"...with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf..."
Hot today. Out high was only 91F, but the heat index was 100F.
I have discussed with Kathryn, today, putting this journal on hiatus for the time being. I have so much work - the novella, The Night Watchers, the essay for the Oxford Press book on Shirley Jackson, MP2 - the journal has become one of many distractions. It has also become a place a routinely censor myself for fear of the Howl, and self censorship does nothing good for my morale or my ability to work. So, maybe another entry or two, and then perhaps I'll set it aside for a while.
Having finished Bret Easton Ellis' White, this morning I began reading We Have Always Lived in the Caste for the first time in a few years. I am fortunate enough to have a first edition that was a gift from Peter Straub. The copy has some marvelous history. It originally belonged to Bernard Malamud, and it was signed to him by the author herself in September 1962. Malamud eventually donated it to the Bennington College Library, where it was placed in a special collection, out of circulation. But somehow it wound up on the rare book market, no idea how, and Peter bought it for me in 2013. One thing that's cool, when you think about it, this copy was almost certainly in the library when Donna Tartt and Bret Easton Ellis were students there in the 1980s. Well, I find that cool, especially given the influence Jackson was on Tartt.
Today I spoke again with Mike P., stting out exactly what MP2 will cover and what it won't. I'm going to try to have a draft finished by the end of August, or at least the end of September. We're trying to decide on a journal. Of course, I am not writing this one alone. The geology section is being handled by Lynn Terry (Geological Survey of AL; with input from Kelly Irwin, AR Fish and Game Commission, retired), the systematics are being handled by Mike, Jon Bryan (Northwest FL State College) is adding some historical context, and the figures are being done by Jun Ebersole (in part using photographs by Kathryn). That's a lot of authors. For me, anyway. Much of what I have to do at this point is converting many pages of handwritten notes to a coherent anatomical description and accompanying discussion and conclusions.
Okay, enough of this for now. Please visit the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop. Buy a book, and I'll sign it. Thanks. Blixa says hi, by the way.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
3:25 a.m.
I have discussed with Kathryn, today, putting this journal on hiatus for the time being. I have so much work - the novella, The Night Watchers, the essay for the Oxford Press book on Shirley Jackson, MP2 - the journal has become one of many distractions. It has also become a place a routinely censor myself for fear of the Howl, and self censorship does nothing good for my morale or my ability to work. So, maybe another entry or two, and then perhaps I'll set it aside for a while.
Having finished Bret Easton Ellis' White, this morning I began reading We Have Always Lived in the Caste for the first time in a few years. I am fortunate enough to have a first edition that was a gift from Peter Straub. The copy has some marvelous history. It originally belonged to Bernard Malamud, and it was signed to him by the author herself in September 1962. Malamud eventually donated it to the Bennington College Library, where it was placed in a special collection, out of circulation. But somehow it wound up on the rare book market, no idea how, and Peter bought it for me in 2013. One thing that's cool, when you think about it, this copy was almost certainly in the library when Donna Tartt and Bret Easton Ellis were students there in the 1980s. Well, I find that cool, especially given the influence Jackson was on Tartt.
Today I spoke again with Mike P., stting out exactly what MP2 will cover and what it won't. I'm going to try to have a draft finished by the end of August, or at least the end of September. We're trying to decide on a journal. Of course, I am not writing this one alone. The geology section is being handled by Lynn Terry (Geological Survey of AL; with input from Kelly Irwin, AR Fish and Game Commission, retired), the systematics are being handled by Mike, Jon Bryan (Northwest FL State College) is adding some historical context, and the figures are being done by Jun Ebersole (in part using photographs by Kathryn). That's a lot of authors. For me, anyway. Much of what I have to do at this point is converting many pages of handwritten notes to a coherent anatomical description and accompanying discussion and conclusions.
Okay, enough of this for now. Please visit the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop. Buy a book, and I'll sign it. Thanks. Blixa says hi, by the way.
Later Tater Beans,
Aunt Beast
3:25 a.m.