Patricia Harrelson

According to everything I’ve read, I’m supposed to be racing to the end of this adventure with joy and exultation, but instead I’m bored and frequently head off on procrastinating side-trips. Yesterday I went to the library to write and … Continue reading

NaNoWriMo is past the mid-point, and I have this sorry novel in the making. As my word count goes up, the story gets FLATTER and FLATTER. The murdered girl is dumped on a sand spit beside New Melones, Memo is … Continue reading

My friend Annie, the math teacher, is cranking out words toward the 50,000 finish at the end of the month despite starting 5 days late because of work commitments. Here is a little WriMo math she passed along yesterday: Today, … Continue reading

You can see by the NaNoWriMo meter that I’m chugging along. The expected quota for day 11 (yesterday) was 18,337, so I’m 1000 words ahead. Today is the day I’ll pass the 20K mark, which makes this endeavor seem quite … Continue reading

Here’s my theory about why people who play Bingo smoke: They are gamblers who are also able to gamble with life. I said this to Cindy (who is a smoker) last night at Bingo and she smiled and said I … Continue reading

One instruction often told to writers is: Write what you know. Since this instruction works well for me, I made of a list of places and activities to plumb this week for novel material: The Precept Ceremony and Bodhisattva training … Continue reading

My novel is a mystery but I’ve been struggling with putting a murder in it. It seems to me that committing murder on the page is too closely akin to committing it in real life. But the thing is murder … Continue reading

I was tempted to write a number 1 after the title of this post as I suspect I’ve just hit the first of several bumps in this journey, but I resisted the temptation in an obvious attempt to not jinx … Continue reading

Yesterday, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas. Jittery and giddy and talkative and not exactly centered. I went to get my haircut at 11:15 but my appointment was for 2pm, so I went to thrift stores and I … Continue reading

No blog entry yesterday. I was out of the house early to pick up Huck & Nell. The annual turkey slaughter was taking place at their house, and I’d asked to take part in the event. Having read The Omnivore’s … Continue reading