i will sell my soul for something pure and true

It's been a pretty intense week since I last wrote. (Some of you may have heard some of this before, and I apologize for the repetition.) Last Wednesday my friend L got here from Alaska for a short visit. Shortly after we got back to my apartment, we heard a man jump from the roof of the taller building across the street from mine and strike his head on a parked van as he fell. My block was chaos after that, and the body was there on the sidewalk beneath a sheet for a couple hours. L and I were definitely shaken. I find it popping into my thoughts often, even now, a week later. I wonder who he was, what drove him to jump, etc. The sound of him hitting the van. *shudder* Thursday and Friday were nice days with L, catching up, shopping, etc. Saturday was a marathon: wedding planning in the afternoon with a good friend, then good-bye drinks for one of my partner-in-crime's good friends, then a karaoke night in Midtown to see L one more time. that was a long day. Sunday I saw Romeo + Juliet at Nitehawk Cinema. The Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes version. So good! We went out that evening for a few hours. (We really need to stop doing that on Sundays.) So, just a long few days in there. I was honestly happy to get back to work yesterday, even though I was exhausted.
This whole summer has been pretty crazy, honestly. I've derailed on the unfucking my life process. Time to get back on board with that. Starting September 1, I'll be working on my food/exercise/alcohol habits. And I'm trying to get back in the habit of getting a little something done around the house every day. Last night I handwashed a dress and two sweaters; that's not a lot, but if I do that twice more this week, I'll be caught up on handwashing. I am working on my novel every day again, so that's good.Tonight's pool night, so writing will happen at the bar. I'll swing home between work and pool to play my bass and do something around the house, but I'm not sure what yet. . . .
I'm covering for someone at work again this week, so I'd best get to it. I hope everyone is having a good week. Blessed Be!

she can search this wide world over

Summer colds are the worst. I woke up with one yesterday. It makes me a little glum, particularly since I had a really, really lovely weekend. My partner-in-crime and I got to spend the weekend with some friends in a lakeside trailer in the Poconos. I spent most of the weekend sitting on the dock, feet in the water, book in hand. It was perfect. I read two books! And did some writing!
Speaking of books . . .
27) The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh. This is a fun middle-grade mystery set in New York City. Not a keeper for me, only because I probably won't read it again. But it's a good book.
28) Horns by Joe Hill. This is one messed-up book! I really enjoyed it. It's about a guy named Ig whose life is a disaster. One day he wakes up after getting wasted the night before and discovers that he now has horns growing out of his forehead. And the rest of the book is about how his life changes with the horns. Which makes it sound much simpler than it is. There are layers upon layers of craziness in this book. The characters are all shades of gray, not black and white. I really felt for Ig, and delighted in the twists and turns the horns introduced to his life. Some other characters I really liked, some I felt sorry for, and I wanted to punch one or two of them in the nose. Definitely recommended.
29) The Last Time As We Are by Taylor Mali. Great poetry by a spoken word artist who I've seen perform more than once. What more can I say?
Novel editing is going well. I think between last weekend and last night I've made it through another chapter, except for some timeline tweaking to make sure everything gels properly. So that's good.
Have I mentioned the workshop I want to apply for? Clarion West. The teacher roster for next summer is amazing. And they prefer short stories for applications, so I'm delving back into writing shorts.
And now, I need to get to work. I'm covering for someone this week and a different someone next week. My good friend L arrives in town this evening. Hurray! And I need to call my goddaughter this afternoon.
Blessed Be, everybody. Enjoy your Tuesday.

wherever she may be

It's a sleepy Wednesday morning for me. Have I mentioned that my partner-in-crime joined a pool team? Well, if I haven't . . . Tuesdays are pool night. Which usually means not enough sleep. It's always a fun night out, but it makes Wednesdays difficult.
Anyway. Some good things on the horizon: a trip home for me sometime this fall. A couple of guests from out of town.Work is starting to slow down, I think.I should receive a box of goodies from a friend on the west coast sometime soon. Also, autumn. I can't wait for the weather to mellow a little more.
I discovered a band yesterday that I love. You should all check them out too. Rising Appalachia. Their music really speaks to me on some deep tribal level. I want to buy all of their albums right now.
Book! 26) The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. This dystopian YA is quite good. Full disclosure: it STRONGLY reminded me of the YA book I wrote about kids with superpowers. I suppose that says something for the collective subconscious, since we were probably writing them around the same time. This is a dark, violent look at what happens when widespread panic and paranoia spirals out of control. It's about children around the country who are taken from their parents and locked up in camps after they develop superpowers. I definitely enjoyed this one, and will keep an eye out for more books from this author in the future.
I think that's about all I've got right now. We might be out of town this weekend, I'm not sure yet. I'm still working on not overloading with freelance work. I'm hoping to spend most of this evening reading and writing. And on that note, I'd best get to work so I can get out of here on time tonight. Backyard, group reading, and chapter 5 editing, here I come! Blessed Be.

i've been raising up my hands

Work continues to be a monumental struggle. I'm hoping to be caught up by the end of this week. Cross your fingers for that! Aside from that, I've just been trying to reinstate more of a routine at home. A bit of unfucking. Some sleep. You know, the usual.
We did ritual last Wednesday for Lughnasadh, and it was nice, but lately I've felt like my practice is missing something. I need to spend some time thinking about that, see if I can figure out what I'm missing and how to resolve it.
I (sadly) haven't had much time for writing lately, but have started to get back into it. I really want to cut back on everything else I'm doing so I can slam through the rest of this edit. I'd love to have it edited, peer reviewed, and then re-edited by the end of the year. And on the writing end of things, I've decided to apply for Clarion West next year. The teacher roster is AMAZING. And six weeks of intensive writing work sounds amazing. So we'll see what happens with that.
My goddaughter is probably having her baby in the next couple of weeks, which is a little exciting and a little scary. I owe her a phone call today or tomorrow. I'll likely be heading home in October to see her and the baby, and whoever else I can manage while not making it a crazy stressful trip.
Books to mention:
23) Skylark by Meagan Spooner. this is solid dystopian YA writing. Lark was a well-drawn character, I enjoyed the unfolding of the plot, and there were definitely a couple things that I didn't see coming. This one just got released a few days ago. If you're a YA reader, I definitely recommend this one.
24) Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. I loved this book. It's a comedy of manners with magic! Think Jane Austen plus the ability to create illusions. Well written, great characters, good suspense. The sequel is already out; I need to find a copy of it.
25) Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht. This is Ireland in the 1970s plus fey plus fallen angels. The cover copy really sold me, as did the front-cover blurb by Charles de Lint (who we all know I adore). And the writing was very solid; the Irish slang was believable, the characters were consistent. Still, there was too much politics and not enough fey and fallen action for my taste. The politics were interesting, but not what I was there for, so I was disappointed. While this is a well-done book, it's not a keeper for me.
I've also seen two movies in the last couple weeks: Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild. They're both really good movies. Moonrise is sweet and quirky. Beasts is intense and blew my mind open.
So, that's me recently. The next three Fridays are summer Fridays, hurray! I'll try to do some Friday updates about writing and unfucking my life, etc. Blessed Be.