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Writer's Corner: Active vs. Reactive Characters
Here's where my head's been at, thinking about story and characters. Every remarkable story is defined by a remarkable character. In recent literature, we've got Lisbeth Salander and Katniss Everdeen...
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Casting the Oscars: Some Thoughts
A couple weeks ago, the Academy announced that Seth MacFarlane would be hosting the One-hundredy Eleventh Oscars.(Just kidding. It'll be the 85th.)After thinking about it since then, I still think it's...
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Celebrating Christmas in a Broken World
The Lord and I have been wrestling a bit lately.And by a "bit" I mean "a fair amount" and by "wrestling" I mean "giving the Lord opportunity to break out some of his divine patience." "Lately" could...
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Something Had to Give
Dear Readers -As you might have noticed, the blog's been collecting dust bunnies lately. Working on this book, I've found I haven't been able to write, take care of life, and blog at the same time. In...
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Oscar Predictions 2013 - with Robbie Iobst!
Hello, dear readers! I've missed you much. Glad to be back, and glad it's Oscar season! While Seth MacFarlane is currently projected to drive me crazy every time he breathes, I can't wait for the rest...
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Home Stretch!
You know that part in Star Wars when that one guy is "almost there"...until (if I remember correctly), he gets blown up in his TIE fighter by Darth Vader?Anyway, that's where I'm at in the book. Almost...
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Confessions of a Perpetual Church Shopper
National Cathedral, Washington D.C.We don't like church shopping. We don't do it for kicks. But the thing is, we keep moving.Since we left Eugene, Danny and I have visited or attended nine churches....
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The Adventures of Quinoa: An Interview with Tiffany Beveridge
Last Thursday, I was puttering around the internet, pausing in my search for a new title for the book (more on that later), when I clicked on New York Magazine ‘s link “Imaginary Stylish Toddler Sweeps...
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Happy Anniversary, Us - Part VI
Six years ago today, I married my best friend.What’s amazed me, over the years, is exactly how much change and transition we’ve been able to fit in over those years, whether it’s my beginnings in...
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Dealing with Infertility - 14 Things I've Learned
Of all the hobbies to have, treating infertility is one of the worst. Sure, there's often travel involved, and sometimes you do get to meet interesting people, but the rest of the time there's a lot of...
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Little Boxes
I'm writing this from my phone while we drive to Shiloh vet, where he will be thrilled to see some of his favorite people, and less thrilled to receive a series of vaccines. This hasn't been his...
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Time Travel
...is what I'm going to go with. I was prancing around (what movie was it where the guy said, "I seldom prance?), thinking I was going to blog more regularly when the first book was done, and yet, it's...
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Dialing Down the Holidays and Life in Portland - a Not Very Organized Blog
A wreath I saw at Provisions in Eugene last year.I've tried to start, like, four or five blog posts in the last while. And...they're all kinda ranty. You don't need that. So I'm drawing a veil.We're...
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Simple Holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year's - an Update
The holidays - they're over!Did you survive? I hope you did. We did, though there were a few skin-of-our-teeth moments.I wrote in the previous post about how we were simplifying the holidays, and I...
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Why Cookbooks Matter in a Pinterest World
Funny story - I received a bunch of gift cards for Christmas, for both Amazon and Powell's Books.For a while I've been circling various craft books, whether it's paper craft, needle felting, what have...
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Writer's Corner: Compelling Characters
It's been a while since I've had a Writer's Corner post. Which...is kinda too bad, because I had some cool insights about characters a few months ago. Be sure to tell me what you think in the...
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Remembering Memphis
Sometimes it feels funny to experience Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Portland, OR. Political correctness is...assumed, and expected. That's not to say racism doesn't happen, but it's different, and...
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Oscar Predictions 2014
Sorry, not much with the blogging lately - I've been hard at work with the book while dodging snow and Olympics and travel and chronic headaches and...you know. Stuff.Be forewarned I condensed things a...
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Lessons from Television: Olivia Pope vs. Veronica Mars
Last month I decided that, with the new Veronica Mars film coming out, the time had come to re-watch all three seasons of the original show.Tough work. I suffer for art, y'all.The more I...
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Bavarian Sugar Cookies for Pub Day!
It's pub day! I can't believe it's here! A Table by the Window is officially on sale. I was up late (more on that later) and refreshed my web browser until the "pre-order" button became a much lovelier...
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