"I write this calmly enough, but really I was and am very upset about it and think they may have treated me very badly. Of course, it may be that this novel is much worse than my others, though they didn't say so, giving their reason for rejecting it as their fear with the present cost … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: DIY, Part 1

Five years ago, my husband and I moved into a 320-square-foot cottage that he created from a rundown 1944-vintage garage on the back of our property. We rent our so-called "Big House" to University of Washington sabbatical families, the rental income helping us fund our artist life-styles. We designed the cottage with two small private … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: A (teeny) Room of One’s Own

The middle-grade novel for young readers that I am revising this month has a quirky eleven-year-old boy protagonist. In the original manuscript I chose to use only his first-person point-of-view to tell the story. Ready to wrangle a major revision, however, I've decided to add the first-person perspective of the "supporting role," his conventional twelve-year-old … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: REVISION AND POV

This week I scrubbed our kitchen floor. I decluttered and cleaned out the pantry. I raked fallen leaves and pulled up the spent bean and zucchini plants in the vegetable garden. Why did I do this extra-level tidying? I was doing  tasks that simply needed to be done. Company was coming for dinner. I was … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: REVISION AND RESISTANCE

SETTING: A coffee shop, or an airport waiting area, or a concert hall lobby. BH [to (LONG-SUFFERING) COMPANION]: So what's new with you? LSC: Well, I'm thinking about  looking around for a new job. Seems like a good time to get my resume out there.  Wait, what are you staring at? BH: What? Oh, sorry. … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: THE SKILLS THAT HAVE HELPED ME THE MOST — PART 2

If a beginning writer were to ask me for advice (hey, go ahead and ask me!), I would answer: Read, read, read; Avoid workshops that require you to share unfinished manuscripts; and Learn to touch type. I learned QWERTY in a summer-school typing class between seventh and eighth grade. We clacked away on sturdy black … Continue reading THE FRIDAY FIVE HUNDRED: THE SKILLS THAT HAVE HELPED ME THE MOST – Part 1