recycled words

Have just discovered the art of Will Ashford and I’m completely smitten.

I have always loved art with text and text with art, and this combines text & art in a really lovely way. Found his stuff by accident, too, doing Google image searches for “old books” when the umbrella caught my eye. It makes me unreasonably happy.

october

It is only my second October in Salem, and last year we were still in unpacking mode so we didn’t really have the time to stop and look around enough. It’s fun, though I think my favorite part is all the technicolor trees. We were severely lacking in trees living in Boston.

Went for a walk today and took a lot of photos. Wasn’t really planning to, just brought the camera on an excursion for bread. Came home breadless, alas, but did get some great photos and a pumpkin spice latte. Best of the photos are now on my Flickr photostream. Also met a cat named Maleek who enjoyed pets on the head (you can see him on the photostream, too).

Finished the tarot sevens. Am pondering my plot or lack thereof for NaNoWriMo now that it’s only days away. I am feeling a bit like I’m in a holding pattern, waiting for the rest of 2008 to tumble into writing and holidays and then fall into 2009. I am taking some time to enjoy the scenery.

on anniversaries & apples

taken at macks apples, londonderry, nh, 10.13.08

Yesterday was my 2nd wedding anniversary. We went to New Hampshire to go apple picking and bought a cotton candy pumpkin and I took a lot of photos, some of which came out remarkably well. I am endeavoring to be a better photographer. After apple picking (Mutzu apples, which are fantastic) we went out for dinner at the Indian restaurant we’d been meaning to try for ages and it was wonderful. They had naan stuffed with basil that was possibly the best thing ever.

Today I finished the last of my edits on the novel and sent it off all pretty and shiny to be read by a few wise, bookish people to get some outside opinions on it. It is odd to be free of it, if only temporarily. I have been working more or less nonstop on it for the last week or so, since the boy read it and gave me some very good suggestions on things to add and adjust.

I have things to do, of course. I have the troublesome sevens to paint for the tarot deck. I have NaNoWriMo coming up in two weeks and I use a little bit more planning for it, though I never like to plan too much for NaNo. I like to see where November wants to take me without a map.

I should clean the studio, and I would like to add some more things to my Etsy store. I finished The Graveyard Book, which was not entirely what I was expecting but fit my mood nicely and made me want to play in graveyards (which I can easily manage around here). I should start The Catcher in the Rye, or possibly re-read Einstein’s Dreams.

And there are apples to eat, as well.

reading pile, october 2008

I am mostly in a fog of edits and adjustments on the novel, trying to get it in the best shape possible before it goes off to a handful of very lovely beta readers next week.

I’ve noticed I tend to read less when I’m busy with writing things, so I’m attempting to rectify that. This is the reading pile for October:

I’ve already started Neil’s The Graveyard Book and I’m enjoying it so far. Am attempting not to read it too quickly because I do love all things Neil.

I picked up John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise because I’d been meaning to check it out for ages and it showed up in the Bargain section of Amazon. I’ve only read the cover so far but it’s a wordy cover, and kind of hysterical.

And I’ve been meaning to re-read The Catcher in the Rye for years and I’m not sure what happened to my old copy. I’m curious to see what I think of it now having not read it since high school. It did play a large part in earning me a 5 on the English AP exam, though, so I will always have a certain fondess for it.

In other news: kittens are napping, it’s finally full-blown autumn (yay!), I made armwarmers out of an old pair of stripey socks and I have BPAL from last year (pumpkin patch #5: Pumpkin with benzoin, bourbon vanilla, lemon peel, neroli, blood orange, and red ginger) in my oil burner.