So, storytelling. You do your best to seduce the reader, make her want to turn the page to see what will be revealed, compell him to stay up late to be with you...whatever the genre if you can capture your reader's heart, hats off and trumpets sound and confetti fly for you. At this point …
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.
Writing Lake Belle
Writing a fictional blog (lakebelle.blogspot.com) is fun and not fun, weird and not weird, all those writerly things. To write the blog it is difficult to get into character. I do it for the novel, but the book has dialogue and exposition. In scenes I can step back, describe the scene, set the pace, work …
Love Story
No complaining today about the writing life--just the love instead. The sharing of a great story (not writing my own, which are not great, but i mean reading or seeing someone else's) is a wonderful and amazing thing. I love that feeling that a page or a screen can send straight to the heart or …
Writing Dreams
My current novel-in-progress, my son's current fav film Finding Nemo, and a recent seen flick Stranger than Fiction, have combined forces to infiltrate my dreams. As a character in the dream I put on my best dress and heels and go out to drown in the downtown of a huge metropolitan area. As the writer …
Writer’s Crash
I stepped into my closet tonight and my brain just locked up. It said, "No." I clicked on my fiction blog and again, "No." But I can't quite bring myself to listen so here I am. But I realized that I've been writing every night for at least fifteen nights--some of those nights creating art …
Writer’s Rant
When someone tells me they want to write a novel, but...well, my kind, supportive side wants to hand them a book on writing, to clap and cheer them on, and to believe them. Yes! Go! You can! And then my evil side just wants to roll my eyes and say, "Then sit your butt in …
The Red Shoes
I stay up too late, drink too much coffee, avoid grading papers, put off housework and phone calls, and who knows what else just to sit and write or draw, and while I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong with that (would it be so terrible die in a messy apartment, tired and caffinated …
A Closet of One’s Own!
Who would've thought I could be grateful for broken appliances? The washing machine and dryer broke, and instead of reparing or replacing them, we put them out on the street. This means, of course, that I will be quarter obsessed to feed the machines of the shared apartment complex laundry room, but it also means …
What a Writer Owes
First, I just want to note that this is not inspired by the Sopranos ending. I never watched the show and have no opinion about the conclusion. This is inspired by a lively and interesting conversation I had this evening with a writer friend. That said, I am struggling with the question of what kind …
Writers Don’t Make the Best Friends
Plenty of parent-writers out there talk about the struggle of balancing parenthood and writing, and much of what they have to say is true. But it's my friendships I neglect. My child is here in my house demanding attention. My friends are far away and too busy themselves to point out that I haven't called …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 