One reason to stay up late writing is that when I try to go to bed at a civilized hour, my characters won't let me sleep anyway--like they're jostling in my brain with their thoughts and things they need to say and do. It's mental. At one point I realized that I couldn't tell if …
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.
Tension–The Good Kind
Most of the time my writing is dreadful, but once in a while it works so well I have to do a little dance in my closet and say, yes, Yes, YES! What fun to capture a scene so filled with tension--of many kinds--that it vibrates off the page. Can I say that about my …
art everyday
My son's contribution to art everyday--which he really wants to see on the computer!
sideways writing
Lots of friends have told me that my husband and I have to watch the movie Sideways because it is about wine and my husband is in the wine business. What no one, not one of my friends, told me was that the main character is a writer. As far as I'm concerned, this is …
notes to myself
Keeping a plot in order is no easy task. Not for me anyway. So I need to make notes to remind myself of things--like, how long should it take Paul to decide to ask Valerie to marry him? Gotta have something go wrong, of course--what could it be? Someone from somebody's past is the most …
real time panic
This is obvious, but it only recently struck me how challenging it will be for me to keep up lakebelle.blogspot.com simply because it happens in real time. That's REAL TIME. What on earth will I do when blog meets novel? How will there be plot? I must be out of my head. For the next …
Born That Way
I recently read an interview with a published author who said that a person is either born with talent or they're not--that you can't teach good writing. I practically decided never to read anything by this person ever again. Who do you know who sits there are says, "Oh, I'm a writer because I was …
Playing God and Goddess
I'm not sure if there is a difference between playing god or playing goddess, but it feels like there should be one... Anyway, writing may be a near perfect pursuit for the control freak. I'm trying to decide on a particular character's fate (I'm not a big believer in fate in real life, but that's …
Talking Back
One way or another a good story punches the gut, grabs the heart, or rattles the brain. And the stories I love give me courage as well. Oh, for those great moments when I read a scene and think--wow, this writer doesn't care what her friends think, what his family worries about, what the critics …
Spoilers
People who set out to ruin a story for someone else are right up there with people who like to ruin Christmas for children. How malicious is it--you're enjoying something I don't approve of so zap! take that enthusiastic person! ha-ha, you're upset and I feel so much better. Rumor has it that a restaurant …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 