Category Archives: Writing

NaNoFeed: research as vacation

In the run-up to National Novel Writing Month, I’m doing a lot of research and writing. Yesterday, my box of research materials arrived: two DVD documentaries about life in the European Iron Age, one about the Germans and the other … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 23 October 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

“Of course she does,” Stavros said. “I looked her up. They haven’t found any of them,” She didn’t want to say aloud what she could all too easily imagine: she would die, and they would dismantle that tiny apartment, and … Continue reading

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NaNoFeed: On the Eve

In the run-up to National Novel Writing Month, I’ve spent the last month interviewing my characters and figuring out a rough notion of the setting for my story. I’ve also added a few more goals to the list for the … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 16 October 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

It was a shame there was nobody alive with that kind of spirit, she thought, but then Victorine and she wouldn’t understand each other. Only in paint and canvas. She read French, but spoke it excecrably. (And that was just … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 9 October 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

She still remembered her very first set of real brushes, and the marvel of being able to draw out of the messy paint some semblance of her own thoughts. “You’ve been trying to paint with house-painting brushes,” Florence had said … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 2 October 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

The hall was high and cool and dim, the lights set carefully to age the paintings as little as possible. Between the stone walls, the air filled up with centuries. She thought sometimes of an Egyptian tomb, and not only … Continue reading

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Into the darkness, or thoughts at autumnal equinox

It’s been nearly classical autumn here, from blue sky and the beginnings of blazing red-gold foliage to brooding overcast and rain. At this time of the year, I start thinking about first planning for National Novel Writing Month (November). I … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 25 September 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

They went to the Metropolitan and then they bought deli food and sat outdoors at Rockefeller Center. Florence browsed the Japanese bookstore and exclaimed over the cover designs and took notes on elegances she might like to use on her … Continue reading

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Manuscript update: Annie Brown

I got my standard rejection memo for Annie Brown and the Superhero Blues, the 30K-word novella I banged out in August. Interestingly enough, no angst; it registered as just another piece of business correspondence. So it would appear that I’m … Continue reading

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Six Sentence Sunday, 18 September 2011 (The Lost Pissarro)

She had pulled out the stops, every last one of them: no rules, followed her instinct, taken every last bit of technique she’d ever learned and thrown it in rage at the pretty-pretty stuff that everyone wanted. Nuclear test shots … Continue reading

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