Rita Arens's Blog, page 18

The Reaction of Her Coworker Is Priceless

If you're at work, put on headphones.

The Day I Found a Baby Bird

The noise was incessant. I mentioned it to my husband, who was working from home. "What is up with that BIRD?"

We noticed Kizzy staring intently at something just outside the window.

It was a baby bird. A fledgling goldfinch, fat as a tennis ball with tiny little legs.

And it was cheeping its heart out.

At first I laughed at Kizzy's interest, knowing he couldn't reach the bird.

Then I worried.

I called the nature center. They said no biggie, the parents are feeding it. It's just learning to f...

On Writing Teen Characters

Today I'm over at Fiction Reboot|Daily Dose talking about how hard it is to write a believable teen character. Read it here.

I Don't Know Why Red Fades Before Blue, It Just Does

Ani DiFranco was wrong to try to host a gathering in a Southern plantation, but she also taught me a lot about life as a writer.

"I am struck by the mediocrity of my finest hour."

"I don't know why red fades before blue, it just does."

These two sentiments have colored my career as a writer.

I struggle to be taken seriously, mostly in my own head.

The anger I feel always fades before the shame that I am not better. The knowledge that we all die alone doesn't stop me from wishing someone would re...

The First Cool Night

It is the first cool night of fall, and always, I remember how much I feared the cold when I was starving myself.

When I was eighteen, and my boyfriend went off to college and there were no texts or cell phones, and all I had was a Jimmy Buffet CD and letters to warm me.

When I was nineteen, I got a tattoo of the sun on my inner heel to warm me. I was still starving myself. My grandfather rendered the sun in copper, and now I own it but don't know where to hang it.

I don't fear winter in the...

More Than Two

Her hair flies back in the wind because the motor's almost shot in Vicki the convertible so the top stays down now. It has to be helped up like an old man out of a chair, and most of the time, we don't feel like dealing with it. We leave ourselves exposed to sun and sky and wind because the sun feels good when it's not raining.

We are talking about growing up, and I tell her the thing my dad told me about SEEs, Significant Emotional Experiences, the thing I put in THE OBVIOUS GAME, how you hav...

I'm Teaching a Workshop on Writing

Recently The Writers Place in Kansas City asked me to teach a workshop. And I said yes! Here are the details:

PITCHING, QUERYING AND SUBMITTING: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SENDING IN YOUR WRITING

Saturday, 10/25, 2 – 4 PM

Teaching Artist:RitaArens

What separates a good essay from a viral essay? What do you need to know before you query an agent with your memoir? How much can you expect to make with online publishing? Bring your questions and your query letters for this hands-on session.

CLICK HERE TO...

The Foreign Key

I have only an extremely marginal understanding of relational databases. I remember being introduced to the concept of a foreign key, which basically controls all the values that reference it.

I understand foreign keys like this: If humans are the most intelligent species on the planet, then X, Y, Z.

What if elephants are smarter? The whole string falls apart. (Again, I may be butchering the true definition, but stay with me.)

So. White privilege is kind of a foreign key. I think the reason s...

The Run

I start out slow, every time. My feet tend to cross over. I have the uneven soles to prove it. After a stress fracture, I realized I was doing it, so now I force my feet what feels like miles apart but is really just normal as I strive to feel my feet hit straight on their balls. Thwap, thwap, thwap.

My neighborhood is hilly. The first hill always burns, but my thighs warm then on the downhill and the run starts to even out. I feel the blood rush to my legs. Hello ladies, who is here? Roll ca...

Let the Pain Flow Through You

"I'm glad I had lunch with you guys today," I said. "I'm having trouble with my anxiety because of what's happening in Ferguson."

That we were well into our lunch was not lost on me. It's all I can think of when I see other people: that I want to talk about it, that it's like the sixties out there, that it's still happening and so many white people still think the protests are unfounded at worst or an overreaction at best. But I didn't immediately launch into it because of my white privilege....