Anna Elliott's Blog, page 11

The Name Game

When we were expecting our daughter we decided not to find out whether she was a boy or a girl, so almost from the time we found out I was pregnant we had two names picked out. Skylar for a boy, Samantha for a girl. I really liked both names, alternately called the baby one or the other, and was totally sure about them for basically all nine months. Until two nights before our girl was born. All through that night I kept waking up thinking "Isabella." I just couldn't get it out of my mind.

Writer Unboxed, Part 2

Today the second part of my interview over at Writer Unboxed is up! Stop by to hear my (condensed) thoughts on balancing writing with motherhood, plus a bit more about my writing process in general. And thanks to everyone over at WU for having me!

Another Perk

When I was an aspiring writer, I used to read Writer Unboxed, a fabulous blog about all aspects of the writing and publishing business. I'd read the interviews with recently published authors and think, maybe someday . . .

And now, today, I'm actually there! Today's author interview! I'm beyond thrilled, and thanks so much to everyone over at the WU site for having me. Absolutely, positively one of those perk moments I talked about in my last post.

Perks

I recently read an interview with David Cristofano, author of The Girl She Used to Be, in which he was asked about perks–which often silly and minor things about having a book published have wound up pleasing him beyond reason. (He said having his kids shout, Hey, that's daddy's book! on a trip to their local bookstore–which, by the way, I absolutely agree is a great one).

But it made me think about all the small moments that go into the experience of having a book published and how I'd answer t

from my evil twin

So despite all the lovely things I mentioned in my last post that I have to be thankful for, today my grumpy evil twin is taking over to say that you know you are really, really ready not to be pregnant anymore when you overhear the following conversation between your husband and 2 year old daughter:

Bella: Where's Mommy?
Nathan: She's in the bathroom.
Bella: What's she doing in there?
Nathan, seeing a chance for a word on (you'll excuse the mention of the subject) potty-training: Well, what do you

Whiskers on Kittens

I've had so many lovely things happen this week. Even if I am past 7 months pregnant and it is suddenly a billion degrees outside with six billion percent humidity. Although come to that I suppose I can still be thankful that I am not (yet) nine months along in a sudden heat wave.

But in the spirit of the famous song, here are my favorite things of the last several days:

We saw the most beautiful rainbow at the park the other night.  The sun was going down, a rainshower just starting to drizzle

The Burton Review

I’m guest blogging today over at The Burton Review. Stop by to read my thoughts on balancing historical verisimilitude with fantasy when writing Arthurian fiction! And many, many thanks to Marie for the lovely review (also posted on her site today) and for the invitation!

Happy Father's Day!

This blog seems to be turning into a shrine to my husband this week–but I couldn't let father's day go by without mentioning my girl's daddy. My husband was an only child, and the youngest cousin in his family to boot. Before Isabella was born, he'd held a baby maybe twice in his life, had certainly never changed a diaper or had anything to do with day to day baby-care. And yet–

And yet from the moment our daughter was born, he jumped in and started taking care of her as though he'd been doing

Happy Father’s Day!

Nathan and Isabella, two days old

This blog seems to be turning into a shrine to my husband this week–but I couldn’t let father’s day go by without mentioning my girl’s daddy. My husband was an only child, and the youngest cousin in his family to boot. Before Isabella was born, he’d held a baby maybe twice in his life, had certainly never changed a diaper or had anything to do with day to day baby-care. And yet–

And yet from the moment our daughter was born, he jumped in and started taking car

Clothes Make the Writer?

For some reason, I remember times in my life by what I used to wear then. Not even by my favorite outfit, necessarily–just something I particularly remember having worn at any given time. When I think of high school, for example, I instantly think of gray tights, a gray pleated skirt, and a pale pink cardigan sweater. (Preppy was in during my high school years). When I think of college, I think of Doc Martins and jeans and a purple cotton crewneck shirt from J. Crew. I can go all the way ba