Barbara Samuel's Blog: A Writer Afoot, page 16

England: the seaside, part one

Having technical difficulties with photos.  Will add later.

Time: 8:20 pm, English time.  Weather: bright and warm.  Not a drop of rain in sight.

Books read: 2 (1 memoir, picked up on impulse at the Borders in the Orlando airport, 1 British Women's Fiction picked up at a thrift shop in Cranbrook, Kent when my Kindle broke [...:]

Anticipation…will you come along with me?

I keep resolving to be better about the blog.  It isn't that I don't enjoy it–I do.  It's just that lately it seems there are a million beautiful places for you to fill the well, and I want to make a post that is meaningful and real and good every single time.   But that hasn't [...:]

Finished!

As I type this, a summery breeze is blowing through my office window.  I can smell lilacs.   The new book, HOW TO BAKE A PERFECT LIFE is finished at last…written, rewritten, given to agent and editor for thorough reads, then revised some more, and returned.  It is on its way.  I've seen a mock [...:]

Magic globe

I visited a pair of book clubs in Woodland Park on Tuesday night, and they gave me a gorgeous lavender plant.  I had it in the sink to water and noticed the reflection.  It looks as if there is another world inside that reflection, doesn't it?

I have now packed the book off to my editor. [...:]

Filling the well with sunsets, walks, and hipstamatic

This is the leanest period of blogs from me since I began.  I just noticed that I've barely put up a blog a month since the blizzard posts from DC.  I promise I will get back to more regular posts soon.  Honestly, it's just been a very deep immersion of a book for some reason.  [...:]

Book Club Pic

Almost finished with the new book.  In the meantime, I thought you might like this picture.  The Book Babes book club read The Lost Recipe for Happiness and sent me some pictures of their feast.  Thanks, Diane!   (I love the attention to detail, don't you?)

I'd love to post more.  Send me yours!

Award news for THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS

Sorry to be absent so much lately.  I'm working hard on the 2011 book.  it's the most ambitious I've undertaken so far, and it's taking all my writing huevos to get it on the page.  I did write a post on setting for Writer Unboxed yesterday, and it has generated some excellent discussion.  Please join in.

IN OTHER NEWS:   [...:]

Showing up

[image error]Pretty sure I've posted a blog that says more or less this same thing at least 63 times, but it's worth saying again. I get more work done, more good pages, more excellent rewriting done when I actually put myself in the chair during my most productive hours (8 am to 12 pm) and…uh…work.

It sounds so simple, but it isn't, actually. I have to bypass the Internet, even a little glimpse into it. Not just for the reason that it distracts me, and I can find something to do, but because it...

The Lost Art of Family Dinners

[image error]

Dinner in Suburbia by Make Less Noise

When I was a child, we ate dinner together nearly every night. I did not necessarily love the whole ritual, especially when my mother made hamburger pie, covered with mashed potatoes, or when I was in trouble for one thing or another (which was a lot), but I can see from this angle that it was a good thing.

Our kitchen was large and we ate there, gathered around the white melamine table with its painted edging of lacy gold leaves. We had assigned...

The Practice of Giving Something Up

[image error]Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the opening day of Lent, a period of atonement and abstention in the Christian, particularly Catholic, tradition.  Although I no longer attend Catholic masses or actively practice many of the traditions, Lent still seems to me to be a powerful time to practice mindfulness, to notice what excesses I might be lazily indulging, and give myself a chance to bring life back into balance.

As I have an indulgent sort of personality, it turns out there are...