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Archive for the ‘Chasing the Muse’ Category

Blathering on about a story that’s probably better off NOT being written…

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The words of Ted Kooser, US poet Laureate, in an NPR interview.
“Ordinarily, I get up about 4:30 in the morning and I try to write till about 7:00. I’ve got an armchair down in the living room where I prop a cup of coffee on one arm and set my notebook on my lap. And [...]

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I admit, when I got the gentle tap from Jove reminding me it was my turn on the Women and Words hot seat, add some leave moments of panic. Even before I started back at college, after 20 years old out of school altogether, edits and writing projects had sucked out what little was left [...]

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My world is made up of more than full time work, a wife, three kids–two of them below the age of five–, a never ending to do list generated by my yard and house. When all of that is taken care of, then I get to write. Except it’s never all taken care of. There’s [...]

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Take a deep breath…relax. It’s okay. 
That’s my new mantra. Initially, I began using it in my everyday life because I was feeling completely overwhelmed and was certain my head would explode at any moment. Bonnie and I had just moved back to our hometown and in with my 90-year-old grandmother (so we can take our [...]

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I have a friend with a teenage daughter who’s prone to recklessness. She’s stubborn, persistent, and self-righteous. My friend and her husband have had to go so far as to move their mattress in front of the doorway to keep her in at night.
And while I feel for my friend—and I do—I also can’t help [...]

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This is an odd morning, I think, standing at the window.  Somewhere between snow and not-snow.  I am alone, in my studio of eighteen years and that’s odd too.  Usually this place is busy and loud, the voices and laughter of young adults overriding my own, and music as loud as I’ll allow it, mostly [...]

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…actually, it honestly was a dark and stormy day with gale force winds, but more about that later.
Jove Belle requested I write a piece for this forum and, at her suggestion, I chose “Tell us about what happened between writing your very first story and actually getting published. What was involved along the way?” Forgive [...]

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At the last count there were seventeen named folders containing stories with anything from a few hundred words to over10K, plus another folder full of snippets, without titles, waiting for me to expand them into something viable.
I do try to restrict myself on one thing at a time and not get distracted. But I suspect, [...]

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Did you ever meet one of those authors who blast out a novel from beginning to end, just as it pops from their head, like Athena, fully-formed and perfect? Well, that’s not me, and that’s certainly not In Keisha’s Shadow.
In the Beginning, the Author Made…
…a big mistake. Well, okay, not that big a mistake. [...]

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