Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
        My credentials for the role of Aziraphale (or Crowley, really) can be
proven by this photo, depicting the ultimate duel between good and
evil, ultimate because it's the last photo we took: 
http://www.well.com/user/streak/duel2.JPG
        Bonus points to those who guess which one's me, without prior
knowledge. :-)
  

    
Streak, I'll bet you're the blond.
  

    
streak--my bet is you're the one on the left.  *I'd* hire you to play
Crowley :-)

Stagewaker--I am so sorry!  I will keep your family in my thoughts.

Thanks for all the congrats--now just remind me that I was happy about
this when I'm peeling anklebiters off my leg and trying to force them
to do homework ;-)

Neil is the best hinter that I know.  Safe journey!

Squeaks--have fun in New Orleans!  Wish I was there.

I love y'all's stories about reading GO.  Every time I reread it, I do
the same thing.  It's my favorite thing to give for Christmas.

Stagewalker--you so rock for the "too, too sullied" speech.  Good for
you!

'K, pooped.  Last Miracleman story tonight! 
  

    
Oooops, JaNell slipped.  Which one of us guessed?  
  

    
Honey, I have done nothing but slip today...
At least, I *think* that's where all the breaks and bruises came from.
So, Streak, what do Mary Roane or I win?
No Vacations in Hell, please, been there, took pictures, got scars to
show from the pictures spontaneously combusting...
  

    
I thought I could avoid this, but I couldn't, obviously. Hello
everyone. I am new to the Well. Well, kind of. I read the Well a lot,
but I am a new member. 

JaNell,   I read up to the Bruce Campbell bit. I finished his book
recently. It amused me greatly, mostly because it reminded me of things
we did as kids, and things Dad and my uncles did as kids, and things
Grandpa did as a kid. It revived memories of the Floating Egg trick,
which is legendary in our family. If you're at all interested in
reading about it, I blogged it here:
http://www.eurydiceunderground.com/new.html
It's down a bit in the Novemeber 11th post. 

Michelle, I'm sending the tour book to you tomorrow for real. I have
to go right by the Post Office on my way to Pennsylvania, so I can't
possibly forget this time. I realize now that had I sent it to you
sooner, you could have asked Neil to personalize it to you yourself.
Sorry about that. I do hope you have a good time in Nawlins. I haven't
been there in a few years, but have a super excuse to go next Autumn.
No other trip is like that for me; New Orleans is the only one I feel I
have to justify to myself. 

I don't think I know most of you here. I'm Maure. It's nice to meet
you.
  

    
Glad to see you, Maure; I'm just leaving myself.

So, all I can say is, I got Christmas early, from Cameron.
And it's way better than I asked for.
And I'm afraid to touch it, it's too beautiful!
Pristine.
I'm afraid I'll hurt it.
  

    
Jade -- hi!  And thanks...

Pamela -- well, there are a VERY small number of people who, if they
like something, I swell with pride (Gene Wolfe, Jonathan Carroll, Peter
Straub, Ellen Kushner, M John Harrison, Alan Moore, John Clute and
several others), but that's because I know them and what they can do. 

Feedback from Alan Moore on early Sandman was different from the
feedback from Sandman readers. From readers, i wanted to know if they
thought Death was going to be Dream's brother. From Alan I wanted to
know if the page to page transitions worked.

...

maure -- yup, Dreamhaven is the best place to send stuff.

Bill -- I remember writing that sequence. As I recall, apart from the
Buggr all this bible, only one of the other bibles is fictitious...

Kelly, the best rule for fairy tales is to let it work as naturally as
possible. The rule of three etc only apply when they feel right. Like
in jokes.


Hi maure. What an interesting and unusual name. 

JaNell -- sounds wonderful.
  

    
JaNell,  I read about your early present. It sounds lovely. I can't
understand how you could stand not to use it, though. Pristine or no,
I'd be glued to it for days. 

neil,  why, thank you. It's a derivation of Maureen.  

(Actually, though, I don't really know whether it is or not. It's just
the easiest way to explain it to people who haven't heard it before so
they can remember how to pronounce it. Every conversation we've ever
had may be based on a convenient lie. I'm sorry.)
  

    
Maure~no one in their right mind would give me a brand spanking new
anything, if they want me to use it.
All my favorite things get loved to death.
  

    
Hi Maure!
  

    
>>Kelly, the best rule for fairy tales is to let it work as naturally
as
possible. The rule of three etc only apply when they feel right. Like
in jokes.<<

I'll keep that in mind Neil, thanks... especially since it's 5:30am,
I've had no sleep (which is becoming annoyingly common), and am
thinking about having a go at rewriting the entire thing, seeing if I
can make it a touch longer, etc etc,... sigh.  :-) Somehow, I think
this would be easier if I had more self confidence, wrote more often,
or,... something.

I'm also somewhat annoyed that the creative juices kicked in on this
particular thing, because I want it to be Perfect. I have to keep
reminding myself that it will never be Perfect, because it's mine... 

*wrinkles nose* Understanding that and acting on it are two entirely
separate things, of course. And earlier tonight my poetry, which No One
Sees, suddenly got volunteered [by me, woops] for a new musical
project... I'll never learn. Sigh.

On the more positive side (or at least less nervewracking), I've
decided to pick up some sort of portable recording device. My biggest
problem of late has not been writers block (yay! a change!) but the
inability to find pen/paper while the idea is still in my head. So,
yeah, portable recording device that I can speak into at will, and
transcribe later. Does anyone have any recommendations?

For that matter, could someone please magic me to sleep?  :-/
-Kelly
  

    
You are getting sleepy, Kelly, sleepy...

On the being perfect thing (still a hangup for me), an ex once pointed
out that "perfect" was an everchanging state, using the sky as an
example.
It's perfect, and always changing...
I guess the point is just to do your best, now.

Other than random bits of subtle wisdom like that, he was a total
psycho.
  

    
Woo hoo! And she's online again! I'm starting to become very happy
that I didn't bring my computer with me (more room for other goodies I
can't afford to bring back).

In re-reading last night's post (again, note to self not to post
anything when that tired), I realized I forgot to send hugs out to a
bunch of people in various stages of loss. <<<HUGS!!!>>> ...
And *well*comes to several people too. HI! And good to see you again,
Jade.

<streak>, do I still get bonus points if I only have prior knowledge
of the one who *isn't* you? :)

Maure - I *knew* I was pronouncing it right! Now if I can only
remember who told me it was something different so I can give them a
sloppy raspberry and tell them 'I told you so' (see what a good night
sleep does to me - makes me a brat it does). No worries on the book, as
it will take a while to get your trade for it together. btw, do you
like kitties? And DreamHaven is not only the best place to send stuff;
it's also one of the best places to get stuff too. :) 

Kelly - On the perfection vs. creativity thing, I used to get much the
same way about my music (2 songs written over 8 years, and even then I
hated for anyone else to hear them). Then I met Ed. Ed is a big dumb
flake (meant in the most loving manner I can mean it), but he is a very
good person and occassionally surprises me by saying the most obvious
helpful things when no one else seems to be able to do anything. Ed
told me that most things aren't perfect. That as long as it's good, it
doesn't have to be perfect, and it leaves you something to improve upon
in the next round. That said, he told me to pick a handful of
favourite/most moving songs and really examine them carefully, looking
for what I might consider flaws in my own songs - things like
oversimplified chord/song structure, too much repetition of
words/ideas, lines that would sound utterly dumb if you were reading
the words aloud to a friend as a poem or prose. Discovering these
things that I thought were my 'problems' in these other peoples' great
works of art made it much easier to write music. Not that my stuff
still doesn't need much improvement (there's SOOO much room for
improvement), but at least I'm willing to share it now, and not pick it
apart so much for things that other people won't even notice most of
the time. Hope that helps a little. 

So does sleep. 11 hours of it last night. I think maybe I needed it. 

Off to play with the scrawny kitty who owns this place.

-squeaks
  

    
Maure: Hail and welcome.  

Squeaks: Have fun!!!  Take pictures!  Did Devil Bunny get to visit NO
again, too?

DanW: I'm so glad your dad made it through.  My dad had to have
emergency bypass surgery in January.  It was terrifying.  And so
overwhelming to face those issues.  But he's doing just great, now.  I
hope everything goes just as well with your dad's recovery.

And you went to Burning Man?  Now?  Is it still going on?

>Selma Hyak a pretentious high brow? *throwing hands over ears*

Sorry.  Obscure joke.  See:

http://www.calendarlive.com/top/1,1419,L-LATimes-Art-X!ArticleDetail-38342,00.
html
  

    
Dan, hi!

Michelle,  when someone asks me whether or not I like a particular
animal, I get worried. I like kitties very much, but if you are
thinking of sending me one, I must tell you I'd rather be sent
potholders. The Cats would probably eat any new creature I brought into
the house. Kira looks a bit like a black furry pumpkin with a head and
tail. I've lost a lot of things recently, and am wondering whether or
not there is some sort of correlation. But, yes, I do very much like
kitties.

Pamela,  thank you for the welcome. 

It's typical that when I finally break down and join the Well, I'm
going out of town with no internet access. My little (6'3", 235 lb.)
brother has a football game this weekend at Penn State. I've got my
fingers crossed that he plays a lot, because it's too long a drive to
spend 3 hours watching him not play. I do get to see my brother, and
Pennsylvania is lovely and spooky this time of year, so it's never
completely a wasted trip.

Oh Michelle,  sent the book this morning. I managed to avoid
procrastinating long enough to get something done!
  

    <scribbled by maureluke>
  

    
Linda:

Is it acceptable/possible to post .jpg's directly here?  (Since I
don't live an exciting enough life to have my own webpage.)
  

    
Just in case anyone was actually wondering, "Iron Chef USA" is wrong
in every way that it could possiblely be wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
  

    

It is possible, and I can tell you how, but it's probably best if you
didn't because they can take a long time to load for those with a dial-up
connection.

What you are suggesting is prompting me to realize that maybe we should
have an inkwell Web page just for things like that.  Let me go confer with
my co-hosts.
  

    
Linda, Pam~don't the people who have the account that lets you use
your own name get web space?
  

    
Just got back from an afternoon of somewhat silly behaviour at Day One
of the Con. Have nothing spectacular to say about it thus far, except
that life-sized Risk is a very silly thing to watch being played, and
that you really must hear Neil do Shatner sometime. Incidentally, Steve
Brust has ruined "Smoke on the Water" for me forever... truly.

Maure - (bounces excitedly) YAY! And I'm not sending a kitty as a
thank you. Just finding interesting things for the photo project.
Really, you've got me psyched now. Not sure if it's something I'll
collage together in photoshop or a mini album of sorts that I'll snail
mail, but it may very well involve kitties, since the house cat is so
willing to sit mostly still. :)

Pam - No, DB did not make it this trip. He hasn't quite recovered from
the "Devil Bunny Gets A Dye Job" page I'm working on. 

And speaking as someone who is generally stuck using a 28.8 modem to
go online, it's very much more preferable to post links. :)

Ooh, and to all 'barking mad poker' peeps (not the marshmallow kind),
Steve Brust was kind enough to tell me how to play ... damn... Texas...
something... <muffled curse words> another kind of poker I forgot the
name of. Sounds very simple to play and very difficult to master. Also
sounds like something you should never play with Mr. Brust unless your
very well practiced at it!!

squeaks, who is off to the quarter to go test her glowy goodness with
black lights (after nummies!)
  

    
woo hoo! My friend Abbie Bernstein's review of Harry Potter is on the
front page of Cinescape's website! (does the happy dance of "yay my
friends continue to be gainfully employed yay" joy)
  

    
>>Coraline will have about 14 black and white Dave McKean
illustrations (in the US edition) <<

?? Will other countries have more, less, or different?

And squeaks? Could you please ask Mr. Brust to settle for some friends
and I just how to pronounce Loiosh? If it comes up, anyhow,... and
might I add that I'd give my eye teeth to trade places with you,...
sigh!

I just spent Way Too Much Money on a toddler - we tried to buy floufy
pink clothes for her; ended up in black, purple, sparkles and velvet -
terribly goth. Her parents are gonna kill me - tomorrow should be fun. 
:-)

-Kelly
  

    
Squeaks - Glad you're healing well and having a good trip! Looking
forward to seeing you again and meeting your friend. (Sheesh... trounce
her once in a game and she goes and brings in a ringer!)

Streak - Since the other person is Madman, I suppose I'd have to say
that you're the other one. *grin* That sword he's holding looks like
one of mine! Is it Pakistani?

Maure - Welcome aboard official-like!

Squeaks - That's an excellent story about perfection... thank you!

Pamela - Burning Man was earlier this year... I was drawing on a
(recently) past experience.
Interesting link about Hayek as Frida.. for some reason Frida keeps
showing up around me... I keep seeing articles about her, or portrains
of her, or her art, so on and so forth. Is this true for everyone? Is
she getting a lot more attention than usual, or is something trying to
tell me someone?

Squeaks again - My you're having a good time!

On the family front - Talked to my Dad tonight. He's continuing to ...
well... live. It was good to talk to him, as I've been out of town and
don't have their most recent phone number stored in my cell phone yet
(note to self for all to see: fix that). Hopefully there won't be any
more surprises in the near future...