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Read(y) to Wear Benefit Fashion Show
Most of the time, being a writer is decidedly NOT glamorous. I shudder to think how many hours I’ve spent sitting in front of my laptop, shoulders hunched over the keyboard, with coffee stains on my leggings. But every now and then, the author life opens the door to a “pinch me I’m dreaming” type of opportunity. The Read(y) to Wear fashion benefit was one of such opportunities. On April 29, 2017, I got to “model” a paper dress made by fellow writer Holly Tierney-Bedord, and walk the runway with several lovely literary and design-minded people from Madison and surrounding areas. Proceeds from ticket sales went to Madison Reading Project, a…
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No Excuses: My Writing Process
Last week I featured author Una LaMarche as part of the #MyWritingProcess blog tour. Now it’s my turn. But be forewarned: my process is not a series of creative steps I follow to finish a project. Rather, my process involves karate-chopping excuses not to write on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. Here are five of the most common excuses not to write and how I tackle them. Hopefully these tips will help some of you kick their asses, too. “I’m not inspired.” Here’s a secret: no one feels inspired all the time. Writing is a job that needs to be worked at steadily until it’s done. Would a carpenter say, “You know,…
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Dragons and Daily Word Count Goals
Today I’m over at The Debutante Ball, where I blog every Wednesday, talking about the unlikely link between dragons, seasonal affective disorder, and writing goals. Here’s a sneak preview: Winter is coming. No, this is not a post about Game of Thrones, though I do love me some dragons and wildlings. We’ll talk about the HBO medieval fantasy series some other time. Really, though. Winter is coming. Even though we’ve had some lovely fall days lately, I can feel the light waning, the change creeping in. The sun is getting further away, its warmth weaker. Sorry to be a downer, but this week’s topic is “seasons” of writing and productivity. This is a…
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Taking Five for the People Behind the Scenes of Vintage
Today I’m over at The Debutante Ball, where I blog every Wednesday, talking about the people who helped make my debut novel, VINTAGE, possible. Here’s a sneak preview: It takes more than one person to write a novel, and any author who doesn’t admit that is either lying or an egomaniac. In my case, it took a whole lot of people for VINTAGE to go from a glimmer of an idea to a manuscript to a real-life book that hits bookstores in March. Here are five of them, or five categories of people, since I couldn’t actually narrow it down to just five individuals. First, there was my very patient husband,…
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In Defense of Gatsby
I went to see the The Great Gatsby a couple of weekends ago, and I loved every over-the-top second of it. (No spoilers here, by the way, even if you’ve never read the novel). I know it’s been skewered in reviews. The Washington Post gave it two stars. Ouch. CNN called it garish, and The Independent said it lacks subtlety. Well, yes. I don’t know about you, but I don’t expect subtlety when I see movies directed by Baz Luhrmann. I mean, this is the director who gave us the epic Australia. He gave us Prince tunes and drag queens in his 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet. The whores’…
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Of Creativity and Cupcakes
This fall, Edible Madison editor Jamie Lamonde contacted me to ask if I was interested in writing a feature on Bloom Bake Shop and its owner, Annemarie Spitznagle, for the winter issue. Bloom is a small-batch dessert bakery in Middleton, Wis. that uses local, seasonal, and organic ingredients. Of course I wasted no time in saying, “OH MY GOD, YES!” I mean, who wouldn’t love to sample and write about cupcakes, whoopie pies, and to-die-for French press coffee? The afternoon I spent at Bloom was about so much more than cupcakes, though. Annemarie and I talked about goals, determination, and finding the place where work and passion intersect. You can read the…
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The “YES” (in other words, agented!)
I have a quote, framed and printed on a letterpress card, next to my desk. It’s a reminder to help me through all the “nos” and the “maybe ifs” that come with being a writer and putting my work out into the world. Today, I’m here to attest that it’s true. That after the final no, there really is a yes. And sometimes, in the midst of all the work and the worry, there is more than one yes. And then you get to be the one to say yes. YES! Today I accepted an offer of representation from a literary agent for my novel, Gently Used. And not just…
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Why I Won’t End Up on Hoarders
I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with my new friend, Helga. She doesn’t have much of a brain, but she’s got a killer bod. Helga is a dress form mannequin. Yes, I now own a mannequin. And I named her. Let me tell you, doing Google searches for mannequins ends in some creepy results. I know my husband loves me because he didn’t bat an eyelash when I took Helga out of her giant box, assembled her, and immediately proceeded to play dress up. I bought Helga to aid me in styling clothing for my shiny new Etsy store, CleverlyCurated. I’ve been amassing a collection of vintage and…
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Why We Write
Ask any writer why he or she writes and you are likely to get the answer, “Because I have to.” You’d probably get this answer from a bestselling author who’s on deadline to deliver her next manuscript. And you’d probably get the same answer from an unpublished teenager who taps away at a computer in her parents’ basement. One makes money from writing, the other doesn’t. At least not yet. So money doesn’t explain the need they both feel to write. I recently read an article by Ann Lamott that, for me, explains this need. She says, There is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can…
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A very vintage holiday
The holidays are a nostalgic time, so vintage touches fit right in with the spirit of the season. Some of my favorite tree trimmings are beaded bell ornaments made by my grandmother, and mod foil balls I picked out from a dime store when I was a kid. Nearly everyone in my dad’s family has a light-up ceramic tree like the one shown here. Starting in the late 50s, you could buy molds for them, and they were a popular craft item. Even the littlest member of the family will be in on the vintage theme this year. My 5-month-old son will be wearing the 1970s toy soldier romper shown…