Category Archives: Writing

I think I lost myself in The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams as I read that enthralling novel. (Yes, yes, low-hanging fruit of a sentence, but I’m not writing a review, so hush.) I needed to let it soak in, needed to absorb it like tea needs time in the cup. More onContinue reading “Trucks Are the Flannel of Vehicles: A January Dispatch from the Dictionary of Word Raccoon”

From almost the moment she woke this morning, Word Raccoon’s been flirting with poetry calls. I gave her a few minutes to admire the big, strong journal covers just begging for her words. (She wishes.)  I even let her put in her most fun earrings. (Just kidding. I’m feeling better, but not that much betterContinue reading “Word Raccoon Has Entered the Chat (With Imaginary Earrings)”

I watched Nonnas today. Netflix, a couch, a body that’s been under the weather, the kind of day that still feels padded around the edges. It was, well, I don’t say heartwarming lightly, but it was. Word Raccoon was there too, wrapped in her hooded robe that feels like being inside a stuffed animal thoughContinue reading “Nonnas, Hunger, and Poetry “

Word Raccoon and I are both under the weather after our writing retreat, tucked under blankets and passing cough drops back and forth like secrets. Still, we’re popping in with some good news worth sharing, even in a cold pill fog. While we were away, two journals arrived in the mail with my poems insideContinue reading “Published, Longlisted, & “You’ve Got Mail” Again”

Word Raccoon, despite not feeling well, sat with me while I worked on my novel yesterday, the technical end of my and Barry’s self-created writing retreat. We’re traveling home today. The end? Already? Anyway, yesterday I identified and began consolidating duplicate-but-different scenes. (I know, how’d that happen? Because Drema doesn’t know how to write anyContinue reading “Layers, Lost and Found”

Word Raccoon told me last night she was not getting sick. Just because her throat hurt and she was feeling cranky meant nothing. I made her do a salt water rinse, after which she assured me she was perfectly fine, see? She opened her mouth wide. I remained dubious. She stayed up too late regalingContinue reading “Sugar, Caffeine, and Sickness: A Winter’s Tale”

Days 5 and 6 of the Writing Retreat (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Adjust accordingly as you read.) I know why they call it a writing retreat: because eventually you will want to retreat from your writing. I’m so glad it’s Christmas Eve and a break is coming. I see what I assume is oneContinue reading “Scenes That Do Their Job (and a Raccoon Who Won’t)”

At breakfast, I mentioned my favorite cousin. A young man across the room said his father had shared that name. Turns out said young man is stuck here over the holidays because he drives truck and it’s in the shop; he’s here with his dog. The dog’s name (dog was not at breakfast) was notContinue reading “Permission & Pinecones: Writing Retreat Day 4”

On the writing front, it was an…interesting day. After realizing how much easier it is to work on this newest strand of my novel since it’s self-contained, my brain said wait, why don’t we separate out ALL the strands?  So that’s what I did. Along the way, at some point I received a message fromContinue reading “Writing Retreat: How Day 3 Ended Up (Part 2)”

First of all, Word Raccoon says she is not in construction, so she does not know why she is being asked to knock down so many word walls, and that maybe she just won’t do it, that I can move them all by myself. Fine then. She woke up, set the alarm for half anContinue reading “Day 3 of the Writing Retreat (Morning Edition)”