Nine Cent Girl is Celebrating!

Posted October 28, 2021

Filed under Life

As this blogger gets ready to cross into year 11, Nine Cent Girl is also celebrating her 500th post! What started as an avenue to write with consistency, and gain an immediate audience, has most definitely proven to be all that and more. Between comments and emails and texts and in-person conversations, the validation to keep at it has certainly fueled me beyond what I envisioned all those years ago. A big thank you is due to all my Nine Cent Girl readers, many times over. I must admit I’ve loved this journey with you by my side, and together, hold hope I’ll keep blogging into the foreseeable future.

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New Years for Realz

Posted December 27, 2018

Filed under Writing

In 2008 I printed, in duplicate, what I thought a finalized draft of my novel Crazy String, which I spent over a year writing. With all my naive surety I mailed my manuscript to the multitudes, and in what seemed like an instant dream-come-true signed an exclusive contract with a NYC Fifth Ave big-shot editor. In the spirit of holiday days, I will simply state, that 18 months later, we parted ways, headed out opposite doors. Me deflated, contract not renewed, sans publisher, but multiple drafts deeper into story through blood, sweat, and tears. Life lesson 101: dreams can be fleeting.

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the little stuff

Posted October 11, 2018

Filed under Life

Without fail, on certain days, I find myself measuring myself against the giants, those who trod across uncertain landscapes firmly and with certainty, ease. I know I shouldn’t, but it has always been my cross, to want more. I’m not sure I can blame my parents for this one, maybe it was their post-depression dreams feed to me with all they believed possible, men reaching for the moon, a culture breaking sexual taboos and racial barriers, and seeing a world rebuild after war. Today I attempt to content myself by focusing on the little stuff. Finding the joy that nature brings. Taking a moment to look up at the blue or remembering to look down, to really see what’s here and now.