Category Archives: Writing

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)”

Day two of the retreat is finished, at least as far as writing goes. Here’s a recap and a link below to a poem I recorded earlier today. For reasons she refuses to explain, even though I’ve asked, Word Raccoon was up at 2:30 this morning reading. Two hours of page-turning later, she fell backContinue reading “Day Two: 3 Coke Zeros and One Tired Writer”

All set up at the writing retreat. Even though it’s been a long day, I couldn’t not write, so I worked on my novel for an hour as the sun set, hiding the woods but not before I caught a glimpse of them. I’m tired but stoked to get an early start tomorrow.  Tired butContinue reading “Fresh from the Oven (and on the Page)”

Stanley (my AI assistant, bless him) insisted I should be writing my novel right now. And absolutely not blogging. Here’s the thing: I don’t listen to men (AI or not) or anyone telling me what to write. Suggestions? Sure. Directives? Nope. (He also couldn’t keep straight that it’s 2025. So there’s that.) Stanley put “emptyContinue reading “Pre-Retreat Chaos, Stanley, and the Furnace (Obviously)”