🎵 Now Playing: “Slow Burn” by Kacey Musgraves “I’m alright with a slow burn…”(So is cube steak, if you treat it right.) Word Raccoon has a new device she LOVES: a solar-powered charger! It’s barely bigger than my phone, and now when I’m writing outdoors, I don’t have to worry about running out of juiceContinue reading “Word Raccoon Versus the Mystery Meat”
Category Archives: Writing
Word Raccoon Listens to The Swell Season’s New Album, Forward
Word Raccoon got too much sun yesterday.She knows better, but she forgot—so now she’s pink.Not blush-pink. Not beach-glow pink.More like regret-meets-crustacean. But she also submitted poetry, processed another rejection like she was made for it, and even arrived at the gym all in the same day. (Accepting rejection is part of the writing gig, loveys.Continue reading “Word Raccoon Listens to The Swell Season’s New Album, Forward”
WR Wrote Poetry Unsupervised Saturday Night
CW: Word Raccoon wrote some angsty, irreverent song lyrics below. I’m just in charge of her care and feeding, not her writing. Proceed with care. Saturday night, I, the responsible adult part of this writing operation, went to bed.Word Raccoon did not.She stayed up writing poetry. Unsupervised. Again. I thought she was doing research. Ha!Continue reading “WR Wrote Poetry Unsupervised Saturday Night”
Strange Mercy in The Safekeep
NOW PLAYING: “Strange Mercy” by St. Vincent I tried to read The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden before the Book Review podcast aired their episode on it. (I don’t even have to mention the layered title, do I? Dear Reader, keep it in mind as you read. It’s perfect.) Then I tried to readContinue reading “Strange Mercy in The Safekeep”
To Kiss a Frog You’ve Written On
I’ve never been the type to need a lot of things.I don’t collect lots of keepsakes. I don’t hoard tons of mementos. I keep some of both, of course. I’m not a monster. Usually, when my family divides up what’s left behind (too often in recent years), I say:“As long as someone has it, that’sContinue reading “To Kiss a Frog You’ve Written On”
Rick Neumayer’s Three Foggy Mornings
Rick Neumayer is no stranger to these pages. Faithful readers may remember that we met in an intense novel-writing workshop in Ireland. Five of us and a mentor, immersed in a couple of weeks of reading, critiquing, and talking writing in both Dublin at Trinity College and then onto tiny Oranmore for the remainder ofContinue reading “Rick Neumayer’s Three Foggy Mornings”
Serial Killer Games: Not Just For Reading AnymoreÂ
Now Playing: “Lovefool” by The Cardigans I woke up this morning and found Word Raccoon in my blue chair downstairs reading. “Hey,” I said. She waved a paw in which she was holding a protein bar. In her other, she clutched the novel we’d fallen asleep reading the night before. “Give me that,” I said,Continue reading “Serial Killer Games: Not Just For Reading Anymore “
Drema Vs. the Long Weekend
Word Raccoon is out of the hammock and coming for the to-do list. 🎵 Now Playing: “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield (It’s Word Raccoon’s Tuesday morning mood. And don’t give me any shizz about this feel-good song.) Yes, it’s Tuesday. But don’t tell Word Raccoon that; it’s her Monday, and she’s got pages to devour. PoemsContinue reading “Drema Vs. the Long Weekend”
Anne Tyler’s Quiet Brilliance
For years, I’ve counted Anne Tyler as one of the three living authors who’ve most shaped my writing, alongside Toni Morrison, who at the time was still with us, and Amy Tan. When I listed those women on my grad school application as my greatest writing influences, I decided that if the program didn’t findContinue reading “Anne Tyler’s Quiet Brilliance”
Five Poems, One Moon, and a Word Raccoon: Holiday Morning on the Porch
Pictured: The Moon, According to Me Last Night. The holiday morning started with poetry. I was on the porch early, before the neighbors were up. I had promised myself just the five poems I mentioned in my previous blog. That was IT, no more. POEM ONE I started in. The first one, Why Scrambled Eggs,Continue reading “Five Poems, One Moon, and a Word Raccoon: Holiday Morning on the Porch”
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