Category Archives: Famous people

July 24, 2013 · 1:42 pm

Ten day challenge day 5: top blog posts

10 Day Write Blog Challenge button200Here we are at day 5! Halfway through the challenge!

Today’s prompt:

Show off 3 of your best blog posts (with links!)

Why are these your best (so far!). Consider comments, page visit stats, or the content.

My top three are really an illustration of: author platform, you’re doing it wrong. That being said, if I cared deeply about that sort of thing, my blog wouldn’t have the name Writing Wrongs, would it now? So, drum roll please, for my top three blog posts:

Part 1: I want to be an Airborne Ranger

I remain amazed and humbled at how many people continue to read my Blogging Airborne series. It gets so much traffic, I’ve been thinking of compiling the posts, doing a bit of polishing, and offering it in e-book format. I suspect some people may want to read the series, but would rather not do it on the computer.

George Clooney doesn’t live here anymore

The popularity of this post simply makes me laugh. Plan on stalking Mr. Clooney? Be sure to stop by my blog first. I suspect it’s the inclusion of photos that makes this post land in my top ten month after month. Well, that and the varied antics of Mr. Clooney.

Life less creepy: The Janesville Baby

Come for George Clooney, stay for the creep out–my reminiscence about that unexplained doll hanging in the window of a house in a small, southern Minnesota town. The owner of the house died last year, and the doll was removed, but this post ended up linked on a site about the doll, so it gets a fair number of visits.

So, to summarize my blog in three phrases:

  • Airborne School
  • George Clooney
  • the Janesville Baby.

Honestly, I think this reveals more about me than I want it to.

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October 17, 2012 · 12:33 pm

Flashing again

So earlier this year, when I wrote The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty, it reminded me how much I love the short form. Sure, selling it to the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology didn’t hurt either. But the writing and the love came first. And I wondered:

Why did I stop?

Um. I don’t know. Because I can write longer forms and the short forms without my head exploding. So that’s not the issue. Since there doesn’t seem to be a reason, I’ve jumped back onto the short bandwagon with both feet (and a cliché or two in my pocket).

I decided to take In a Flash: Short-shorts, Micro-memoir and Prose Poetry from The Loft Literary Center. (Note: They have a great selection of online classes, so you don’t even need to be local to the Twin Cities to take a class.)

Some ideas really lend themselves to the short form. Maybe they just fit better there, or it’s an idea you want to have a fling with, but don’t want to marry (so to speak).

Sometimes it’s what we don’t know that truly makes the story–how many blanks we need to fill in. Because filling in the blanks can be fun. The ad below is an example of this less is more genius.

Yes, I know I’m not helping my “George Clooney doesn’t live in my blog” cause (see posts here and here), but I can’t help myself.

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September 17, 2012 · 6:46 pm

Is there a doctor in the house?

Conversation overheard on a Sunday evening:

Me: Kyra can watch her show and I’ll stream an episode of Doctor Who. Then, we can read.

Andrew: No, no, no! Mom, don’t become one of those people!

Me: You mean a Doctor Who fan?

Andrew: Yes!

Me: Are some of your friends fans?

Andrew: Kind of.

Me: Little obsessed, are they?

Andrew (eye roll): …

Me: Well, I just started watching it. I like it.*

Andrew (head in hands, muttering into the pages of his AP World History book): No, no, no, no, no.

Kyra: Dr. Seuss? Can I watch?

* Yes, I know. As of last night, I’ve only watched two episodes of Doctor Who. I have now given up any pretense of nerd/geek cred.

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August 31, 2012 · 9:55 am

Five years later and George Clooney still hasn’t moved in

Once upon a time, I TP-ed George Clooney’s house. On paper–and not even toilet paper. I wrote a short story called TP-ing Casa de Clooney. When the Long and the Short of It review site posted it as their free read, I made mention of it here.

That resulted not so much in people reading the story (I think maybe three people have done that), but an avalanche of people searching for Mr. Clooney’s house. Amused by this, I wrote a post a month later about the impossibility of George Clooney living in my blog. I even included some photos of Mr. Clooney’s charming abodes.

This, as it turns out, was a mistake. The hits on that particular post, the one with the photos? Skyrocketed. It comes in waves, based, I assume, on spikes in celebrity gossip about Mr. Clooney. Does he have a new girlfriend? (I don’t know; it’s not my week to watch him.) Break up with said girlfriend because she used the word “marriage” in an interview? (You’d think they learn, no?)

So, just as I know when it’s high school book report season (hits on my review of Tamar by Mal Peet also skyrocket), I know when it’s open season on Mr. Clooney.

I suspect I’ll regret writing this blog post as well. Still, I’d like to make one thing clear:

It’s been five years and George Clooney still doesn’t live here.

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May 11, 2010 · 9:47 am

Brontë Sisters, Power Up!

I shared this on Facebook, but it’s too funny NOT to post here.

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May 20, 2009 · 4:18 am

What a day!

Yesterday was crazy good. One of my favorite YA authors, Maureen Johnson, stopped by to offer congratulations. I was all: No! Way!

In case you missed my interview with Darcy over at The Long and the Short of It, you can read it here. I get Darcy to dish about the tattoo.

Today, Darcy has an essay up on collaborative writing and some background on our journey from critique partners to friends to writing partners.

Also, the lovely Em has our interview up at Em’s Bookshelf.

In case you missed it:

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March 26, 2009 · 10:24 am

Remember when I wrote that really long sentence?

Remember when I wrote that 106-word sentence? I wrote another one! Even longer! This week, as part of the class I’m taking (called masterful sentences, oddly enough) we mimicked Hemingway and his +400 word sentence, which you can see here. (Scroll down to #3. I’m not going to post it here-dude, that’s longer than most of my blog entries.).

So part of the assignment was to write a 400 – 500 word sentence-and have it make sense. I did the first part at least. I wrote a 490-word monstrosity.

In the process, I think I broke Microsoft Word.

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October 16, 2007 · 10:32 am

George Clooney doesn’t live here anymore

It’s amazing what one little post will bring to your blog. For instance: my story TP-ing Casa de Clooney, a (relatively) harmless piece of fluff. Somehow, this brings people searching for George Clooney’s house (and well, who hasn’t). Strange as it may seem, George Clooney doesn’t live in my blog.

He lives here:

casa.jpg

This, apparently, is an eight bedroom Tudor house. I bet the real estate description includes the phrase: Location, Location, Location!

Sometimes, he lives here:

villa.jpg

This is Villa Oleandra (previously owned by the Heinz family — think John Kerry). It’s in Italy. This is not so much Location, Location, Location as Location, if you know what I mean.

So, as you can see, research for fiction–invaluable. Just imagine what I could do with my brain if it wasn’t filled with George Clooney trivia.

Still, in case it isn’t clear, let’s review. George Clooney does not live in my blog:

  1. Clearly, it’s not chi-chi enough.
  2. It doesn’t have eight bedrooms
  3. It’s not in Italy

Any questions?

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