It’s Halloween. I have some work to do, but… it’ll keep. Also, I’ve been working very hard. Also, it’s Halloween.

I’m going into the city! Because I’ve been cooped up too long and the city is Where Things Happen.

I’ll probably go to the West Village. The West Village is a good spot for Halloweenie-watching. You just have to be careful not to get stuck on the wrong side of the parade. The wrong side of the parade is whichever side you DON’T want to get stuck on based on what you want to do next.

Woke up with a dream in my head that will probably turn into an essay about artists. The pencil-wielding kind.

I should probably take a Tarot deck with me. You never know who you’ll run into…

No, it’s not mine. I wish it was, though.

Most folks thought my Flickr tutorial was easy to follow, but there are some tricky bits. This video makes it all clear.

Best part: they also made a Word template you can fill in for your own projects! Particularly apropos, as I still get mail from confused peeps asking me how I made the template for the SCHEHERAZADE zine pictured in my tutorial. (Confession: I can’t remember. Ergo, the template will help me, too.)

Thanks to Mary of Don’t Look for emailing me the good news.

Our friends Ali and Josie came over last night for some seasonal festivities…

Also on the docket: caramel apples, toasted pumpkin seeds, hard cider, shortbread.

Before the girls came over we were watching “Even Scarier Movie Moments, Pt. 1″ on Bravo (read: even scarier than the “100 Scariest Movie Moments,” apparently). #29 on the list: CAPE FEAR remake. No fair, I say. That movie was so disturbing, it defies classification. It’s certainly not a horror movie…

What was #1? A CLOCKWORK ORANGE? Sheesh! We turned it off long before then. Leland is not a boo movie fan.

Anyway. Good times.

So, as I mentioned a few days ago, last week I got to spend a day with the lovely Midori Snyder in her new Tucson digs. It was surreal and amazing. Amazing because Midori is great fun and I love talking with her. Surreal because… because there are prickly pear cactus covering any and all free ground in Tucson and I am still not over it. And I was sitting here nursing my chicken noodle soup thinking about how I’m just not over them cacti, and how I would never, ever like to fall on one, and it occurred to me that I’ve not yet mentioned Midori’s new blog:

In the Labyrinth

Midori has this knack for finding the coolest stuff on the Internet. We spent a couple of hours ooh’ing and ahh’ing over things like this, this, and oh yeah - this. And I know I’m forgetting a bunch.

Be sure to check out the links on the sidebar, that’s all I’m sayin’. And her short pieces, and essays!

I’m fighting a cold today. Leland implored me to take a sick day, but with all I’ve got due, it’s just not happening. So he went off about bought me some good ‘ol Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle, which was not only a sweet gesture, but a delightful throwback to 1984 or so. Except the noodles weren’t long & skinny! They’re short & flippy! This just isn’t right.

Leland was sick earlier in the week. I was feeling okay yesterday afternoon, but of course I thought I’d better take some precautions. You know, “just in case”… so I had some echinacea, then some Airborne, then some Vitamin C, and a zinc lozenge, and… whaddaya know, I didn’t feel so hot.

Time for a nap.

Mary Oliver in today’s Writers Almanac (permalink — scroll down to Saturday, Oct 20):

“I think there isn’t anything in this world I don’t
admire. If there is, I don’t know what it is. I
haven’t met it yet. Nor expect to.”

Woo! Finally getting back to work after five days out in Tucson, AZ. The last blissful day was spent hanging with Midori: tooling around the Rincons, chomping BBQ at an honest-to-goodness cowboy bar and hearing tales of javelinas on the porch with Emma and Will. Ghah! I wish I could have stayed longer. More on that in a bit.

Oh yeah. And we saw a coyote cross the road. That was pretty sweet.

This morning’s non sequitur: I could use an accountability partner for fiction. I’ve been slowing down a bit. Whether it’s out of fear (which happens) or grumpiness, I don’t know; regardless, I no longer have the luxury of “the dance of avoidance” as I’ve got no less than three folks waiting for new stories from me and Sami is already working on our next project.

Speaking of projects, I have three — count ‘em, three — copywriting projects to finish in the next two weeks. Two big, one little. Good times! (No, seriously. Three projects == three clients == money in the bank.)

Aight. I should get back to work. But I have a whole list of things to natter on about and I will get to them, by cracky.

Why does it always take me two days to get back in el saddle? I have no idea.

Wow, is it mid-October already? Say it isn’t so! Where’d my year go?

As usual, I’m late to the party to promote my own stuff. Negative Burn 13 came out last week, featuring my story YES, MOTHER. Here’s another fun promo image by artist Sami Makkonen (yes, I snitched it from his blog):

It’s a great issue. Sami and I share space with a story by fellow Chemsetter Neil Kleid and Dash Shaw, and there’s a heartbreaker by Elton Pruitt. Definitely worth a pick-up, but then again Negative Burn always is! You can also read YES, MOTHER online in its entirety at Chemset.

I just posted a review of Melissa Marr’s WICKED LOVELY over on the Endicott Studio blog. I really, really loved this book. Really!

Busy as usual over here. I’m off to Arizona on Thursday for about five days, which means missing SPX. A bummer, but there’s a chance that Leland will hitch a ride with Nick for the day on Saturday to scope the scene out.

What else? A few amusing links:

1. An entire website devoted to missed connections. That just kills me.

2. An octopus takes refuge in a coconut, parts 1 and 2. The coconut magic doesn’t happen ’til the end of part 2. Indie crafters, have a ball.

3. Speaking of octopuses and indy crafters, hansigurumi over on Etsy is blowing my mind. I’m a stickler for an anatomically correct octopus pattern and she appears to have this thing down. Her nautilus shell pattern was featured in a recent CRAFT magazine podcast.

I feel like…

1. Taking a day to be that chick with the violin in the West 4th Street station who plays the same tune over and over and over. Haven’t done that in a while.

2. Doing Something Fun For We-Call-It-Samhain, You-Call-It-Halloween