Category Archives: Writing

This morning, it’s like Word Raccoon and I are on a scale. You know, the kind with two arms, little bowls hanging from chains? And we started out so well, doing all the things! We’re up:  We did some hand laundry. Put fresh batteries in the hall and cabinet lights and installed them. (Let’s beContinue reading “Late Start or Great Start?”

Some days the writing is unglamorous. That was today’s work, which was more editing than writing.  Because I am a “messy” writer (it is what it is), my plan for the day was to take one of the timelines of my novel and sequence it chronologically. It was 111 pages long, so it took aContinue reading “Holding the Draft Up to the Light”

The poem I ignored yesterday returned this morning. I’m grateful.  I’d just finished listening to that novel (still not naming it, not just now), and a line from its tender closing scene lingered even after I lifted my phone from my chest and set it on the nightstand. This felt like a moment to savor.Continue reading “Some Side Effects of Reading are Possible”

Weekends are all:“What should we do, Word Raccoon?” The options! There’s breakfast (if she’s hungry),and then that note to self: Pay the bills!(Though it’s on the calendar, she often puts it off. Ugh. Admin.) There’s“Wasn’t there one last poetry submission (or two, or three?)you wanted to send this month?” So many options. Too good toContinue reading “All the Things, All at Once”

I tried the “Japanese cheesecake” hack that’s making the rounds so you don’t have to. The “recipe?” Cram as many cookies as will fit into a single-serving container of Greek yogurt. Cover with plastic or pop the lid back on. Refrigerate overnight (or at least a few hours). Verdict? Don’t bother. Just have real cheesecake.Continue reading “Not a Night for Alchemy, Last Night”

“Welp, this is our life now,” Word Raccoon sighed this morning as we wrapped the Cutco knives and boxed them for shipping to be sharpened. It took an hour and a half. To box. Five knives. (Fragments intended.) You might recall that I am not a fan of knives. I started off with this coolContinue reading “This Is Our Life Now, But At Least We Can Control the Language “

You’re allowed to wait for Hank Green to join the “Come on Superman” video trend. (Surely he will?) But Word Raccoon says she doesn’t want to say the “stupid line.” (Although do we know what it even is?) She’s thinking, though. She’s thinking. What is it that she is known for saying repeatedly? Maybe this:Continue reading “Come on Superman, Say Your Stupid Line”

I insulted Word Raccoon today. I knew I would, though I didn’t mean to, and yet I needed her to clean the damn bathroom. The upstairs one. I lulled her into safety by giving her a snack and a cup of coffee and the promise of a real breakfast after Barry’s Zoom meeting was over.Continue reading “Today Was Giving Pandemic”

It snowed last night. A lot. And it’s still snowing. Not the gorgeous, clumpy first snow, the steady kind that keeps coming like it’s clocking in for a shift. It can stop now. I cooked pasta e fagioli for the first time yesterday, which meant leftovers today. It was… respectable. I’m still in my “tryContinue reading “Word Raccoon Eats Cake and Tries to Eat Snow”

Written last night while the cake cooled and I submitted poetry. Posted this morning while I pretend not to want more of both. It was late last night when Word Raccoon started demanding something spicy or she was going to commandeer the kitchen and end up eating as much cake as her little trash pandaContinue reading “Submit It and Quit It”