Ruled by Zinnias

A few of the zinnias really outdid themselves. Always recommend planting zinnias from zeeds... er... seeds.

 The bee was a nice touch - completely accidental.

Snapdragons have friendly faces. These said "Howdy! Take our picture, too!"

I went out to do weed removal. The ground is hard as rock. Never mind that. I'm sure that weeds die just from me wishing they were dead.

The Fairies' Crossing

Since I'm around, I should post that Lore has a new story up. This one is also on Hyacinth Noir, the emag for the LGBT Pagan/Wiccan. Yes, you know you want to look because it really is as interesting as it sounds....


Beltaine Literary Issue | The Fairies' Crossing by Lore Lippincott


Good for Lore!

No words yet on any of our outstanding submissions... So back to our gardening and eating and renaming of formerly finished manuscripts....

And some of this...

Workshop of Mythical Creatures (and book titles)

A few days ago I opened up one of my old manuscripts and cringed at its title.

I hate titles. I hate titling stories. Sometimes it comes quickly, without any effort at all. More often, it's a slow and agonizing process, like decay - like cooking dinner.

Then, sometimes, a title will come along and smack me in the face just when I least expect it. Even more than a year later, when the story's done, and sitting on the back of my hard drive counting up its dust particles.

I've thought of renaming this old manuscript The Unicorn and the Griffin.

It seemed imbecilic at first, but it's kind of grown on me. Both creatures are mentioned in the story, although neither is actually in the story.... only as suggestions. And perhaps metaphorically... or allegorically... in the two main characters. Paul would be the unicorn. Nick would be the griffin.

It's a Civil War-era story (the world needs more of these, right?), not exactly a romance and not exactly literature. More like a character study... or of how two very unalike people learn to be friends.

The more I thought about the unicorn and the griffin, the more I wondered at the mythology and meaning behind the creatures. Symbolism is everywhere, and sometimes titles are more than they appear.

In my very old encyclopedia, it mentions that unicorns were often the symbol of virginity. It's also used in heraldry as a living thing that has broken free of its bonds. It's a "supporter" (in heraldic terminology) in the Scottish Royal Coat of Arms. These meanings suit Paul very well. He's a very non-sexual entity, and his people are from Scotland (he was himself born in Canada). I don't know that all that nonsense about a unicorn being tamed by a maiden would do Paul any good...

As for Nick and his creature, the griffin represents vigilance. In the story, Nick was used as a scout and cartographer. In heraldry, griffins are for military courage and leadership. Also appropriate for Nick. He joined the Union Army far before Paul did, and Nick was definitely the dominant one in the partnership.

There's also a nice little bit on Wiki that suggests that griffins mate for life, and when its mate dies, for the rest of its life it is alone. That would apply, too, in a way, though I haven't written that sequel yet, so perhaps I shouldn't give too much away.

This is the fun I run into being a writer. Now back to sitting on my nest of unpublished books...

Unicorn wiki
Griffin wiki

3

This is probably not the best way to go about studying French...

Please note that the black thing at high right-center is Lore's leg. She snapped this mobilely with the cat on her lap, and books where the cat should be. If she'd sat at the desk, the image would've been almost the same, perhaps sans leg. Maybe. Also, the circular blob up-center is the kitty's bed, which she refuses to sleep in when there is a human about.

-x-

We're both having good and bad winters. Bad for personal reasons, and good for Lore! She has one short story up at the lovely Hyacinth Noir!

Hyacinth Noir | Imbolc Issue | The Willow and the Dove

Lore's been the busy one. She had four submissions, three of them already in and done with (and pending), and one of them she hasn't sent in yet. I've had only two submissions so far this year, and one rejection notice for one of the two submissions. Lore found it in our joint Inbox when she was sending out a new submission. ("Could that be one of the elusive definitions of irony?") One of my friends was like, "Wow, so proud of you, sending out something even though you got a rejection notice!" But I told her that rejections are just a part of my everyday (well, maybe not everyday) life. Then I cite all the famous authors who faced numerous rejections before anyone even glanced at their manuscripts...

I have one submission up and coming, due April 1. I spent many days and eleven thousand words working on a story that I suddenly deemed "too long" for the submission. It would've been 17,000 or so words before it was complete. It's now in the "pending expansion into a novel" pile (which I invented just now), and I started a new, shorter story that has a couple of the elements of the scrapped one. I have less than a week to get it finished, looked at by my reader, and sent in. No problem.... really.

Depending on how things go, I might take off the entire month of April. Not write anything. I'm not sure what Lore will work on, if applicable. We might just potter about the garden.

-x-

In addition to studying French, Lore's been reading Mary Hunter Austin. I read a little bit of it myself, and it's luscious and potent. It stings me. Lore likes wordsmiths who sculpt daggers. Anything she can learn from is good for her. I prefer more entertainment value, but that's me. I've been reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Haven't read any Holmes stories since I was about nine. I didn't know what half the words meant, but it was Sherlock Holmes and that was enough! Both of us were dismayed to discover the lack of Noel Coward plays in our local library system. We bought a couple volumes (put out by Methuem at Coward's birth centennial) and have been enjoying them when our brains need downtime — and that's often.

Musically, I am getting into Secret Garden and Green Sun. Lore discovered trance-rockin' Aussie Emma Hewitt. Can't say I blame her. It's nice to have something other than Adam Lambert's Tresspassing album to listen to while I'm fixing dinner. Not that there's anything wrong with that album, I love it, it's now in the top ten of my favorite albums of all time. But expanding horizons cannot be bad, especially when it comes to music. Lore's purchased Spirit of the Celtic Violin by Arlene Faith. She doesn't appear to have a website (good for her! wish I didn't feel pressured to have one), but here's a song of hers on You Tube.

= We're planning to wear red on March 26th. See why, though neither of us looks good in red. Unfortunately, it's a Tuesday, and I won't be doing much of anything Tuesday, especially if we're still snowed in.
= Cheers to Ohio Senator Robert Portman (R) for changing his mind about equal marriage.
= Things are looking better for our home state: Ohio Views of Marriage Shift. A big deal for a state that supported DOMA less than a decade before.

Twenty-thirteen has started off well.

After a couple years of getting full-blown novels out of our heads, we're toning it back a bit and trying to tell small or short stories. We've been collecting submission calls from online zines and anthologies. Our general idea of "short" stories is, for Lore, anything less than fifty thousand words, and, for me, anything less than a hundred thousand.

I'm not really good at small. It's not that I'm compensating for a quality/function I lack, it's just that characters don't know when to shut up.

Lore can do short. If we were betting who'd get more short stores completed this year, Lore would win, and I'd have to take out the trash (or, worse still, do all the social media updates) for the next twelve months. No bets, thankfully.

But I can write a short blog entry. It seems I know when to shut up: my mind goes blank.

Blogger/blogspot is a foreign land to me. I've done my fair share of online journal-keeping, only not at this particular dot-com. It might take me a while to learn the functions. Or I could find the instruction manual.

Truth is, we're too busy doing what we're supposed to be doing (i.e. writing, keeping the house together) that we don't devote any time to the restrictive social interactions of many internet playpens labyrinths websites. We're not good at this. It's why we get along. Look for many short blog entries in the future!

Be thrilled and excited when we actually update one (or maybe more!) of the following sites:
 @ twitter
 @ dreamwidth