About this writer…
writer, artist, teacher, mother, and wife…none of these things can I do with the same level of skill at the same time…but this blog is for the writer–a place where work, marriage, and motherhood do not intrude unless invited. It’s all about the writing.
optimistic and pessimistic, thrilled and doomed, happy to be here and wondering what the hell I’m doing…drinking too much coffee and staying up too late…developing any number of bad habits and obsessions…but always writing, writing, writing…
a lot like every other struggling writer…
You can contact me at mapelba at gmail dot com.
Jena said,
April 24, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Love the picture!
JES said,
August 4, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Okay, listen, I swore I wouldn’t post something about this in a regular comment but can’t figure out how else to do it and it’s driving me crazy…
What, if anything, do you see happening — or WANT to happen — on the two Lake Belle blogs, vis-a-vis interaction from blog readers? I’ve been afraid to comment there, although it’s been tempting, because I don’t want to interfere with the “story line”… either by breaking the fourth wall, as they say (i.e. commenting as another writer: as a reader of the project), or by actually responding to the posts as if they were REAL people? It’s such a cool thing but also seems so fragile. If that makes any sense.
For instance, in the current Belle Weather post, the writer expresses frustration that there’s no news. Do you want readers to sort of play along — chime in as if they were Belle inhabitants? or relatives of Belle inhabitants? That is, do you want to get comments, as it were, from within the story, even if you haven’t provided the comments yourself?
No matter the answer, I really do like stopping in at both places to see what’s going on.
Feel free to delete this comment, of course — I don’t know if you even want to entertain comments HERE about what’s going on THERE.
mapelba said,
August 5, 2008 at 12:03 am
JES, I’ve been thinking about your comment a lot today. Part of my problem is that I feel I haven’t figured out all that I want the other blogs to be. Dennis Cass gave me some suggestions about that in fact. I really want to spend more time on it–it does seem that that my writing has become a full-time job that I do in part-time hours and so only half of what I want gets done.
I appreciate your reading and hope to have things better figured out soon. Or soonish.
JES said,
August 5, 2008 at 11:30 am
Good for you for thinking about it. Like I said, there’s a stupendous amount of potential there. As is, the In Lake Belle blog suggests almost — well, not like a Spoon River Anthology exactly… more like… uh… You familiar with Our Town? The scenes at the cemetery, where the dead are talking back and forth among themselves? That’s what In Lake Belle is like — only the participants are alive.
(If you’d rather not invite comments, btw, you might think about turning them off in your WordPress admin pages. Bet I’m not the only one who’s visited and been tempted to role-play a new character.)
Shortly after I joined Dennis’s Ning thing, I read his post in which he discussed “What can I [i.e., Dennis] do for you?” In that post he talked about a member who had a network of blogs (words to that effect) but wasn’t sure what to do with them. Later, when I came across your profile and first visited here, the light bulb went on over my head. I honestly do think it’s a way-cool thing to do!
Soonish is good.
Pamela said,
September 4, 2008 at 4:20 pm
One can never drink too much coffee! And wha’t’s life without an obsession or two. The pictures looks exactly like the old Marta I knew from ISU.
mapelba said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Pamela, I am amazed you found me. Should I say, found me out?
malathi said,
November 22, 2008 at 6:45 am
Awesome! I am impressed. I came here because the link showed up on my blog, englishthulika.wordpress.com. I am glad the related links feature worked to my advantage. I will be back to read more.
Keep writing. Nothing more pleasurable. And best wishes,
Malathi
D.F. Rucci said,
February 9, 2009 at 12:47 am
Hey thanks for leaving the first real comment on my blog.Good to see that your site is doing good. I’ve subscribed and look forward to reading some great content!
Jamie Nale-Copollo said,
March 11, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Awesome pic…I can’t believe I found you!! I have been looking for so long…I figured you’d be a writer…good job!!
Thrasherthat said,
April 25, 2009 at 9:27 am
it’s that wonderful blend of optimism and pessimism in your cup of martajoe that made stories about the jewelry counter at JCPenney’s hilarious and woeful.
liz said,
October 18, 2009 at 12:55 am
Marta, I love your blog, I read you late at night in the ICU, I here the sound of my patients Vents in the background.
Sunshine
mapelba said,
October 18, 2009 at 8:26 am
You’re a gem, Sunshine.