It was pretty unanimous - either the last one I posted, or this:

This one it is. For the Tori book anyway. Dougan is taking matters into his own hands on the other thing.

OK, enough of that. A couple more things I want to point out:

The long-awaited ACT-I-VATE website is LIVE! Check it out, it looks terrific. Wonderful navigation, snappy, et cetera.

Also, Hot Husband is up on You Tube along with the rest of the Deep 6 crue:

Deep 6 part 1
Deep 6 part 2
Deep 6 part 3
Deep 6 part 4 (hot husband installment omg!!)
Deep 6 part 5
Deep 6 part 6

Leland hipped me to the reproduction of the Parthenon in Nashville. (He was hipped by a certain Entelechy girl some time ago; alas, I missed it.)

So, upon my arrival in Nashville next week, my first stop will be a visit to the missus:

Apparently, our Lady of Wisdom here is the largest indoor statue in the world - 42 feet! Gilded, no less.

I’ll try not to pass out…

Blogging is not the only thing we’ve neglected in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, we wheeled three bags of laundry to the ‘mat down on MacDonald. Plus a backpack. Plus two quilts, which I carried by hand. Someday, and someday well before we make our millions, we’ll have our own washer and dryer.

Big news first: last week, Leland delivered 120 pages to Simon & Schuster. Yay! One book down, four to go. Go, baby, go! So we’ve been taking it a bit easy for a few days and getting caught up. I spent Friday at Deep 6, working and chatting it up with the fellahs. Which was actually considerably more productive than you might think.

Got my contributor copies of the latest WEIRD TALES in the mail, and they are stunning. I continue to be impressed with the reboot of the magazine. And it’s got comics this time! Oh yeah, and an interview of mine, with Donald Tyson. I think it’s on stands now.

Sami has another look at this thing we’re working on over at his blog. Also check the cute new vampiric profile photo! And another one in an interview that you might not be able to read, but that’s okay! Because the picture is awesome!

Lots piling up on the reading shelf, including this Yeats biography (with some crappy reviews on Amazon that I don’t agree with), The Hound Of Rowan, a smart, readable introduction to Western esoteric traditions (from the guys who brought us Gnosis magazine, back in the day), and Betwixt, a young adult novel I’ve been wanting to read for a while now.

If you missed the Superbowl, you missed the new Iron Man trailer. My only complaint: it’s too short.

Electric Angel New Wave Rock N’ Roller crush I forgot about ’til some recent late night YouTube surfing with my Lady Bee: Ben Orr.

And I am ready!

And now, Leland having a little too much of the bubbly:

Leland bought me a new camera. The new year shall be snap-happy.

New interview with my husband at The Pulse!

Woot, et double woot!

Real updates coming soon, promise. Trying to get everything done before we leave for Portland for the holidays feels impossible! But then we’ll have 10 days to relax, and believe me, I’m going to take full advantage… and hit the ground running when we get home.

Now go check out the interview.

Hrm. If weekly updates are all I can manage these days, then weekly updates are all I can manage these days.

To be fair, last week took some unexpected turns, the biggest one being Leland’s trip to the emergency room on Wednesday night. He’s fine now, but as you can imagine, it was a scary affair. Leland has lived with asthma his entire life, but it’s all new to me. And hey, finding my husband in front of our apartment at 10 p.m., wheezing and pissed because he can’t get a cab… well, that’ll get my dander up.

They saw us almost on the spot. That’s what really got me. A 15 minute emergency room wait in Brooklyn? Must’ve been an emergency.

We followed it up the next day with a trip to the doctor, who took good care of us and loaded us up with supplies. I liked him. He even had notes on me in Leland’s files. “‘Wife is a knitter.’ Do you still knit?” A thank-you note and perhaps an offer of copywriting might be in order.

We treated ourselves to a trip to Argosy when it was all over. Bought Ms. Nesbit’s collection of Shakespeare for children.

What else? A grand party with the Entelechy Girls and friends on Saturday. Reading MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS to little Evie and her friend Lucy. Made me smile. My father read Robert McCloskey books to me all the time when I was three and a half. I, in turn, would read them to my mother.

Other than that, just working and more working. Tagged along to Deep 6 yesterday and spent 4 hours plotting my next comics project. And I actually got it done! Haha! Who says I can’t write with crazy cartoonists in the room? I can’t really write in a room full of cartoonists talking to one another. But I can plot, apparently.

Anyone else catch the first part of the new Ken Burns documentary last night?

More photos from the Infinite Canvas party. There are some really, really nice shots of all the AIVers here and here.

Of course, I like this one the best:

But then I’m biased like dat.

So! Hit another signpost on the writing road with my first short story in Endicott’s Journal of Mythic Arts Summer 2007 issue.

“Cooling” features a girl who’s a bit of an arsonist, a woman who is a bit of an alchemist, and a boy who is all water, walking around like he’s human or something.

Three guesses, and the first two don’t count, as to the mastermind behind the illustrations:

It’s the Young Adult fiction issue. I’ve linked to the masthead, not just my story. Be sure to check out the rest of what’s there. We’ve got stories by Holly Black, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, O.R. Melling, Terri, Midori, Gwenda Bond, Steve Berman and tons of amazing stuff from amazing artists.

I don’t make deep personal confessions around here very often. But I do have one and it feels right.

Back in the day, years before I even contemplated reading comics in any sort of sustained way (let alone writing them) and way before I ran in any of the wonderful creative circles we are a part of now, I used to kill time at the office by combing through every word of the Endicott site. And come serious escapist daydreaming time, a sensitive, artistic blue-eyed husband with a handyman streak was just the beginning of my fantasy. What I really wanted more than anything was to be in one of these true creative partnerships a la Ellen & Delia, Charles Vess & Karen Shaffer, Brian & Wendy Froud, Will Shetterly & Emma Bull, and, of course, Charles & MaryAnn.

Both Endicott and marriage felt like major, major long shots at that time. And a creative marriage? WhatEver.

HA! Take THAT, weird ego!

Have a look and let me know what you think. It’s not my magnum opus, certainly, but I’m proud of it. I wrote it in the midst of some serious chaos last year (right around this time, actually) and it was one of those great escapes that one’s own stories can be when one is not feeling all that hot.

And yes, I do count my blessings constantly.

I’m in the kitchen, getting my iced coffee. I hear a series of little thumps. Arthur hears it too and goes panicking.

Leland (sitting in the chair, tying his shoes): What?
Me: Oh, it’s you!
Leland: What?
Me: I heard a noise. A thumping.
Leland: …
Me: It could have been an intruder!
Leland: And who would want to break in here?
Me: I dunno! Someone who wants to… steal black cats with no fur on their tummy.
Leland: …
Me (gesturing to Merle, licking himself): I’ve posted pictures of him on the Internet…
Leland: *facepalm*

Taking a much-needed day off today. Last week was extremely productive, so this is a good thing. No comics, no copywriting, no marketing, no administrivia, no errands… just making stuff (probably beading), a little iced coffee and peach beer with Val, and my man.

Okay, okay! Maybe comics tomorrow.

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Originally uploaded by ebess.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood…