I've been watching videos about cutting up books. I love cutting paper, my own writing included. I love making things like this paper city in a box and other layered paper concoctions. But then...what do I do with them? Well, that's a problem for another day. In the meantime, what is it about paper that …
I might have finished my novel, The Book of Astrophilia. I say might...it is hard for me to know when something is finished. I'll rewrite forever. And I haven't had a beta reader or anyone give me feedback, and that is part of the process. So is it finished-FINISHED? Well, I've done what I can …
I'm reading Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. It's a book I wish I'd had years ago. It's a book I needed to read. And it's a reminded that no matter how much you think you know or how openminded you think you are, there is always light to shine in the dark, …
In the early days of the pandemic, when the city was shut down and the weather here was lovely, I'd find messages written on the sidewalks. I haven't been for a walk in quite some time. At the moment, it's 23 degrees in my corner of the world, and we are not used to it. …
When I started participating in Story-a-Day in 2010, I chose a theme. That had to be the best way to approach coming up with an idea every single day for a month. That first year, the theme was fairytales. I took famous objects (a red hood, a poisoned apple, a pair of dancing shoes), and …
October arrives! Welcome witches and all! I'm here for it, in spite of everything. But this post isn't really about Halloween. One of my goals as we in this hemisphere slide into winter is to create more space or rather to clear out more stuff that I do not need. Last year, I tried the …
How does this week find you? Such a complicated question these days. Well perhaps any day ever in the history of time, but it feels especially so right now. But I wish you well in whatever you're going through. Things do get better. And we still have so much to share. Today I thought about …
Continue reading Another Pandemic Evening (Have distant seat and stay a spell.)
I've been making books. And I'll be selling them on Etsy. I've also been writing my Fairy Tale Asylum story. (You can read installments here--see menu bar--or subscribe via Tiny Letter.) Honestly I've been stuck with what to write most of the time. Maybe it's pandemic brain. Everything I think of seems better said by …
My friend, Ami McKay, has written a lovely and compelling memoir. And like it says on the cover, it tells the story of cancer, love, and fate. Since I know Ami, I'm sure I read her narrative with a different eye than someone who has not gone along with her to copy bathroom graffiti (from …
Look at all those pages. They contain time-travelers, demons, wayward teens, psychopaths, dragons, and other mad adventurers. They're all clamoring for their stories to be finished. I've made this commitment to them before and then been lured off the path by even more shiny tales of the heartbroken, the daring, and the wicked. So here …
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 