When is art worth money? What makes a doodle worth framing and selling? I have no clue--at least when it comes to my own work. And of course how much is art worth? I can't even answer these questions about my "real" work. I can't even tell a student how much I get paid for …
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.
It’s about effing time
It's about effing time for Paul to get married. I've put him through enough and he's had enough sense to ask out a normal person for once in his life and he's pushing forty, so he deserves some peace and happiness...but this real time blog thing drives me crazy. He and are I going to …
The Red Moon
The Red Moon, for better or for worse, is a brothel on the outskirts of Lake Belle. One way or another it shows up in every story. The trick is (no pun intended--really) is to write about a call girl without resorting to cliche. No hearts of gold and no glamorizing the trade. What on …
Over-caffeinated and Exposed
Way too much coffee. I think I could drive home without turning on the car. And sharing my novel with someone who's never read my work before is a bit like drinking a vat of coffee for the way it makes my nerves rattle. Where does rampant insecurity spring anway? Some evil teacher? Judgmental parents? …
The Sunlight
The Sunlight Grocery used to be called The Sun Stop until its sudden and strange transformation several years ago. The characters involved in that have moved on, and the store isn't as perfect as it once was, but much of the neighborhood around it has gentrified to some extent. Lake Belle is far from an …
Change of Pace
This blog really should support the lakebelle blog. At first, being new to this whole blogosphere, I thought of writing about the writing life, but that's not enough (for me anyway and I'm the blogger, so there you are). I'm going to try using this space to better describe lake belle and the people there. …
Wonderfully Lunatic Agents…Do Exist (I’ve got proof in my hot little hand)
So, I'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and I keep finding these clever lines and pitch-perfect descriptions--writing that makes me jealous (Oh, why didn't I write that?). But here's the thing--the book 846 pages long (I'm on page 225 at the moment) and I'm thinking this: an agent was sitting in …
Continue reading Wonderfully Lunatic Agents…Do Exist (I’ve got proof in my hot little hand)
Edit or Die Trying (or is it edit ’til you die?)
You can't be a writer unless you're willing to hack it to bits and mow down those darlings as they run for cover. Okay, maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but writing is an ugly business even if you never resort to using blood instead of ink. Editing exhausts me. Not in the way toiling away …
Continue reading Edit or Die Trying (or is it edit ’til you die?)
money makes the world go ’round & the pen move with more ease
There's nothing romantic about money. Starving artists in garretts are not cooler or more authentic than artists in air conditioned studios. And so this month when I am without any classes and therefore without a paycheck for three weeks, I am with a wonderful amount of time with which to write and create--hours at a …
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Torn Between
I've never been someone searching for what to do with my life. I've never had a radical transformation from one religion to another, one political belief to another, one way of living to another. I declared my college major at seventeen and never considered changing it. Plenty of my friends wonder what they should be …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 