Tag Archives: fiction is my job
If those boys would stand still for five minutes, they’d write a damn good novel.
Leo and his friends are careening up and down the stairs, a cloud of knees and elbows and supposedly-brushed teeth and glinting blonde hair. They are making engine sounds and laser sounds and sounds of exploding nebulae (which, being a … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, parenting, raising boys, these kids are crazy, writing distractions
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In Which There Were Seven Dreams
Last night, I slept fitfully and without satisfaction, my brain addled by the moon’s bright insistence. I am floating now. The earth is separated from my feet by wind and cloud and empty space. I do not know when I … Continue reading
A giveaway? Why yes, I think that would be a good idea.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I came to the stunning realization today, after writing things in the calendar and fretting about how I would afford the shocking price tags on school supplies and school clothes and school shoes and school programs … Continue reading
Evening in BarnhillLand
So here’s the thing: I’ve got a really weird job. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I’ve had lots of jobs in my life (lots and lots and lots of them), and I discovered along the way that I’m, well, … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, middle grade fiction, on writing novels, parenting, raising boys, revision, writing novels
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Underwater
Dear Blog, I know, I know. And I’m sorry. I’ve been ignoring you, ignoring my commitment to the daily practice of poetry (was I completely mad for deciding to do that? Probably.), ignoring my commitment to engaging with Ideas (or, … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, multiverse, Parallel universe (fiction), revision, Spacetime, Universe, writing novels
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Back to Normal
The children are back in school. My hands are raised to the heavens. My mouth sings hymns of praise. I have cleared away the debris on my desk (there was beach sand on my desk. And a flip flop. And … Continue reading
Today’s Poem: “Cheating at Cards With Jesus”
Cheating at Cards With Jesus The Lord is a pain in the ass when He’s had too much whiskey. But then, so’s anyone, so I couldn’t fault Him for it. He leered over the rim of his cards and winked. … Continue reading
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Tagged astronomy, fiction is my job, Jesus, poetry, poker, religious poetry, sacrilegious poetry, transcendence, transformative thinking, whiskey
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How To Roast a Novel
My father gave me a copy of Julia Child’s letters (As Always, Julia), and, as always, that woman is a revelation. I remember watching her show as a little kid and, after being first entranced by her voice and by … Continue reading
All Memory is Magic; All Magic is Memory
When I was three years old, I walked out into the yard. It was a cicada year, though I did not yet know what a cicada was. All I knew was that the air hummed, and the sky hummed, and … Continue reading
Dreams, Signs, Wonders (Is there a difference between novel writing and clinical insanity? Probably not.)
There’s a magic thing that happens when a book takes over your life. There is….an unpinning from the world. A sense of nonbeing – or, perhaps multi-being. When I start a book, it feels like play. I doodle pictures of my … Continue reading
On Entropy, Accretion and Exploding Novels
There was a time in my life when I was a lot tougher than I am now. And though I was strong enough to break a man’s nose (and did once, but that is another story) that time in my … Continue reading
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Tagged astronomy, books, deathlessness, entropy, fiction is my job, formation of stars, horsehead nebula, nebula, new novels, novels, writing, Young Adult Literature, youth
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First Lines
Just a quick post today, as I hurry out the door to conduct my very last story-writing workshop at Chanhassen Elementary. But I wanted to share with you just a tiny bit of what these kids are doing. I like … Continue reading
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Tagged Creative writing, fiction is my job, fourth graders, my job totally rules, Teaching
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I’m pretty sure I just squashed the dreams (and possibly the souls) of a bunch of college students.
I just got back from a student/alumni networking event for Liberal Arts majors at my alma mater, St. Catherine University – a small, Catholic, all-lady college in Minnesota. I had agreed – foolishly, yes, I see that now – to … Continue reading
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Tagged ah! College!, alma mater, alumni, College of St. Catherine, fiction is my job, I wish I was better at this sort of thing, Little Brown, networking, On my unsuitability for most types of employment, on vocation, on writing, starry-eyed co-eds, transformative thinking
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Feed the Beast
Whenever I have a lull in my writing production (and let me tell you, this happens a lot), I start reading a TON of books on writing, on the creative process, on living the life of an artist, and what … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, I wish I was better at this sort of thing, julia cameron, sometimes being a writer is harder than it needs to be, the artists way, The creative process, what exactly is the line between being an artsy fartsy person and being a certifiably insane person?, wolves, writers and their muse, writing novels
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How I Became the Most Famous Woman Alive (in my head) (for one week)
Last week I did a fiction residency at Epiphany Catholic School in Coon Rapids, MN. (Here’s me holding a whiteboard marker that I was about to start waving around as either a lightsaber or a magic wand. One or the … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, I'm cuter than Sarah Palin, residencies, Teaching, these kids totally rule
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On Ruling the World (and other worthwhile endeavors)
About a year ago, I sat on the couch with my eleven year old. She had a book on her lap, I had a laptop upon which I was furiously typing the final chapter of my next story. All of … Continue reading
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Tagged Dr. Evil, Dr. Horrible, fiction is my job, princesses, ruling the world, Teaching
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On leaps of faith. (And falling.) (And flying.)
I read an article over at Salon.com about the financial perils of the Mommy-track. (It’s called “Regrets of a Stay-At-Home Mom” , by one Katy Read, and it’s absolutely worth the read. Then, if you happen to be – as … Continue reading
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Tagged fiction is my job, fyi, Katy Read, leap of faith, Mommy-Track, Salon.com, this economy kinda sucks
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Everything I Know About Writing I Learned From Reading Fairy Tales
All right fine, that’s not exactly true. But it’s a little bit true. When I was a kid, my dad had a book of fairy tales. It was a huge thing – phonebook sized. We struggled to haul it to … Continue reading
A year buds, swells, blooms, dies.
All things considered, I really dug 2010, despite its rather inauspicious beginning at which I learned that my book, originally slated to slide into the world in the fall of 2010, was to be delayed until 2011. That was a … Continue reading
