Category: About Me
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Misbehaving Characters…
More on character reveal. Imagine sitting in a lovely park, chillin’ to the chirping birds, rippling stream and smelly flowers turning to the sun’s warmth. Tart apple juice dribbles down your chin. A stranger sits on your bench (you’ve claimed it for a time). Maybe you engage in friendly conversation. Maybe you jot impressions in your notebook:…
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Character Reveal…
Deep into draft one of novel two, my main character cavorts and chortles in my writing closet. I don’t worry about quality at this stage. It’s all about populating a page with raveling words. Many revisions will shape them into a book for the reading public. Writing the first draft is like donning flowing robes…
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Body thankful…
One of the highlights of my fun time at Jazz Fest was dancing and singing with thousands of music lovers as Lizzo belted her songs and her Big Girls frolicked on stage. I’m thankful for the current message of Body Neutral, an offshoot of Body Positivity trends which began in the sixties. Body Neutral means…
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Packing It In…
I recently had one of those days that made me go whew. It was the day after I’d returned late from an excursion, let’s call it an adventure. No time to do laundry or replenish the pantry. I left home early in the morning and hopped from one pebble in the river of my day to…
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Leave It…
Leave it alone. Leave it on the page. Leave it behind. It can mean a lot of things. I have returned from an amazing writers’ camp in Sonoma County. The weather was predicted to be crisp, so I left behind summer tops and bathing suit, instead packing mid-weight layers. I’d left behind my knit cap…
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Write it Down…
I had a great blog post idea last night, at the cusp of slumber. I was perfectly comfortable, did not want to move, so I repeated the idea in my head to brand it on the memory part of my brain. “You WILL forget,” was a warning from some deep inner voice. Wisdom, no doubt.…
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Disconnected…
Here’s a secret…keep some content downloaded on your favorite streaming device. Last week our neighborhood experienced outages from our internet service provider. I had several reactions to the inconvenience. The first was arrgghh! And maybe some other choice words. I needed to send emails, upload blogs and do research. The second reaction was to remember…
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Revising Revision Mode…
On Monday we talked about scheduling rest times while working on a big project. The value of this new-to-me practice has been made clear these past few weeks. I credit author Ellen Sussman for introducing the concept of “units;” one-hour segments broken into 45 minutes of concentrated work, followed by fifteen minutes of non-work activity.…
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Dutiful Balance…
Just as there is value in welcoming beautiful art experiences into a crowded life, there is much to be said for adding in a balance of duty. The Joy of Djembe Drumming Ensemble is one such group to which I’m committed. The word is out. We get asked to play for more events than we…
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What the Heck?…
Beta reading is a tough but necessary process on any publication journey. While staying true to your original intent, protecting your writer’s voice, and reminding your fragile writer’s ego that your work has a purpose and place, you must assess the value of every comment shared. Case in point; I have read through novel number…
Patty Mayeux Blog 