Two weeks into the new year, and already I’m falling behind. This blog was supposed to be up this morning. I’m going to take a deep breath, however and not stress out over one late blog post. After all, I’m pretty sure the ten people who read this blog won’t mind. More importantly, I’m going…
Tag: writing life
The Great Northeast Blackout of 1965
On November 9, 1965, the 80,000 square miles of the northeastern United States went dark. It began at 5:16 when a surge in in electrical demand tripped a relay switch at a power station near Niagara Falls. Cut off from their supply, power lines up and down the Eastern seaboard slowly drained to a stop….
Playing The Long Game Part 3
AKA You’re Probably Not Reading This and That’s Okay “How many people read your blog?” my friend asked. “I don’t know,” I replied, before adding silently, “Very few.” Look, I know blogging feels like a futile waste of time. I know Google discontinued its RSS reader and dumps most RSS feeds into gmail folders. I…
Barb’s Recommended Read: The Island Queen
Doing something a bit different this month because I got sucked down a rabbit hole of non-fiction reading. I’m posting my review of Island Queen today. Another post, compiling the various followed by a special philosophy next week. And now, without further ado…. THE ISLAND QUEEN Those of you who read my recommendations each month…
Killing Millie Helper
It started as a college joke. My dormmate decided that if we were television characters, she would be Laura Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke Show, and I would be her gabby, busybody neighbor, Millie Helper. My roommate would be Sally, the man-hungry comedy writer. The joke faded, but the nickname Millie stuck. As nicknames go, it’s not…
Help a Girl Out: Looking for Tips to Beat the Blahs
Or, How Does Barb Get Her Groove Back? My mojo has gone on vacation this week. For some reason, I can’t seem to get motivated to do much. (Seriously, this post was supposed to be written two hours ago.) I go through something like this every April. It’s the Barb Wallace version of S.A.D., only…
Losing the Safety Net – Part Two
Confession time: A few weeks ago, when I discussed writing without the safety net of a publisher or agent, I naively believed that my stay in limbo land would be a short one. That I would sign with a new agent within a couple months and have someone to hold my hand while I pivoted…
Losing the Safety Net
I cut ties with a lot of things during 2020. RWA, my local writing chapter, my publisher and my agent are all in my rearview mirror. As a result, I find myself approaching 2021 like a bird with brand new wings*. Needless to say, I’m nervous as hell. It’s one thing to talk about cutting…
Having a Posse Will Help You Live Longer
As many of you know, I walk for an hour every morning before work. To make the time go by faster, I listen to podcasts. Frequently, I listen to true crime, because nothing gets the blood pumping like an unsolved murder, but I sample other shows as well. I have a list of favorites that…
Emotional nutrition
Learned a great new phrase today. Emotional nutrition. That’s keeping your making sure the emotional and psychological side of yourself is well-fed and cared for. Good emotional nutrition means making sure you feed yourself enough joy, inspiration and happiness to balance out your stress. This is why self care is so important. Taking 30…