miscellany

days of tea & editing

I think I don’t post here as much as I likely should because my days are all very similar lately, a blur of tea and reading and writing and wishing it would be warm enough to open the windows.

For instance, today I have mostly been sitting and re-working two sections from the novel, one of which just needed re-arranging and editing and one that was previously non-existent and needs to be cobbled together from notes. The former is done, the latter I am still working on.

This part of editing is weird, futzing with story and character as much as structure and form. I’m making a particular relationship more blatant than it was in previous drafts, but I think it will help. I’m taking other bits out to vague up some stuff. It’s coming together, this draft will be done soon and will be better, stronger, all that fun stuff.

I have a cup of white tea that I think I boiled the water too hot for. It is too cold to open the windows.

This morning I woke up to 770 spam messages on my previous post, all advertisting a creative variety of webcams. For different things, but all of them were both LIVE and FREE.

I am excited about LOST tonight.

I am wearing a BPAL scent called Mag Mell that I got as a bonus frimp (BPAL speak for free imp, samples are imps in BPALland) in my last order. It is light and pretty and smells like amber and ginger and grass which is more springy than today actually feels.

My days seem quiet and repetitive lately. Productive, but repetitive. I’m nearing the end of editing, and I have query letters and synopsises and such to tackle after that which I am not particularly looking forward to. But hopefully the days will be warmer and I’ll be able to open up the windows and maybe that will help.

It’s supposed to be 70 degrees on Friday. I hope that’s not lies.

By erin, ago

sheep

Yesterday I wasn’t sure what I wanted to work on and couldn’t quite focus enough to write. So I pulled out my big box of random supplies and found a bunch of polymer clay I’d pretty much forgotten about.

And I made a sheep.

He’s a bit over an inch tall and about 2 inches from head to fluffy tail. He is more or less the same somewhat shifty-eyed sheep from Secret Agent Sheep, except with stubbier legs so he would stand up better. He’s made of polymer clay that was detailed in acrylic and glazed. I haven’t made anything with polymer clay in years so I’m pretty impressed with myself.

I kind of love him. But I might put him up for sale on Etsy. I need to see how durable he is when he’s completely dry.

Also yesterday I read Laurie Halse Anderson‘s new book, Wintergirls, in its entirety. Because I picked it up to read the first page and could not put it down. It’s heavy and somewhat draining but absolutely beautifully written. I really kind of wish I’d been able to read her books as a teenager.

Today I am chipping away at my list of book edits and compiling files of literary agent information. It is probably more fun than it sounds, because I have tea and a small clay sheep looking at me sideways.

By erin, ago

equinox

It’s cold outside, but we bought flowers to make the inside more springy.

This little potted ranunculus that’s now living in a blue glass goblet, and some snapdragons.

I have Cadbury Mini-Eggs, the true sign of spring.

And I’m having computer network issues that I am ignoring in favor of chocolate & flowers & springtime.

By erin, ago

someday i will tell the tale of why her name is bucket*

A few days ago I got some firmware upgrade for our Airport/TimeCapsule and my internet went from happy to grumpy and slow. Just figured out how to downgrade the firmware and my internet is back to happy. Still not sure exactly what went wrong, mostly just glad to have pages loading at something other than a glacial pace.

Took pictures of kittens in the sunshine.

That’s Bucket, being extra special dramatic. There’s a less dramatic one of her and a couple of Tessa up on Flickr.

Mostly spending today drinking tea and knitting, gearing up for the epicness that is the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow.

Really this entire post is just an excuse to post dramatic lighting Bucket.

*Today is not that day.

By erin, ago

i *heart* friday the 13ths

Two Friday the 13ths in a row! They are one of my favorite types of day. I got married on a Friday the 13th, which probably adds to the fondness, but I liked them before that, too.

I’m wearing BPAL‘s latest 13 blend today, too.

A sweet, comforting base of dark chocolate and brown sugar with thirteen herbs of good fortune, including nutmeg, Tonka, allspice, star anise, Jamaican and African gingers, devil’s shoestring, lucky hand root, and thyme.

It’s a dry, spicy, gingery scent on me with just a little bit of sugar sweet kicking around the edges. Very different from my only other 13 from BPAL, the original white chocolatey version that I wore for my wedding.

Mostly layering paint on a custom painting today that keeps wanting to be darker. I like it better today than I did yesterday, so I think it was right about the dark. Going to let it dry and see how I feel about it after that.

Tessa just jumped in front of the computer, so I assume that means she says hello.

This is my new tea mug that I promised pictures of, on my desk with my statue of Thoth hanging out in the background:

It’s from khphillips on Etsy. (This mug, link has additional angles.) I’ve had my eye on this style of his for ages, I love the tones and the decals, but this is the first one I’ve actually purchased. It’s even lovelier in person. I’m tempted to start collecting them, replace my mass-produced mugs with unique pieces of usable art.

Getting Indian food for dinner, nom nom tandoori salmon. Mulling things over more than editing, I tend to switch back and forth from painter to writer and back again. Today is a painting day.

By erin, ago

why do i not live in australia?

Thanks to my friend Steph and her Seen on Flickr blog, I am thoroughly besotted with this Australian performing arts company called Strange Fruit.

I sometimes have difficulty explaining the tone of my fictional circus. It’s not a traditional circus. It’s not clowns and elephants. It’s stuff like this. I love that there are people out in the world doing things that I sit in front of my computer and imagine.

I just wish they weren’t on the other side of the world.

By erin, ago