I Saw the Angel

Two lovely things

Erzebet — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:31:25 +0000

First, I want to thank Angie Rega at The Amberjacks for the lovely things she said about Papaveria Press, and about books in general. Angie’s “heart still belongs to the three dimensional tome – the book as an object”, as does my own. I never engage in “the paper book is dead” argument because it seems to me those who believe that tend to think of the book as nothing more than leaves of paper with words printed on them. If that were the case, maybe the paper book would be a dying thing. For me the book is so much more than that, and I doubt very much it will be entirely replaced by electronic gadgets anytime soon. I don’t think the physical book is superior to the gadgets — I’m behind anything that enables people to read — but like Angie, the object of the book is my first love.

Also in the book realm (this time the one I wrote as opposed to any I made), the other day I read a wonderful review of Sleeping Helena by the Word Nerds in which they say “Fans of the old Terri Windling/Ellen Datlow fairytale collections would like it for sure”. I cannot tell you how happy that made me. The reviewer also said she’d be “quite content to spend another 200 pages or so with Helena and her crazy aunts”. I would like that, too. Instead, I’m still working on a book I’m calling Grandmother’s House. It is a story about a changeling girl and the old human woman who loves her. This book was under contract, but I pulled it. When it’s done, I am going to look for an agent and let them help me make my way through the authorial maze.

I am really, really tired of trying to do everything on my own. Exhausted with it, actually. There are certain areas in my creative life in which I badly need help, and it’s about time I learn how to ask for it.

Establishing a new life

Erzebet — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:44:42 +0000

If only it were as easy as growing lettuce.

It has been two years since we had a garden. Last year I didn’t bother, because I knew I wouldn’t have time. I missed it very much.

We haven’t even moved into our house yet, but that hasn’t stopped me from planting flowers at the front of it. Most of these won’t bloom until summer.

Gardening comes easy to me. Work is another matter. Getting my proper studio set up has become the priority. You will see it come together, because as soon as I can, I will resume the Studio Tuesday posts. As soon as my heart is back in it. My mojo got washed away by the incessant rains of April and early May. This week we’ve had the sun and warmth I crave. I’ve stopped waiting for my mojo to return to me. Action begets action, so I’m going out to find it and bring it back home.

I walk. I follow the road out of the hamlet.

Then I cross into the woods.

The trees are my constant companions.

I stop at the river, l’Autize.

Someone has built a bridge over the water. I sit here and think, or not. Sometimes it’s best to let nature do the thinking for you.

L’Autize is a small river, but with all of the rain it has burst its banks. It reminds me of the Marias Poitevin, the Green Venice, of southwestern France.

I am writing a story about the river Niortaise, which flows into the Marais Poitevin. It is called The River and the Wood, and it is a love story. When I’ve had my fill of the river, I head home, back through the woods to the hamlet.

There is a love story waiting for me there, too. In the past two weeks, two of the friendly wild cats that live in the shed have given birth. In the first litter, I found a friend.

He’s the one at the top of the photo, sleeping with his head thrown back as though he has no cares in the world. It has been a long time since I had a familiar. I’m not sure I’m ready, but there he is.

The trees of France

Erzebet — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:52:06 +0000

The other day on the way back from Parthenay, I took some reference photos of trees while we were driving. Many of these are somewhat blurry or washed out, but I decided not to try to clean them up. Trees are always in motion anyway. Trees are a theme lately, from the Domythic Bliss post on Windling Trees that shows the trees Terri Windling painted in her old Devon home and Endicott West, to Terri’s own recent images of the trees of Riverside Drive in New York. These kinds of posts were my succor when I had no trees of my own. Now that I do, it’s only right that I share them.

This one below is one of my favorites:

Below you can see a common sight, a tree trimmed around the wiring rather than cut down to make room for it:

And here is another common sight, trees loaded with mistletoe:

Here we are driving through the Forest of Secondigny that lies between us and Parthenay: