly …
Hair on Fire!
So, there's this book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith, and a coworker, who I like and respect and admire (really), loves this book. Listening to her talk about it makes me love the book too. Hey, I want to be a great teacher. Sure I do. I also want to be …
doing terrible things
She's in trouble. A character in my novel, you see. Perhaps I've grown so attached to her that I want to keep her safe. But what would I be keeping her safe from? My imagination--a terrible thing indeed. Of course, I know she doesn't really exist. There is the fictional world and the real one …
it ain’t literary
Okay, I've decided (foolishly or not). I'm writing a modern, gothic, fairy tale. Hey, everything needs a label these days--you know it's true. And people and agents tend to ask (if they get so far as to care) what kind of novel it is. Fantasy, mystery, erotica, romance, blah, blah, blah... Saying "literary" sounds lame. …
the foolish multitudes
The multitude of ways I find to not write the ending of this novel are getting tiresome. This post is case in point.
Girl with bloody arrow? It must be love!
Over at Between the Lines is a love story in progress disguised as a writing project. Check it out. Hey, you know something about love--you know you do. Dear Cupid, I could go on and on about the boy who told me I wouldn't impress his friends or the one who told me he was …
You won’t regret it in the morning.
Since the end of NaNoWriMo, I've been sending out badgering emails to folks who are trying to finish their novels--just little notes of encouragement to say that you are not alone, you can do it, don't give up. I was posting these emails in the Get Novel Done page in the sidebar over there, but …
because i haven’t procrastinated enough and this is great…
Thanks to Grain Edit !<a href=""> Procrastination goes something like this...open document and read over the scene I was working on last...but I've got to check my email...okay, nothing there...go back to scene and get main character into the next room which I describe...and realize that I ought to go check a blog I've not …
Continue reading because i haven’t procrastinated enough and this is great…
Banging Head against Coffee Shop Wall (the banging goes faster with caffeine)
I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop staring at my novel. For some reason the damn thing won't write itself. What are you doing?
