Swimming down in the Overwhelmen

with the fishes, the sharks, and maybe you too.

Would early humans have described themselves as overwhelmed? When did that start? With cave drawings? Sure, the word started for sailors to explain what happened to a ship, but when did it become a word to explain how a lot people by the end of a typical Wednesday?

But we can be overwhelmed by awe, and I love that! I almost always feel better after stepping outside to look up at the night sky. Some people feel overwhelmed in the worst way staring at the universe. They feel small. Insignificant. I tend to feel amazed to even be here. I’m here, and I can make art!

I’m not super happy with my little fishy swimming by the moon sinking into the sea, but at least I have made something. It’s been challenging (see feelings of overwhelm); however, for better or worst, I’m going to share the work I’m not happy with because I’m tired of waiting for perfection.

Here’s something else I worked on.

So another thing I’m going to do in my newsletter is share an art-in-progress. That’ll be posted at the end.

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What have I been reading since last time? Here are three:

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. My husband and I had finally gotten ourselves down to Austin’s Vintage Bookstore and Wine Bar. (The place is a delight. Why can’t I go there every day?) I wanted to buy a book I hadn’t heard of before—no recs, no reviews, nothing. It has to just feel like a magical find. Well, what’s better to buy at a bookshop than a book about a bookshop? Anyway, it’s a charming story, and I’ll be getting the next one.

“I don’t think it really matters whether you know a lot about books or not. That said, I don’t know that much myself. But I think what matters far more with a book is how it affects you.”

Webster, Unabridged by John E. Simpson. Full-disclosure! John is my friend, and I’m in the acknowledgements, so this makes most any review null and void, but Webster, man…is likable, but makes you shake your head. John is so good at making an ordinary office guy do something that makes you say, “What the heck are you doing, dude?” And then you cringe. “Noooo! Don’t do that!” I love the way John’s sets a scene and shows how a character’s choice, no matter how ridiculous, makes sense in the moment. It reminded me of times I’ve done something stupid but it made sense at the time. Really. (Also, read his blog because he curates the best poetry and quotes.)

“He’d made a desperate life’s work of being sufficiently ‘acceptable’ never to be alone — inoffensive, mild-mannered to the point of anonymity, absolutely determined never to make anyone else uncomfortable even though the effort kept Webster himself writhing in distress, vanishing into the woodwork so that no one else would.”

Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip: Volume Two by Tove Jansson. I bought this on Tove Jansson’s birthday. I love the Moomins. They’re weird (in the best way) and adorable. And I’m one of those people who thinks you’re never too old for comics. My only complaint about the book is that isn’t doesn’t make it clear anywhere on the cover, spine, back, or title page that this is Volume Two. I’d have gotten Volume One if I’d realized that.

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Writing-in-Progress: An Excerpt

I almost decided to share no writing-in-progress at all this time around, but then I remembered how tiresome it is to wait for perfection. So, quite haphazardly I’m working on a highly fictionalized, magicalized, telling of my parents’ lives. Here’s an excerpt without context:

The magic of the go-go boots cannot last. Magic exists in the world, but it’s gossamer, delicate, prone to vanishing like dew and dreams. Magic settles around the earth with less weight than fog and harder to see, and therefore most people don’t see it all. They don’t realize it is the boots giving them strength to strut or march or run or whatever they need in that moment. They don’t taste it in the perfect last bite of an already perfect meal. And they don’t hear it in the voice saying one thing but meaning, I love you.

            She understands the magic in her boots. She is deftly attuned to vibrations, light, and magic. She sees ninety-six shades of blue in the sky. She notices every slice of light reflecting on the water. It drives her mad all that she notices, her senses under constant onslaught from the world. But though the go-go boots bring her down to earth and enable her to see the young man’s smile for what it is, she can’t hold it. She tries. She goes on trying until she uses the opposite of magic to cut herself free. And she believes the opposite of magic is violence.  

Over on Patreon, I’m serializing my novel The Princess Detective. The lowest tier gets you all the stories. Higher tiers get you art in your mailbox.

Objects & Art sent to Patrons

The Artwork-in-Progress Report

This is something I’m working on. You might know something I did that is very similar which I made two different prints of: Night Goddess and Secret Worlds. Come October 1st, we shall see how she is doing.

All righty! That’s it.

If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s an option too over at Ko-Fi!

Or get yourself my books: The Blue Jar and A Brief History of Boyfriends. I had hoped to have my next collection out by now, The Fairytale Asylum, but my octopus would need one more arm to do that.

Thanks for reading!