Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
oooh, and completely unrelated to anything else here, my most recent
photos are finally up at Twisted Lens. Stupid City Optix ended up not
really liking any of my photos, so the only ones that are up are the
body art ones that I'm not entirely happy with. E.g., the first one was
me making a crack about this being the 'porno shot that would make my
friend Sarah proud' (inside joke). No, nothing is revealed! But it was
still one of those really overdone, fakey things that I ended up
wishing didn't get used. *sigh. Any way, at least you can get a close
up of the tats (tho' we couldn't get a single good shot of the leg
right side up - needed to include the glasses and I'm just not that
flexible). The upper back piece shots turned out nice tho. Ack,
rambling again! Need sleep.

http://www.twistedlens.com/gallery/index.html <-- go to 'body art' and
click on 'michelle gallery'.

squeaks, shameless self-promotion whore.
  

    
Neil - This is why I am of the personal opinion that Fowler is
invaluable for period pieces where the terminology and word useage
would fit (such as the archaic 'defeat' for Discomfit)... but if the
damn thing has a perfectly fine useage in, let's say, a late 20th
century... use it.

In all honesty, how many times are people going to revise? It'll
happen again, sooner or later (I ref. your own work 'Changes' in which,
due to Reboot, word useage gets weird).

As for Florida... 
<checks his new credit card>
<checks airfare>
<compares the two prices>

Doesn't look like it. Erg. I should be in town for the Nebulas,
though.

Squeaks - Cool pics. I can see why the grumblings of the posings...
but still, they came out ok. (CD has been resent... AGAIN) Seeya, babe!

-- T.S. --

( who just realized how silly saying 'I should be in town' sounds when
he lives in LA... <sighs> )
  

    
Happy day-before-St.-Patrick's-Day, Everybody. 

Martha-- Please do talk about Clarion.  I'm leading a writer's group
in my area, but the participants interests are so divergent (travel
narrative, fantasy novel, libretto, poetry, etc...) that I wonder if we
can find a way to be productive & coherent.  (Btw, I've been using
Ursula LeGuin's "Steering the Craft" for in-group writing exercises,
and it's given us some common writing ground to talk about.)

Neil-- Green Tea.  Ugh... tastes like twigs, but whatever it takes, I
guess.  Picture a nice, steaming cup of Ty-Phoo dangling carrot-like in
front of you as you tour.

TS/Neil--Ok, I feel really stupid here, but who was Fowler?

Michelle-- Always glad to make you cringe! but who's Scott?  And
omigod, yes Discomfiture ought to be the 8th Endless, in her realm,
with furniture that ought to be comfortable but really isn't, and
family photos that make you embarassed to look at them, and food that
she serves you that really tastes terribly, but that you can't not eat,
and then she brings out friends and asks you to tell embarassing
stories from your youth....
 [And UCB-- at first I though you meant the Upright Citizens Brigade,
but that can't be right, can it?]
  

    
I suppose in my 393 (me) should have been written ( me ) or something,
to save Well problems. 

Len -- Fowler's MODERN ENGLISH USAGE (I tend to use the one as revised
by Sir Ernest Gowers in its second edition) is a wonderful book for
authors or for anyone who likes using the English language. And a good
Genmai-chai, with rice in it, doesn't taste twiglike.

Jade -- I'll leave ICFA and go home for a couple of days and then fly
to Las Vegas for a Borders Books Event, and then go home until the
Nebulas, I think. I hope.

Michelle -- v. impressive pix. I think it's probably a good thing that
I'm not going to turn around in 6 days and go "Michelle? Trevor? What
are you doing here?"
  

    
Neil-- rice?
  

    
That's genmai cha, not chai. And yes. It has roasted brown rice, and
occasionally, little roast beans in it as well as green tea leaves. And
tastes quite wonderful.

(Green tea notes. 1) The water should not be boiling. 2) for a milder
tea, pour water on, pour off immediately. Then pour on again and let it
steep.)
  

    
Hi again everybody! And welcome to all the people who've joined
recently. Been squished under work, but am finally coming up for air...

Michelle - Nice pictures -- though I could see that the posing made it
a bit stiffer than some of the others you've pointed us at before. And
congrats on the mouseys. ^_^

Sarah! You did a ^_^ smiley!! I'm not the only freak here...

Break a leg at your reading Jade. ^_-

Neil - Genmai-cha! My mom's favourite. ^_^ (Actually, her fav.
Japanese restaurant likes to serve 2 part Japanese green tea and 1 part
genmai-cha, and she likes that a lot too.) My staple is cranberry
apple with honey though... Anybody from around Boston? Tealuxe in
Harvard Square is the kick-ass-est tea store ever! Think they've got
stores in NYC and Providence too.(Try Lady Hannah if you like fruity
tea... Divine.)Congratulations on the Nebula nomination. ^_^

And no way I'll make it to Florida... ^_^; I'll be in Philly/NYC in
mid-late May though. Sis is graduating from college. (May, not June.
Damn.)

Erynn - About not knowing if your own stuff is good or not. I think
there's always a bit of distortion when people look at their own
work... we're too close to the piece in its conception, and also in the
processing and reworking of it. It takes a bit of courage before one
can show it to other people, and even then, a lot of times we show it
to people we're close to first. And usually they are too close to the
work through us to be of any help... I'm generalising, but unless you
really focus them to be critical/make them give constructive feedback
somehow, you usually end up with cooing sounds or some sort of positive
reinforcement. But does the work stand on its own? That's harder to
know... And I think in your case, writing groups should be a good
solution. As Jenny said, you get people who aren't afraid to give both
positive and negative feedback, and you'll get to see your work from
angles you haven't considered before and there's a good feeling, vibe,
energy about being with people who are all working towards something. 

(One can still argue that you might get more positives than negatives,
even if you need it, just because... well, it takes guts to show your
stuff to people, and it takes guts for them to really react to your
work on their own, without letting their relationship with you color
the picture... But I think as a group, after working together a bit,
hopefully you'll build a level of trust and comfort to allow for
necessary constructive feedback to flow.)

Long post. Make up for long absence. :P

-- Mimi - it's Friday, I'm in love!
  

    <scribbled>
  

    
Sorry, messed that one up.

So I guess darkling is the opposite of sparkling.  I like it.  Like
discomfiture too, always makes me think of fidgeting. And if
Discomfiture is going to be the 8th Endless then Casa de Discomfit also
ought to be filled with vaguely annoying smells that one just can't
place.

Neil -- So are you going for the beard or did you shave?  I just
shaved mine off after about four months cause I couldn't remember what
I looked like without it and pretty much instantly wanted it back.  I
think I dropped about 10 yrs when I got rid of it, and not in a good
way.
  

    
Mimi-- Went to Tealuxe near Columbia U for the first time last week--
what a crazy place.  I felt myself slipping into -deer-in-headlights
mode as I read that overwhelming menu, and finally got "Lemon Tango,"
which was really good.  Must go back soon.

Neil-- I trust your experTEAse (sorry-- that was beneath even me.)
I'll look for some genmai cha this week.

For what it's worth, one of my very favorite teas (I don't think I've
mentioned it before) is an ultra-smoked Lapsang Souchong called Lapsang
Crocodile.  I bought it because it sounded like something out of a
Pinkwater novel; it tastes a bit like drinking tea inside a lox. 
  

    
Mimi--Good to see you again.  Missed your smiles...and now you've got
me craving a tea I've never even tasted.

Michelle--Please don't ever worry about being a self-promotion whore. 
I've enjoyed everything you've sent me too.  I just wish the photos I
was disappointed with turned out as lovely as yours!

Neil--once again I find myself craving a tea I've never had.  Where on
earth does one get a tea like that?

How is Maddy liking Mary Poppins?

On darkling and discomfiture:  What lovely words!  I very much like
the way they sound, and if I were to come across them in a book, I
would like them enough to look them up if I didn't understand them in
context.

I've started wearing cute little rubber snakes in "celebration" of St.
Patrick's Day.  When people ask me why I'm wearing them, I say "For
St. Patrick's Day" to which they give me an odd look, and then conclude
"Well, they ARE green."  SIGH.  I'll have to find a yellow rubber
snake.
  

    
When I was in LA last week, I stayed with two friends of mine who have
been living in England for the past three years, and in the short time
I was there, they got me totally hooked on green tea.  Then I came
back to Boston and could find no good teas.

Mimi, you're my hero.  Methinks I will be trucking up to Harvard
Square in a couple of hours.  And I'll have to try to get some of this
genmai-cha.  If it's good enough for y'all, then it's good enough for
me . . . .

  --  s
  

    
Erynn - Yes, it really is quite insane out here. Although, now that
the most recent California Gold Rush has resulted in a collapsed
economic mountain, things *might* return to a more sane level. Or at
least maybe the landlords will quit evicting all the arts institutions
and jacking up the rates to obscene levels and sell them to doomed
dot-commers.
...yeah... it seems unlikely to me too.

Miss-Mousey - Nice tattoos! I've been considering getting a tattoo of
a raven on my left shoulder for a couple of years now. A friend has a
wonderful print that she did of a raven that looks quite surreal and
wonderful, but I haven't taken the plunge yet.

Neil - hrmmm... rice in tea. I've been trying to "get into" tea
lately, as it's one of those things (like sushi) that everyone else
seems to have this great affection for but I've never found totally
appealing. the rice thing sounds interesting though, I think I'll give
it a go.

Angelina - I sympathise. I remember wearing all black on Valentine's
Day back in college, and people commenting that I looked really nice.
Some people just don't get the connection between fashion and social
commentary. (although one person thought I looked like a mafia priest,
which I kind of liked)
  

    
Dan - You reminded me of one valentines day back in high school me and
my friends sat around in study hall eating bits of the flowers one
friend had gotten.  This valentines day I wanted to take roommate, go
to a nice restaurant, pretend to be a couple and get into a huge
argument of the throwing water in each others faces variety but he
wouldn't do it.  I can't really be against the holiday though.  Not
with so much candy going on sale right afterwards.

Jen, hopped up on milk duds
  

    

Random note on one's feelings on one's own works-
I write short stories, poetry, and music. Music aside, almost all the
stories and poetry I've written I've later gone back and destroyed. I
remember very well the first time I read something I had written over a year
before and said, "You know, this is pretty good!" It was the first time I
had even actually liked something a year after I had written it.

There's a reason why most of the lyrics for my band's music are written by
the other member of the band.
  

    
e-mail from The Other Glen:

Discomfiture - this is a perfectly reasonable word, although it isn't
something I say everyday, a reasonable guess is correct.

Darkling - I know you've posted it's real meaning, but I can't read
this word without thing of a type of evil elf.  It even fits in the
quoted Shakespeare.

- The Other Glen
  

    
Jenny - *chuckle* Next time you're in the SF Bay Area, I'd be happy to
throw some water at you. I've got a friend who had a pastime of
gathering people together, filtering in to a record store at random
intervals, and when everyone was in position yelling out "I'm
Sparticus!", which would then begin a wave of "No! I'm Spartacus!"
"No!! *I'm* Spartacus!!" for a minute or two, at which point they would
all go back to browsing the record shelves and filter out as
individuals again.

Candy or no candy... my attitudes towards the current state of
holidays in America are quite passionate and sinister. I think the time
has come to invent completely new holidays with completely new
traditions, celebrating the things that we hold dear... and having as a
caveat that the second someone makes money by selling a greeting card
based on the holiday, that holiday is null and void.
  

    
Dan-- Spartacus story funny.  I had two friends who would get on a
subway car from opposite ends, one carrying a cheeseburger in a bag. 
The other would go up and down the car going "Spare cheese burger, sir?
 Ma'am?  Spare cheeseburger?" until he got to his partner, who'd say,
"Why yes, yes I do," and produce the cheeseburger.

Now, to me it's the specificity of "cheeseburger" that makes this
funny-- if it was a hamburger, it wouldn't work, and alternatives
(turkeyburger, bisonburger) or elaborations (bacon-cheeseburger) would
be either too topical or stretch the joke.  The beauty is the single,
zen cheeseburger.

As to holidays, if Joyce can get Bloomsday, there's no reason there
can't be some Neil/Endless-based holidays-- DC can push a whole new
greeting card line. I, for one, would like to be on the ritual
committee.


I am drinking a Gin and Fresca because the NYTimes wrote an article
about how they taste good together; I thought it was kind of geeky, but
they do taste good.  Bugger tea.
  

    
Mimi -- Tealuxe do mail order, too. (Someone recently sent me a
tealuxe gift package, so I know.)

I'm not sure that I'd encourage someone who wants to write publishable
fiction to go to any old writers group, because the objectives can be
too different. I would encourage them to do a Clarion or a Milford or
similar.

Daniel -- I'll let the beard live a few more days then kill it. People
take me very seriously when I have beards, but I'm perfectly happy to
be taken lightly.


Angelina -- I'd say "try a japanese grocery" but the truth is there
will be dozens of places you can get it online. NOT the teabags here,
btw -- you can get them (I've got some here) but they aren't much like
the tea.

Maddy's liking mary Poppins almost as much as she liked Diana Wynne
Jones's Charmed Life.

Dan -- "I'm Sparkatus!" as the lady on News Radio once yelled.

Len -- you should read the John Lahr biography of Barry Humphries,
about the events he staged in Australia and London as an art student.
  

    
And whoever asked earlier -- Scott? -- Charles Vess's website is I
think greenmanpress.com and there should be stuff up there about how
karen is doing. Amazingly is I believe the answer...
  

    
I'm going out of town in the morning for a surprise anniversary party for my
parents, so I don't know that I'll have time to say anything sensible about
Clarion or workshops before Monday.  I agree with Neil that not every
workshop is right for everyone (some aren't right for anyone, but that's
another matter).  You have to at a minimum know the other workshoppers are
intelligent readers who are sympathetic to your goals.  They don't need to
be just like you, but they should understand your writing and what you want
out of it.

Some workshops really aren't about publishing at all.
  

    
Neil - Your comments about 'killing' your beard got me and Luna in a
silly mood.  So she just wrote a quick ballad and I just wrote a quick
story.  Everyone keep in mind that these are rough drafts and that is
why mine is crappy and Luna's is...  Well, hers is good.  :-)  Hidden
ahead...
  

    <hidden>
  

    

Bravo!! *applause!* Wonderful!

(makes me think, randomly, of a story my father told me- he was in a waiting
room, once, looked up and thought, "What, does that guy think he's going to
look cool by trying to look like ZZ Top? Oh, wait. That is a member of ZZ
Top.")
  

    
An absolute YAY for beard stories/ballads!

madman--That is an absolutely lovely story.  Can't look at it without
cracking a smile.  I had a friend who went to a Cure concert not too
long ago who was hanging about the venue before hours before the show. 
She and her friend spotted a fan with rather Robert Smith like hair. 
My friend proceeded to say, rather loudly "Don't you HATE it when
people try to look like Robert Smith at a Cure concert."  To which, of
course, the "fan" who really is Robert Smith turns around and says
"Yeah, It's kinda silly, isn't it?" and chatted with them for a bit. 
How fun is that?