Friends

Sometimes, a girl needs a break from things she has to do and takes it by doing something she wants to do, which uses exactly the same skill sets as the things she’s taking a break from. For instance, I’ve been doing a lot of book binding and work with marbled papers for the show Prisoner of the Crown.

As noted elsewhere, I have a weakness for paper and it wasn’t really possible for me to handle all of these papers without coveting. Especially since I had them scanned and was printing them onto giant sticker sheets for work anyway.

Giant sticker sheets… hm. And I’ve just gotten this new $10 folding keyboard.

25-day "didn't grab me" from Dog Versus Sandwich for a poem.

My kick-ass agent, Jennifer Jackson, is donating her time to Brenda Novak’s auction to support research for Diabetes.

In a little less than 15 hours, my entry in Brenda Novak’s auction to support research for Diabetes goes live. It’s a one day auction and the bidding starts at a mere $2. (Yep, just $2.)

I’m offering to read and evaluate a proposal (defined as three chapters - up to 50pp - plus a synopsis) of an unpublished manuscript. I will also meet with the winner at RWA National for a drinks date to discuss that proposal or other publishing questions. Since I know I have a number of readers on this blog who may not be attending, I’d also be open to meeting at other conferences I’m attending (such as Readercon or Bouchercon).

Bidding is here, and it’s really easy to sign up and get a bidder ID.

There are other amazing auctions and the cause is very worthy. I encourage you to check it out and bid.

Afar Herdsmen, Danakil Desert, Ethiopia, 2005 Photograph by Carsten Peter

A group of Afar nomads leads camels through Ethiopia's Danakil Desert. The Afar regard themselves as one ethnic group, though their population of about three million is divided among Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. "We are the people who move," said one Afar woman. "From the beginning that has been our way."

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Danakil Desert: Cruelest Place on Earth," October 2005, National Geographic magazine)

Buy a print of this photo.

1. Portishead: Third - it's a fantastic album from start to finish, takes a little time to sink in but when it does you'll find yourself with headaches from your withdrawal symptoms if you go a couple of hours without playing it!
2. Lightspeed Champion: Falling off the Lavender Bridge - took much longer than Portishead to get going but has some really top tunes on it, keeps me going when I need to.
3. The Helio Sequence - Keep your Eyes Ahead - very similar to Lightspeed, in terms of feel and accessibility and also has a couple of gems on it.
4. Eels: Meet the Eels (Essential Eels) - won't be in the final reckoning, as it's a best of but it's great to have a compilation of one of my favourite bands.
5. Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts - atmospheric and great for writing. I've been jotting a lot of Nex to this album. And Slips has just come out so let's see where that is!
6. Eels: Useless Trinkets - another that won't be in but what a gem to have - all those tracks you loved but missed, as they were on soundtracks or b-sides, etc.
7. Thrice: The Alchemy Index: Vols. III & IV - this came as a bit of a surprise as I so wasn't in the mood for it the first time. It has at least two contenders for song of the year and is a strong album.
8. Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid - should be higher but I'm struggling with it, not matching the greats of previous albums for me.
9. The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia - every year needs one of these off the wall type albums and this may well climb!
10. Kaki King: Dreaming of Revenge - very mellow and easy listening (for me) but has a feel that I like that I haven't fully put my finger on.

Thursday, Jodi and I shot a pilot episode. We were the only two puppeteers on the shoot, and as often happens, the only people in the room with prior puppetry experience. The puppets were charming but, to my eye, built by a stage puppeteer rather than a film and television puppeteer. How could I tell? Small details, like visible specks of glue. Now, for stage, this doesn’t matter¹ but for film work you have to be prepared for extreme closeups.

These were rod puppets and the necks were extremely thin, long and sproingy. ² Our slightest tremor translated into a giant head wiggle. On top of that, the mouth trigger would actually pull the whole head down with it. None of this violated the forty feet and a galloping horse rule, but boy howdy did it look funny in a closeup. We weren’t doing lipsync so much as headsync.

AND one of the puppets broke moments after we got there. I had a total MacGyver moment and repaired the puppet with a paperclip, gaffers tape and superglue. ³

The guys we were working for were supernice and thankfully understood the challenges pretty darn quickly. On the whole, they seemed pleased. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you some of it down the line.

1. We have a saying, “forty feet on a galloping horse” which means that if you won’t notice it while galloping on horseback forty feet away you won’t notice it on the stage either [↩]
2. Yes, that’s a technical term. [↩]
3. No, I can’t describe the repair in more detail because to do so would require explaining what the characters were which would blow the secrecy around the pilot. [↩]

There are only a couple of weeks left to submit to The Age of Blood & Snow, edited by Skadi meic Beorh.

I'm looking forward to seeing who ends up in the final line-up for this (I don't even know who half of the contenders are at the moment).

Good luck all who submit!