A busy fussy week comes to a close, and all I can think of is how I can't wait to hole up and get some creative work done. I have lunch plans for Saturday, then no appointments or anything until Wednesday, which has a few. In between, I intend to close all doors & avenues to the outside world (except brief strolls through the internet, and maybe a few walks in the real world if the weather's nice), and get some serious work done. I have a very interesting multi-part large-ish project that I just got to skim the top of this week. And there's a big batch of story words sloshing around in my head that I'll need to let out some time soon, too. Hopefully the head will cooperate now that I can sit and try to crank. This week's headaches have mostly hung out constant and unresponsive to meds (pretty typical), but also at the "will keep me off my A-game, but not away from work altogether" level. Which these days I'll take.
See you on the other side of it all. But until then, unless it's an emergency, piss off! And have a great weekend!
1 Comment
Breakfast in Connecticut. Lunch in Massachusetts. Dinner in New Hampshire. Lots of chocolate, Joe Strummer, David Bowie, & The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in the car. First published story in a book from Maine. I'm all over the place today, but drawing ever nearer to where I want to be. How was your day? Where were you? Where are you headed?
The cat's officially out of the bag! The Northern Frights Horror Anthology from the Horror Writers of Maine is live and ready for purchase:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998691224 Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071D7W7RF Launch Party on Facebook Wed, 4/19: https://www.facebook.com/events/591281847732021/ This book contains my first official not-self-published story, "Liars and Lies," set in the BloodDreams world. This is exciting and freaky at the same time. Yeah, I've put things out there before, but I had the sole responsibility and sole control over those things, with the ability to take them down & out at my whim. Not that I ever did, or think I ever would. Of course I will take things down from JukePop will when an official publishing happens. As it is, lots of it and especially the early parts have been re-written & are kinda stale, but hard to replace chapter-for-chapter as I rearranged, deleted, and added some chapters. But that's a thing for another day. For now: Hooray! I now have an official published writer credit to my name. Stay tuned for how many more will come and how soon they'll arrive. And please, buy this book! Northern Frights, from the Horror Writers of Maine
Wednesday, April 19th! Join the Facebook Party at 6pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/591281847732021/ Link to buy coming soon! The wrapper of Dove's Promises individually wrapped dark chocolate pieces feature random little sayings inside of them. At some point, I will devote an entry to the worst of these. Because wow. But last night I ran into one that really touched a nerve, so that one comes first:
"Read the last page first." I grew up reading a lot - mostly sci-fi and fantasy, plus some occasional horror. I spent lots of the summer on a blanket under a tree with books. This contributed a whole lot to the illustrative direction of my earlier art, as well as becoming a storyteller in both comic book and prose form. But as a young reader, when something particularly suspenseful put a character or characters in terrible terrible danger, I would sometimes flip to the end and take a peek to make sure things turned out ok. Yeah. For the most part, I didn't spoil things too too badly. I just wanted to see that particular character's name doing something near the end. Then I could go back and go on. I'm sure with great thought and insight, I could elaborate on certain circumstances and theorize why I was the sort of kid who needed to do this, but that's besides the point and a whole other not-here kind of story. I broke this flip-ahead habit pretty much permanently when my brother bought for me the Chronicles of Narnia set… and somewhere in the second book, I took a look at the last pages of the last book. Yeah. Um. If you haven't read them, and have no idea what I'm talking about… I have no idea how to convey just what a terrible terrible terrible thing that was. If you have read them, your jaw probably hit the floor at the thought. Yeah. Chocolate wrappers are really stupid. I don't do that anymore, and haven't for years and years. Having the wrapper remind me of that terrible mistake has made think about the stories I get into these days, as well as the ones I write. I consume most books these days on audiobook, while I paint or design or do stuff around the house. It's way harder to skip to the end casually with an audiobook! As a writer with lots of writer friends, I have more appreciation these days of the journey an author builds and how that's critical to the story experience. So I try to imagine, what would an author think if I told them I had to peek at the end to make sure so-an-so survived that battle? I dunno, every author's different. But I will say one of my beta-readers said they did so, and I took it as a compliment. Regardless, it's not a habit I'll ever pick up again. I'm not inclined to make life decisions or really any decisions with the input of chocolate wrappers in mind, anyway. But I consider this the worst advice I ever heard. Luckily the chocolate inside is pretty consistent, regardless of what the wrapper has to say. … but no words to say them. So I'm gonna put my head down and keep doing what I do, as much of it as I can get done today. Here's a few paintings.
|
ANGI SHEARSTONEauthor / artist rambles on about painting, writing, cats, punk rock, vampires, ska-core, mTBI, comics, and life in general. ARCHIVES
January 2024
CATEGORIES
All
|