Thanksgiving holiday was a long NCAA basketball weekend, one I spent by going to three days of games at the Anaheim Convention Center (the Anaheim Classic Tournament). When it comes to college basketball, I'm good for a while. My kids had fun and enjoyed the games, not to mention the Dippin Dots served in giant cups. Overall we saw some great ball  ( Read more... )

Sorry I’ve been away so long. I’ve been swamped with all kinds of things, including good things like writing. Over the last month, besides my normal daily writing, I kicked out three short stories that begged me to put them to paper. They were super fun to write, and they turned out better than I could have imagined. I’ve already sent one off to a ( Read more... )

Last week was my son's birthday. We started celebrating early that afternoon. I took him and two of his friends to go indoor racing (see picture below). Pizza followed that. Then he and his friends played a new PS2 game, NBA Live '08 -- a gift from his friends. After playing video basketball I took the boys out and we played the real thing, two-on- ( Read more... )

A brief message to all of you who have given me writerly pecks of support.

It's done.

The battle is over.

Pools of blood remain, questions linger, but I know that my main character moves on. And after revisions, I will follow.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep...


( Read more... )

I sit in a study carrel at the library. It's one in the afternoon on Sunday. I have the end desk of a very long row, so I look ahead. That's when I notice a sea of females at their desks. Reading. Typing. Highlighting.

And I think: women are such studious creatures.

I count. Seventeen females. One male.

Then it hits me. Any respectable card-carrying ( Read more... )

I was at the library today, writing a chapter, when I decided to take a break. I walked to the used book store and picked up a book: Tales From Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet.

I flipped it open, and on the first page inside was a handwritten message -
Taddy,
A tasty dinner, a nite with Jimmy & a wonderful woman.
What more could I ask for. How about 365 ( Read more... )

Recently I've been helping my niece write her essays for Cornell. Of course I wanted to start off with our main character in a defining moment and then get her into serious conflict as soon as possible. My niece suggested we tone things down a bit.

So we scratched the cheerleader fight scene in the restroom. Not to mention the whole Chem Lab gone ( Read more... )

Greek Festivals are fun, and the one I went to on Saturday was no exception, although I had a few BigFat moments:

BigFat #1:
The desert woman. She was so eager to sell me that extra big piece of the authentic Greek treat (a cream pie look alike).

Me: “Is that banana cream pie or coconut cream pie?”
Her: “Sure.”

Of course she and I both knew it was ( Read more... )

The Rain Forest Cafe CD should have worked its magic and put me to sleep. But it didn't. It's two in the morning and here I am, wide awake. Blogging.

I went to bed about two hours ago, listening to soothing sounds. Soft patter of rain. Some soft thunder. A gentle drumbeat with a synthesizer melody. I drifted in and out of sleep. That I know for sure ( Read more... )

Eric Luper, author of the just released YA book The Big Slick, held a picture captioning contest on his blog. The picture was pretty funny. My critique partner, Elisabeth, won with a very good entry.

YEAH
( Read more... )