August 25, 2010

Back from Hiatus


I haven’t been blogging forever. I was busy with the Quince, but when that passed, I took up writing. It's been nonstop. I usually don’t write too much in the summer. My kids are out of school, and they’re always wanting things from me. Breakfast and packed lunches and rides and money. Only this year our lives took a bit of a turn. This year my kids became involved in things that didn’t require parental supervision. I dropped them off and picked them up. They went their own way, and I wrote. I wrote myself silly. I wrote and wrote, and almost finished a manuscript. Then last week someone asked how my writing was going, I said, “like butter.” She rolled her eyes. Now, I was on the phone with said person, but I distinctly felt eyes roll. "Is that a literary term?" I heard next.

Now here’s the thing, now that I’m out of the closet and telling the world I’m a writer, I been feeling the pressure of such an outrageous declaration. It’s gotten so bad, I had a hard time writing notes in graduation cards this year. Seriously. I couldn’t just scratch out some note after all. Not any more. I had to write something memorable. Something beyond "good." Well, I don’t know if I achieved that goal. Most likely those kids grabbed up the checks and didn’t bother with the note. I know I did at that age. Didn’t think my parents' friends had any knowledge worth imparting. But still, I struggled. I worried even those few words be scrutinized. 

I thought writing, getting an agent, was somehow going to complete me. It hasn't actually gone that way. It's gone another. It's called, "the opposite," it ain't at all like butter.

And yeah, that's a literary term, too. Look it up.

I also wanted to thank Sharon Mayhew for giving me the poke, getting me back here, sharing stories and sharing words. It's beyond good to be here. Go on her site and check out what she wrote about that very thing...Who do you share with?



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June 22, 2010

On Hiatus during daughter's QuinceaƱera Extravaganza.


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May 18, 2010

Been Working Hard

I owe you a blog. I owe myself a blog.

I had planned to write about writing versus rewriting. About what it takes to get down and dirty with every single f’ing word in your transcript. How you have to go down into that hole and just get filthy. How you have to dig in and dig down. How you have to look at every single word like you’ve never set eyes on them before and then decide whether they are worthy to be a part of your work.


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April 07, 2010

Our Quince Girl

Our Girl. At age 12. I shop early

My daughter will be celebrating her QuinceaƱera this year. It’s a big deal. A big party. A big dress. A band and a caterer. It’s sort of like a wedding only without a groom and in-laws and a honeymoon. We’re very excited. Been very excited to see our first baby reach this milestone and move on to and through adulthood. I love that it precludes a sweet sixteen. That it comes without all the pressure of that same baby getting a car and driving on down the road.  Although, it would be nice to put the thing off another year just so I could have some leverage to get her to come over to my way of thinking about things, like how short is too short, or too low, or too high, and especially too young.


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March 26, 2010

Why I Write What I Write

The story I’m working on now, my latest novel, is that of an African American woman. Miss Eddie or Miss Louise or Miss Callie Bell. I’m not quite sure yet what her name will be exactly, but I am sure of her story. I am sure of the events that took place in her life, of where she came from and where she went, of the loves she had and the trials she faced.

Now, someone recently asked me why I chose to write about this particular woman, and well, here’s my answer: I didn’t. Just happened. I don’t know where her story even came from because it was not the one I set out to write, but then there she was and there I was and when she had something to say, I took note. I listened. That’s as close as I can get to what it means to write about a person whose life is totally different from my own.


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February 27, 2010

Do YOU Own Your Characters?


Been wanting to blog for the past week only haven’t been able to. Haven’t been able to find the time to because for the last two weeks I’ve been barely holding on to the wild stampede that’s my next book. And yes I am holding the reins and yes I am in charge and directing, but what I am not doing is yelling, whoa or cut that shi* out. Instead, I am slapping those reins and encouraging them to go, go, go. I am standing up in that wagon and screaming out Yippee Ki Yay until I am without a breath left. (Since I am speaking to mostly writers who well know their way around metaphors, I will only pause for the briefest of seconds and explain to the others, those horses are words, words in my book that at this exact second is running strong and full and breathing itself into a thing of true beauty.)


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February 11, 2010

Shanghi Girls and Lisa See


Here I go, again...
What I am supposed to be doing versus what I am actually doing. 

I am supposed to right now be writing. That’s what I got up early for and took a hot shower and did my hair for. (And when I say early I mean was dressed by 7:30) (And when I say hair, I actually mean ponytail.) But instead I am blogging. That’s right, blogging IS writing only it is not really writing because it is more like having the girls over and drinking wine only without having to clean your house first. Which I love. (Wine. Not cleaning.) (As if you didn’t know)


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February 01, 2010

Mesmerizing Coolness

Okay. Newest way to keep from jumping right into writing at 7:00 in the morning (used to be playing sudoku and  trying clothes on cyber-self) but now, browsing graphic design sites and looking at book covers. Doing it for hours. Okay. Only one hour, but an hour every day, which is at least 1 page worth of writing time. But can’t stop. Can’t stop thinking about my cover.

There was a time when holding a hundred of my own pages was enough to keep me happy for weeks. Okay, yes, still is. Only now I want something besides a staple in the corner. I want a book with a cover. A really cool cover. And yes, I know there are people who get paid a lot of money to design them, and that I’m not one of them.


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