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Marta Bacon

and the Paper Octopus Press

  • Contact Me
  • Questions
    • A Lot of Questions
    • About Central Florida
    • Bunnies. Why bunnies?
    • Influences
    • The Trouble with Hair
  • Stories
    • Devotion
    • Drifting Through Space
    • Her Loving Arms
    • Not Your Breakfast Club: a short story in 2018
    • Saving David Bowie
    • The Fear of Apples
    • The Longest Love Letter
    • The Sky Fell in Love
  • The Blue Jar: a debut novel
    • A Soundtrack
    • Book Club Guide
    • The Next Book?
    • The Origin of a Story
  • Things About Me
    • Cool Places

Author: mapelba

I'm a writer, artist, teacher, mother, wife, daughter, friend, coffee addict... What else? A success, a failure, a mess, a fan, a hater of housework, a lover of dogs, a liberal, an obsessive, and a bunch of other things that probably would never occur to me. I reveal myself in more ways in my writings and art than in any list of adjectives. And whoever you are, I hope most of all that you are a reader.

April Showers (and art fairs)

On April 6, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Oh April! Here you are again. A while ago, I think I mentioned that I closed my Etsy shop and took my work down from RedBubble. After looking at alternatives, I've decided to pursue not a single one. Who knows what the future holds, but at this point in my life, selling online is too …

Continue reading April Showers (and art fairs)

Stories are calling! Let us go, please!

On March 24, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I miss staying up until the wee hours writing or making art. (If you have a fondness for the night and listen to podcasts, then listen to Nocturne, by the way. It's a favorite of mine.) So now on this sunny, pleasant afternoon, my projects await. They call. They trip me up. They beg. Finish …

Continue reading Stories are calling! Let us go, please!

I keep using that word. Do you think it means what I think it means?

On March 23, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized2 Comments

No one is going to give me an award for being sensible. Marie Kondo worked on my books and my clothes. She doesn't work on my art supplies and unfinished stories. It's getting out of control in here. A sensbile person would get this work space in order and keep it that way! A few …

Continue reading I keep using that word. Do you think it means what I think it means?

By the light of the moon…

On March 20, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

The universe is exhausting sometimes. I say the universe as if I know how I'd feel living on some other planet in the Milky Way. (I'd feel dead, most likely.) I can't even say the world because I can't claim to know what's going in every bit of it. (I'm overwhelmed just thinking about knowing …

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February Changes

On February 24, 2019February 25, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

In one half of the world, winter unfurls and unravels blankets of ice and cold and spells. If this is where you find yourself, in long dark nights, listen for magic and starlight and bells. * I hope whatever season you're in is treating you well. I've kept a few New Year's resolutions! And I'm …

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And something else happened instead.

On February 16, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

I was expecting different news. So, ever since my cancer diagnosis, I have gone regularly to my oncologist. You may be familiar with such a routine. At first you go in what feels like every other day and gradually, if things go well, you go in less and less. My appointments alternated too. One time …

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Join the Stars

On February 11, 2019February 11, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Sorting through old papers, I came across stories my mom write in college. Keep in mind she didn't go to college straight out of high school. She was in her 40s when she went to USF. We were, in fact, in college at the same time (though not the same place). This piece is dated …

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A History of Objects

On February 8, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized7 Comments

Perhaps this history could begin with the Big Bang, but instead I'll begin the day my mom left my dad, packing what would fit into her pale blue Volkswagen Beetle and heading to a new life. If the object didn't fit into that car, she didn't take it with her. She didn't come back for …

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More Room for Sunlight

On February 3, 2019 By mapelbaIn home, Marie Kondo, mom, resolution2 Comments

I still have my little altars of objects and treasured things. We still have hundreds of books. No one is ever going to walk into this house and say, "Are you a minimalist?" I feel that's important to make clear before I again mention that most trendy of lifestyle phenomenon names Marie Kondo and confess …

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Do you Kondo?

On January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Maybe the word of the year, or at least of January, is Kondo. Have you Kondofied your home by any chance? I had no intention of watching Netflix's Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. I hadn't so much as picked up her book to judge the cover. But curiosity got the better of me (and I …

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That Place

That Place

The Action Figures Everyday

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Find Art on Etsy

A Collection of Short Stories

Fox & Moon–my story in this anthology

My novel on Amazon.

My Novel

That Ghost Is Going to Cost You–stories for haunted nights

An Anthology
Follow Marta Bacon on WordPress.com

My art on RedBubble gifts.

My Art

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More Art Work

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