Amy Tan on Creativity

Filed Under: writing advice

I LOVE Amy Tan, and if you readAllie's Answers, you know that I LOVE Ted Talks, so put the two together and you can pretty much guess that I was in heaven when I found a Ted Talk by Amy Tan. When I was in high school, I read The Kitchen God's Wife so many times that the binding of my book fell apart. And even before I had any idea that I wanted to be a writer, I secretly longed to become a part of The Rock Bottom Remainders and bang an tambourine on my ass with the likes of Amy Tan, Dave Barry, and Stephen King. If you're a writer, or a reader, or you have questions about the universe … [Read more...]

Days Are Getting Shorter

Filed Under: life

When I was a kid, summers were long. Getting out of school in June left me looking at this expanse of free time that never seemed to end. There was time for camp and swimming and biking and catching frogs and going on vacation and trying on back to school clothes and chasing after the ice cream man. I know that in relative terms, 2 months to a 9 year old is going to seem a lot longer than it will to a 31 year old, if you consider that 2 months is almost 2% of a 9 year old's life and .5% of a 31 year old's life, (and seriously, that is a little beyond my mathematical skills, but we can talk … [Read more...]

He’s okay!

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog

This afternoon, I decided that I couldn't just sit home and worry while I waited for a phone call that wasn't even supposed to come for another couple of days, so I took Argo to the p-a-r-k for an h-i-k-e (both words need to be spelled around my pup). I was determined not to think about it, and just focus on having fun with my friend. I actually impressed myself with how much I was able to just let go and enjoy my surroundings. I live in my head a lot, and this was a victory for me. We did some trail running, hung out by the creek for a bit and watched turtles swimming just under the water. … [Read more...]

Waiting Impatiently

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog

I took Argo to the vet on Friday to have a few bumps checked out. He has pretty bad allergies, and gets skin irritations as a result. One bump was a little too close to his incision site for comfort (he had cancer in February). Apparently, the bump I worried about was just a doggie zit, but the bump I wasn't worried about looked "a little suspicious" to our vet and "given his history" warranted a biopsy. The biopsies take about a week to come back, and the waiting is killing me. I did just fine over the weekend, telling myself it was all going to be okay, keeping busy cleaning the basement … [Read more...]

I hide in my music, forget the day . . .

Filed Under: writing

Picture from my bike trip. I did a guest post over at Extra Ordinary today about my love of cheesy music, and it got me thinking of another writing habit I employ. I make playlists for my main characters. Getting my butt in the chair and getting focused is another really important part of writing (obviously). Playing songs that my character would like or listen to, or songs that in some way trigger something for me about that character is a vital step in my the process. It gets me thinking in their head instead of my own, and makes it easier for me to stay true to my character, so I don't … [Read more...]

Biking and Writing

Filed Under: writing

Much of my work happens away from the computer, when it probably doesn't look like I'm working at all. I do a ton of my writing in my head before it ever hits the page. I'm not perfecting dialogue or anything along those lines, just creating a loose sketch of what could happen and what makes sense for my characters. I do my best sketching and problem solving when I'm doing something physical. When I was a theatre major, back in college, I had a horrible time memorizing lines (kind of a vital skill for a theatre major). One of my professors told me that walking while trying to process … [Read more...]

Where do I start?

Filed Under: 100 Things, begin at the beginning, life, writing

So, I've finally created a personal blog where I can talk about my writing and my life beyond being a greenie (although, being green is a part of every aspect of my life).I've been a personal blogger without a personal blog for way too long - finding ways to sneak little snippets of my life into that other blog over there, wondering if the poor soul who stumbled across my website while looking for a recipe to use up the beets in her CSA bag really wants to read a story about 3rd grade me pretending to drive a spaceship on the school bus.But beyond telling you all of that, I really don't know … [Read more...]