The Fourth Orange Archives - Hillary DePiano

Q2 Spring 2018: Planting the seeds for future growth

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Jun 15, 2018 in Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), The Fourth Orange, Word Count Updates and Writing Goals | 0 comments

Spring took its sweet time getting here but when it finally did battle its way past all the snow it was nice… for the few days it was here before giving way to the sweltering hot summer-like temperatures… before it went back to a little chilly and now it’s hot again? Go home, Mother Nature. You’re drunk. But just like Spring is a...

Hillary Writes All the Things 2017: my writing year debriefed

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Dec 27, 2017 in Goosed, Mummy Witch House, Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), The Complete Novels of Jane Austen Now New and Improved, The Fourth Orange, The King Stag, The Myrtle, WoC, Word Count Updates and Writing Goals | 0 comments

As 2017 draws to a close, let’s take a look at how my year in writing went. I’m going to try to keep this short. I’ll fail, mind you, but that effort surely counts for something, no? For more details on any of this, you can see my whole writing year month by month here. (Keep in mind that my Writing Year starts in December, ends in...

The fantastic premiere production of The Tale of Tales at Rutgers Prep

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Nov 30, 2017 in Announcements, News, Contests and Giveaways, Goosed, Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), The Fourth Orange, The Love of Three Oranges, The Myrtle | 0 comments

Since early 2003, you’ve been hearing me talk about my project adapting the Italian fairy tale collection, Giambattista Basile’s The Tale of Tales aka the Pentamerone, into a whole bunch of plays. There are six tales plays from this project finished so (of what I think will eventually be twelve tales total), this fall, I wrote material that...

June 2017: plot bunnies and other distractions

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Jul 10, 2017 in Mummy Witch House, On Writing: Craft and Commiseration, Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), The Fourth Orange, Word Count Updates and Writing Goals | 0 comments

Time is absolutely rocketing by and it is unacceptable. Baby is getting all big and stuff which is very rude when I want her to stay tiny and snuggly forever. But she said, “Mama” a week ago so I forgive her. The other one said just about every word in the dictionary before Mama so at least this one knows where her bread is buttered. Mama is...

May 2017: Come what May

Posted by Hillary DePiano on Jun 6, 2017 in On Writing: Craft and Commiseration, Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), Personally..., The Fourth Orange, Word Count Updates and Writing Goals | 0 comments

I was going to make the title of this post a play on May Day and then fell into a Wikipedia hole about May Day, the spring holiday, vs MayDay, the distress signal, and barely escaped so that’s why you got a boring title instead. The fact that it is already June is absolutely mind blowing to me but, anyway, let’s talk numbers… Here’s what...

Setbacks, missed opportunities and letting it go

Posted by Hillary DePiano on May 31, 2017 in On Writing: Craft and Commiseration, Pentamerone (Tale of Tales), The Fourth Orange | 2 comments

I’ve tried to write this post a dozen times already and gotten too annoyed to continue every time. Why? Pull up a chair, I’ll try to explain without rage-quitting this time. You know I strive for complete transparency in my writing process so join me for a journey into my head when I hit a big fat setback. As regular readers know, I have a...