tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-288318092013-04-10T15:32:13.019-07:00"Being a writer is like having homework for the rest of your life -- you can never switch off. If you're not writing, you're editing. If you're not researching, or reading, you're hustling. If you're not eavesdropping or brainstorming or working new ideas ... then you'd better get out of the business and find a real job!" ~ Irvine, Hollywood screenwriter.Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-65233806026314993472013-04-07T23:59:00.000-07:002013-04-07T23:59:00.551-07:002013-04-07T23:59:00.551-07:00

When Seattle artist Carla Sonheim joined me on the show* last week, I asked her to share a key takeaway from a book that we both rank as one of our favorites – The Creative Habit, Learn It and Use It for Life by award-winning choreographer, Twyla Tharp. Carla immediately replied that her biggest aha moment was discovering Tharp’s theory on “creative DNA”.  And that that once she recognized – and

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-41347080096916801382013-04-01T23:59:00.000-07:002013-04-02T20:21:07.499-07:002013-04-02T20:21:07.499-07:00

As I resurrect a manuscript that got buried 18 months ago, I’m reminding myself that good writing is all about rewriting.   The same can be said of many creative ventures, from painting a masterpiece to producing a film, designing a runway collection to ... trimming a hedge.  Ernest Hemingway wrote one page 39 times. After all, a landscape gardener doesn't just buzz cut a hedge and walk

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-7405153720885122142013-03-22T00:00:00.000-07:002013-03-22T00:00:02.972-07:002013-03-22T00:00:02.972-07:00

... the thing I love most about living by the water,is that sky, wind, and watertell a different storyevery day. 

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-56377976732498345212013-03-20T17:26:00.003-07:002013-03-20T17:48:02.211-07:002013-03-20T17:48:02.211-07:00

  ... after a five-year hiatus, Dylan's coming back  to Bibi's Beat.  Guess that means Bibi is, too.  See you soon!

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-240899434769301632007-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:002009-11-21T18:27:28.959-08:002009-11-21T18:27:28.959-08:00

There’s a saying I like that’s really true: One cannot seek new horizons if one is afraid to leave the safety of the shore. With that in mind, I’ve hedged on something all week. Should I, shouldn’t I? Why? Why not? It all started when I answered five questions from Ian Lidster. And simultaneously read a post on KJ's new blog. And another by Kiyotoe. Then one of my closest friends left Seattle

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-80653552820664996022007-10-06T21:48:00.000-07:002013-03-20T17:55:16.414-07:002013-03-20T17:55:16.414-07:00

5.30 a.m. … 30 minutes until the alarm goes off. I roll onto my stomach, bury my face in the pillow and groan. If I doze now, it’ll be harder to wake again … I roll back and throw off the duvet. Four steps and I’m in the bathroom.I hear my dog pad up the hallway, signaled by the hum of my electric toothbrush. He yawns, stretches, waits patiently outside the bedroom door … is she or isn’t she? I

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-77394903650108529482007-09-29T00:54:00.000-07:002007-12-13T11:42:53.596-08:002007-12-13T11:42:53.596-08:00

Thanks to the very wise, talented, and funny Ian Lidster of Or So I Thought, for initiating this week’s post. I don’t usually indulge in Q & As, but since Ian’s a great journalist, I knew he'd pose five good questions and be kind!1. Your provenance is the UK, and now you live and work in the US, what motivated you to make the shift across the Atlantic?I’ve known since I was nine-years-old that I

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-18813280197471706282007-09-29T00:41:00.000-07:002013-03-20T17:55:47.720-07:002013-03-20T17:55:47.720-07:00

There are many occasions when I’ve avoided panty-lines by skipping underwear underneath a sleek outfit. I’ve sometimes fed junk food to my God-children. And I’ve frequently walked naked around my own home. I often talk to myself. Speak in funny voices. Chat to my sister in Irish and Russian accents. Sing because I can. And dance because I can't.I’ve accidentally driven north on a south-bound

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-73352279340300301212007-09-15T00:16:00.000-07:002007-10-28T19:41:34.223-07:002007-10-28T19:41:34.223-07:00

How many times has someone said to you “Some day I’m going to write a book …” Or, “When I quit work I’m going to dig out my easel and start painting.” Or maybe, “If I had the money to lock myself away in a mountain cabin, I’d get that screenplay finished.”I’m guilty of saying similar things myself about a couple of my own pet projects yet to realize fruition. For me, it’s not always the number of

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-52805555339539583852007-09-09T05:00:00.000-07:002007-09-09T09:53:57.817-07:002007-09-09T09:53:57.817-07:00

Alfred Brooks thought he’d found her for-hire in the very bossy and money hungry Sharon Stone*. Ernest Hemingway apparently found her somewhere between the rim of a martini glass and the bottom of his fourth, fifth, even sixth bottle of wine or quart of whiskey. And, too many to mention here, claim mental illness lifts them from the dullest of personalities into the occasional creative genius.**

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-4948105374101223162007-09-01T23:20:00.000-07:002007-09-08T08:34:13.055-07:002007-09-08T08:34:13.055-07:00

Bless him. Didn’t have the heart to tell my hunky-honey that the letter he was waving in my face probably wasn’t even read by the executive producer whose signature wished him a dynamic and prosperous future.“Don’t let this stop you,” the letter ended “... we look forward to hearing more of your music in the future.” Like many of us when faced with rejection, he’d skipped over the formulaic

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-41419160910889426252007-08-15T13:12:00.000-07:002007-08-15T13:24:14.283-07:002007-08-15T13:24:14.283-07:00

Sorry am late. Sorry can't visit. Stuck in ... See you in two weeks! Hugs, bibi

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-47769597986331709092007-08-04T22:01:00.000-07:002007-08-04T22:01:26.575-07:002007-08-04T22:01:26.575-07:00

He claims he just loves newspapers. And with the acquisition of the 118-year-old Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch is finally close to realizing his dream of owning a global business brand.Now he’s targeting the Financial Times. Analysts say he’s talking MySpace to attract new audiences, and the cross-revenue advertising dollars that come with them. And that he can afford to run several

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-38383262816619192112007-07-29T23:59:00.000-07:002007-07-31T21:05:43.504-07:002007-07-31T21:05:43.504-07:00

Everyone goes through it. Some more than others. And some handle it better than others. But with the launch of my new show, I can certainly relate to this poor donkey right now ... and I bet you can too!

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-57532771839997705022007-07-22T23:59:00.000-07:002007-07-22T22:13:43.510-07:002007-07-22T22:13:43.510-07:00

I've always loved quotes and one of my favorites used to be: "How vain it is to sit down and write, when one has not stood up to live!"My 12-year-old brother turned blue in the face, then chased me all over the house screaming bloody murder, after he found that quote scrawled in red ink across a blank page of his hidden journal. Thank goodness we ran into dad on the staircase …Many years later, I

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-55980359242518104632007-07-15T23:59:00.000-07:002007-07-15T20:05:40.820-07:002007-07-15T20:05:40.820-07:00

Come to the edge, He said.They said: We are afraid.Come to the edge, He said.They came. He pushed them,And they flew … Guillaume ApollinaireAvant-garde French poet.I don’t usually talk much about my work, too busy doing it; and I like to pour my energy into the process rather than explaining what I’m working on. But last month, after telling my friend in no uncertain terms (for the umpteenth time

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-73683835924126800872007-07-08T23:59:00.000-07:002013-03-12T21:45:57.701-07:002013-03-12T21:45:57.701-07:00

The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pantsto the seat of the chair. -Mary Heaton Vorse Feeling a little overwhelmed this past month, mostly because of unrealistic self-inflicted deadlines, I found myself procrastinating (and still procrastinating) on a very important project. Important to Me, that is. No one else cares about that project. No one else is depending on me

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-69117368963201897022007-07-01T00:01:00.000-07:002007-07-31T21:16:16.451-07:002007-07-31T21:16:16.451-07:00

Like many of you, I'm taking some downtime for this week's holiday. Since so many of you are creatives, thought I'd share a conversation I had with best-selling author, Terry Brooks. I found his method of auditioning characters fascinating. This was first published* several years ago, but the principles remain constant, and it's been one of my most requested reprints.Happy 4th ... and for those

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-25565841948612861602007-06-24T23:59:00.000-07:002007-06-24T21:22:23.214-07:002007-06-24T21:22:23.214-07:00

A distant friend apologized for not calling in a while, “…but I’ve been keeping up with you via your blog …” she said.… what?!I wondered how many other bloggers have heard statements like that. As though the daily ups and downs—all details of our lives—are routinely posted in cyber land!I don’t know how it works for you, but I rarely know what I’m going to write about when I sit at my PC to post

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-53965484699848114442007-06-17T23:51:00.000-07:002007-06-17T21:43:43.058-07:002007-06-17T21:43:43.058-07:00

If you read writing for lemons-part I, you know exactly why I was sitting slumped at the breakfast table drinking cold coffee.The shears were being returned. Unopened. I reached for the bag of groceries I’d brought in and started unpacking and ... unpeeling.Every piece of fruit and veg I’d bought, from bananas, cantaloupe, oranges, apples, lemons, to cucumber, tomatoes, and squash, had an

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-67765933139230603002007-06-10T23:10:00.000-07:002007-06-14T16:02:13.210-07:002007-06-14T16:02:13.210-07:00

No, this isn’t a piece about being paid for your writing with lemons. It’s part one of writing for lemons. Confused?Well let me back up a bit. It all began when I got frustrated with the Fort Knox of packaging that encased a pair of pruning shears I’d bought on sale at Target. I could not, for the life of me, get the gosh-golly-darn shears out of the plastic tomb they lay in.After fingers and

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-43352540332666009692007-06-03T00:27:00.000-07:002007-06-04T16:25:03.517-07:002007-06-04T16:25:03.517-07:00

There’s someone new in my life. Don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t replaced the other someone. Let’s just say he’s added a renewed sense of energy and some ... tantalizing new tricks.We’ve been together only a month, and already, I’m crazy in love! I kept it quiet (until now) because … well … I wasn’t sure it would work out. He’s been around the block a few times—you know how baggage goes—but I

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-7181291926351302482007-05-27T23:59:00.000-07:002007-05-28T19:40:22.511-07:002007-05-28T19:40:22.511-07:00

I was sailing around the Puget Sound this morning, breathing the smell of salt spray, embracing the wind in my hair and the cool damp morning air that rosied my cheeks and moistened my skin. I thought how lucky I was; that this is what it's all about. I thought about someone I miss and wished he were here to enjoy. I thought about my family, and wished they could share.And then, I thought about

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-81639777433382056132007-05-20T18:22:00.000-07:002007-05-20T20:07:42.776-07:002007-05-20T20:07:42.776-07:00

Do you remember life sans Smart Phones and Bluetooth? Before broadband and wireless connection and Sidekicks, Blackberries, and laptops? I hardly do. Carry-along technology is so common place today that we take it for granted. But I was clearing up a bunch of old files and came across the blurb below—the first thing I wrote when I was setting up my first-ever laptop. Reading what I wrote 'back

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28831809.post-21741153688695535752007-05-13T19:18:00.000-07:002007-05-17T17:09:24.821-07:002007-05-17T17:09:24.821-07:00

Oprah says motherhood is the hardest job in the world. And I agree. So in honor of the millions of hardworking, underappreciated mom’s out there, I want to take a moment to recognize moms in general, and mine in particular.Mother's Day hits my mom twice a year. My brother and sister celebrate the UK Mother’s Day with her in March. And I celebrate (usually from afar) the US Mother’s Day in May.

Bibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13802559680641810942noreply@blogger.com20