where deadly meets fabulous
Sometimes when I read about the latest Top Novels being featured by the NY Times and realize mine isn’t listed because oh yeah, it isn’t PUBLISHED I start to feel sorry for myself. And by sometimes, I mean always. John Green would probably call that petty. Talking about the Americans’ access to public education, the […]
Read MoreMy mom is away this week, visiting my sister in Montreal. And though it’s only been four days so far, already I am going a little crazy without someone to sub me off of Toddler-dom and set my fingers free. Yes, I love spending time with my son, but creativity, when not regularly unleashed […]
Read MoreI read somewhere once that going somewhere new is a good for the writer’s mind, the unfamiliar surroundings stimulating creativity and fresh ways of seeing. I just got back from an island retreat with my girlfriends and our collective kidlets yesterday, and was happy to discover a pile of plot tweaks nestled among my sand filled socks. Maybe […]
Read MoreThey laugh at my jokes, even if they are not always funny (it happens). They listen to my doubts and urge me to carry on. They think everything I write is Giller worthy (one of them anyway). They provide alcohol when alcohol is needed, and chocolate when chocolate is needed. I may lose hope of […]
Read MoreBecause, she thinks leaning over the keyboard with a crowbar spine, I never believed, I could get pulled into a novel, Written in verse. Or that it was even possible. So thank you Ellen Hopkins, for disrupting–and expanding–my concept of what a novel can be, you inspire me.
Read MoreEvery year around this time my family and I embark on afternoon of truffle making. It’s a pretty good time–how can anything that involves chocolate, marzipan and liquor filling not be? However, despite all our thermometer watching, ever-so-gentle butter stirring and measured sprinkling–the end results generally resemble very chunky cat-turds. Making chocolates that looks as good as […]
Read MoreIt takes a lot of work and time to produce a novel manuscript. At least for me. My very first attempt took almost five years. Granted, the subsequent works have not been quite so painfully long to create, but only marginally so–which is why I am always completely blown away when I see Meg […]
Read MoreRape, incest, and abusive rich grandmothers. Though I adored anything V.C. Andrews when I was a teenager, looking back on her novels now I have to say the woman created some pretty dark and demented plots. In fact, I would be surprised that my parents even let me read them back then if they hadn’t allowed […]
Read MoreAs if the cheese and chocolate dipped cookies weren’t enough, I went to a meeting of my monthly writing group last night, housed out of Christianne’s Lyceum and was once again reminded of the power of community in the creative process. I have always prized my writing groups as a place where I gain new […]
Read MoreI have always loved stories—everything from the pink princess bed time kind to the funny-thing-that-happened-to-me-on-the-way-to-the-grocery-store kind. I guess that’s why I write—and why I was first attracted to the Centre for the Digital Storytelling. A few years ago I took a week long workshop at the Berkeley campus of this organization, and learned not only the […]
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Colombian-Chinese Storyteller
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Book reviews, the occasional rant, and more
Rachel Rueben YA Author & Novelist
