First Lines Meme from truepenny  and matociquala!

Long Projects (Now you see the awful truth, of how very many plates I twirl at once:

1. Once upon a time, a girl named September grew very tired indeed of her father’s house, where she washed the same pink and yellow teacups and matching gravy boats every day, slept on the same embroidered pillow, and played with the same small and amiable dog. (Pretty sure you know where this comes from)

2. In a city by the sea which was once called St. Petersburg, then Leningrad, then, much later, St. Petersburg again, there stood a long, thin house on a long thin street. (The novel formerly known as Deathless)

3. So there’s this Japanese fairy tale about a samurai who was born from a peach. An old woman is  washing her clothes in the river and singing about how she never could get pregnant when a huge peach comes floating her way, and, being pretty sensible, she snaps it up and takes it inside to cut up for lunch. (Monogatari)

4. Three people killed themselves the night the red snow fell. (The Year of Red Snow)

5. O my Brothers, I have gathered for you such a basket of ash! (The Habitation of the Blessed--the perpetual Prester John novel)

6. Neva is dreaming. (Like Diamonds, early stage AI novel)

7. EXT. The cannon pad at the Vancouver World’s Fair in 1986, late afternoon, festooned with crepe and banners wishing luck and safe travel. (The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew, alternate history of space travel novel. The short story from which it sprang will come out from Clarkesworld next month)

Short Projects (Less of these, I tend to finish short ones quickly)

1. I ran away from home when I was sixteen. (The Sweet and the Quick, working title)

2. Let me tell you about circumcision. (Grandmother Euphrosyne)

3. Buenos Aires, (which others call a novel), is seven hundred and forty pages long, with six pages of endnotes. (This month's Omikuji)

Today's Collected Effusions (Because you wanted to know):

Fairyland Chapter 5: 4,733 words (finished)

Omikuji Story (Reading Borges in Buenos Aires--easily the weirdest thing I've ever done for Omikuji): 2,173 words

Non-Literary Activity:

Made posole from scratch

Tried and failed to work out how to knit a sock on two circular needles

Read some of Orlando Figes's The Whisperers as part of ongoing research, which has an uncomfortable moralizing angle. Not bad enough that Stalin was psychotic. We have to cluck over the essential lameness of Bolshevism and Communism in general, and portray the Soviet masses as simultaneous tragic victims and slavering villains because that's what the West does.

Watched some Dexter, which I can't actually watch without doing something else, like writing, because it's just uncomfortable and disturbing. But I can use to bleed off excess attention just fine.

Drank a lot of Newton's Own Lemonade, which I love obsessively and should not have because it is sugary.

The rich red color of posole simmering on my stove, smelling like New Mexico.

The cling of the silvery, shrouding fog that invisibles the mainland.

The low, gentle hooting of far-off foghorns, like gibbons calling to each other.

Today I am going down to the library to work as they have long hours today and options for out-of-house working on the island are slim in the summer--so many people, and their insistence on buying things!

I have my Readercon panel schedule (it's so pleasant to be able to go to Readercon with almost no trouble or expense, as it's right near us, and we can hang with birthday girl adelynne  and non-Czech-Prime-Minister mtolan . Readercon used to be the most expensive con for us and now it's practically free.) though not my other things schedule--I can has my own reading, a "How I Wrote the Orphan's Tales" talk, many other group readings, Interfictions stuff, a kaffeeklatsch...pool is now running on when I lose my voice. Plus I get to see tithenai , and read our Rhysling-nominated poem together. It's also super nice to not stress and hope about the Rhyslings. I'm all zen, since I won it last year and have my pretty plaque. I'm no time_shark . I don't ever expect to win again, so I can just go have fun.

I think I am going to make posole for dinner tonight--or a pale imitation as I do not have the proper peppers. She is a pepper-poor zone, Maine. Am also making mango-currant jam this week, when I am a bit more on top of deadlines and Omikuji is out. We have a 4th invite this weekend but I'm torn--the island has to be pretty cool on the 4th, right? Trying to be a good local girl. First farmer's market tomorrow.

We've been watching Mad Men in the evenings, which is a damn good show, though I could do without this 13 episode format that my favorite shows have taken up, and Mrs. Reynolds is just too hot for words, and is that CONNOR, OMG IT IS! And he's playing an insufferable little shit again, so business as usual. At least it's deeper than the usual: hey guess what? The 50s ethos sucked! I know, right? You've NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE.

It's also odd for me to watch as my father and grandfather we both in advertising for decades, and so to some extent that was their world, when I was a child. Moreso for my grandfather, obviously. I remember, coming from what was once a reasonably conservative family, a much more formal childhood. My brother and I once watched some old home video and he finally said: do you notice? Everyone's wearing suits and ties. For a kid's birthday party. One thing Mad Men shows: that ethos went on a lot longer than the 50s.

True Blood, our other indulgence, goes in the opposite way, obviously. Though the appearance of a damn minotaur is putting me off. What, we're in Greek Disneyland all of the suddent? Maenads and Minotaurs: the Ride? What exactly is the metaphysical make up of this world? I know, don't ask, just enjoy the blood and sex. At least there's Jacob recapping it on TWOP.

So. The day moves. I with it. Sort of. I caught my robe on 8 o'clock. Also Gmail is being a brat.

But first order of business is taking a shower. Because it turns out that if your facial cleanser has clay in it, and you get some on your hair, like around the browline which is damn hard to avoid, you turn into clay-tablet Enkidu, and everything is all stiff and grey and a little too homoerotic to ignore.

I'm not sure that sentence stuck the landing.

One humbly mews that authors thrive on feedback, which is doubly true when writing this fast and this much, even if it is negative feedback, so one can correct one's course. In print this takes the form of article reviews and Amazon reviews and such, online it means comments and discussion. It is hard to speak into a vacuum.

Which is all to say: there's a Fairyland Chapter 3 discussion thread here, and it is lonely. There's also this post, obviously. (And did you all like the Commentary? If no one liked it, I shan't record more...)

And don't forget to check out tim_pratt 's The Bone Shop, which went live today! Both projects could use donations--remember that these are entirely crowdfunded shows.)

• 10:32 @ifearzombies I live on a wee island in the Atlantic. The ferry? Is a GIANT catamaran. Named Cat. #
• 21:30 Preparing to walk home in rain with no umbrella. About as pleased as you'd imagine a wet cat to be. #
• 21:55 @ifearzombies Always! The idea of a snarky black haired LA house elf appeals. #
• 22:05 @kythryne taught me linked beady necklace things & gave me gorgeous City of Marrow earrings, & also pasta. & let me play w/ her puppy. Win. #
• 22:45 My cat always reminds me of that old comic about how living with a cat is like living with a tweeker... #
• 01:47 And Garage Band just ate my entire audio file. #
• 03:28 @grahamsleight I haven't heard either. #
• 05:21 New #Fairyland chapter up! Now with Author's Commentary--like Director's Commentary for books! catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland #

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After much hilarious techfail here at Casa Gata con Botas, and by hilarious I mean I pouted at my computer for like a full hour, Chapter Three of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is up.

It's a biiiig, meaty chapter, with witches in.

And the Fairyland Museum is also live! (If you have additions, in any sort of media, send them to me anytime.)

And if you click the Wyvern (no, seriously) at the end of the chapter, you can access a new feature, the super-awesome Author's Commentary. Which is like a Director's Commentary, only for books and by me, wherein I chatter about the writing of this week's chapter, talk about various craft-type things, crack jokes, and say "um" a lot. Just like Ridley Scott! But, you know, a girl.

I've been wanting to do this for ages and ages, so I'm really excited to have finally managed it. I hope it's as fun for you all as listening to director's commentaries is for me. I fully realize I am a dork about commentaries, though.

And damn am I tired of hearing my own voice after all that recording. I could not talk for a week, and that would be sweet.

If there's anything you guys want me to talk about on future commentaries, ask away!

Now, I collapse into a heap of sleeping, still slightly wet from rainstorm Cat.

• 00:09 @ifearzombies There is a direct ferry from my city to Nova Scotia...just saying. #

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This is awesome, and why Italian politics are better than any other politics.

But the question is, really: how can I get a naked Czech Ex-Prime Minister at my party?

I'm pretty sure I could get a bunch of hot naked women, and a few men, even, to come over to mine for some shots and career ruination. It's the ex-Prime Minister that gets me. How do you do that, short of being a Prime Minister yourself?

So I ask: how many steps are there between me and a naked ex-Prime Minister? (Any Prime Minister is fine, Czech is only a bonus. I'm not asking for Tony Blair, it can be the ex-Prime Minister of Lichtenstein or wherever.) Is there a Craigslist section? How does one go about organizing what is clearly the party of the century?

I'm afraid that from here on out, I will be mildly saddened by any party not featuring an ex-Prime Minister. Or at least an ex-Student Body President or something. I'll be all: wow, this sure is a great party, but it's no Berlusconi. Oh, to be in Italy, and seventy-two!

• 13:10 *roars like Grendel* Morning safeword! Bleh. So glad I don't have TV, so I don't have to hear about MJ all day. Unless I look at LJ. #
• 13:11 RT @marianallen #Fairyland has a starting cast! Anyone disagree! Good September...tinyurl.com/l4u6ds #
• 13:13 I find myself using Twitter for little through-the-day things & contact far more than I expected. It's comforting, on my distant island. #
• 13:31 @withneedle Sure! #
• 17:18 Am lonely. Who's out there? #
• 17:22 @ockhamdesign Why is it that the internet devices most people decry as isolating always end up being these beautiful things in my life? #
• 17:27 So...many of us are here. What shall we play? #
• 17:34 PS. Anna Ternheim's Shoreline = September's theme song. #Fairyland #
• 17:35 @cherylmorgan ZOMG!! #
• 17:49 @derekmolata Right Hand Red, naturally. #
• 18:15 Fannish folk cycle is complete: September has a verse in the Wicked Girls apocrypha...you know, that song I listen to while writing Fland. #
• 18:15 bit.ly/3cfC1 #

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While in Seattle, vixyish  and s00j  and stealthcello  and tfabris  started playing this one song, and it drew me into the room like a cartoon dog afloat on a stream of delicious pie-scent.

The song was Wicked Girls, by seanan_mcguire , and I've been listening to it pretty much on a loop ever since. And becoming a fan of both singer and human, both of which she is a stellar example. I can't wait to read her new book. The song is on my growing Fairyland playlist.(Feel free to send mp3s to pad out said playlist.) It's gorgeous, the melody catchy as hell, and perfect for my fairy tale heart.

So my squee is huge today, as Seanan has been writing new verses by request, and now Casimira, Sorrow, and September (!) have verses in this most beloved of songs.

*dances and sings the new words*

Just a reminder: if you have anything--fanart, icons, jewelry, other artefacts--that you want to see in the first exhibit of the Fairyland Museum on Monday, get them to me this weekend, along with whatever text and links you prefer me to post!

If you don't have anything right now, I'll be updating the Museum every week that there is more material to post. Hopefully, the site will be ever-evolving. At any event, Monday is a BIIIIG update, with a sprawling chapter, the Museum, site features, and new Thing I am very excited about, as I've always wanted to do it. So stay tuned.

Back to giving September a bath.

• 12:15 Anyone going from Boston to Brunswick for the IAF Salon on July 15th? #
• 12:19 Gah. Can I safeword waking up in the morning? #
• 12:29 RT @timpratt Launching a reader-sponsored novella starting Monday! bit.ly/LKhyY #
• 13:35 Whoa, Farrah Fawcett died? #
• 13:54 Just put in roasting fowl stuffed with pears and smeared with garlic and cumin and such. Total cost for a week's worth of meat: about $10. #
• 14:09 @rylmandus Get dead bird. Put pears in its butt. Smear garlic, olive oil, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, and basil on. Roast. Eat? #
• 14:37 It's so strange...Fox News wasn't happy when their guy was in power, & they're not happy now. They're so invested in their righteous misery. #
• 15:04 @sihaya09 Ack! I don't have Pumpkin Queen after all! Still want to trade? #
• 15:33 I need a #Fairyland playlist for writing time (Chapter 5 today). What would you put on it? #
• 15:49 I will go work outside, it's a nice day. Oh, um, I guess I need my jacket. & scarf. & socks. & sunglasses. Welcome to summer in Maine. #
• 15:51 @sinboy that's amazing!! Is there an mp3? #
• 15:54 #Fairyland playlist: other than @seananmcguire's Wicked Girls, which already has the place of honor, obviously ;) #
• 16:10 @micrathene Vocals. #
• 16:57 GAH. I can't concentrate! Is it lack of coffee or lack of awesome? #
• 17:09 *listens to @vixy, bops along* #
• 17:19 @babymonkeys 67 with wind here. Thunderstorms tonight...to break the heat, I guess. #
• 17:23 @vixy No, I mean, I was listening to your songs. Thirteen, specifically. #
• 17:24 I will do coffee to it. #
• 18:07 HOLY FUCK. Michael JACKSON died?? What is going on today? #
• 23:29 @drwicked I want a hedgehog latte! #
• 23:51 Check out #Fairyland on Storycasting and cast the characters: bit.ly/3y83OT #
• 23:51 @yamabuki9 Both. #
• 02:04 Utter writing FAIL today. But I thought through the next chapter, cooked for the week, and made a cunning hat. #

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Vote for kylecassidy  in the LJ elections! Finally someone I trust to make decisions for the site that is such a big part of my life. I know Kyle in the real world as well as online and he more or less completely rules--and will not make asshat choices, which is possibly more important.

Using an icon of a photo Kyle took of me in solidarity, yo.

Vote here.

I'm an obsessive counter.

Oh yes, I can keep it quiet, I don't count matchsticks or anything, and I aitn't a vampire. But rest assured, when I'm with you, I'm counting my steps, the stairs, the tiles on the floor. Hell, I used to count sexual encounters--not partners, of which I've had relatively few, which I say not to be all NOT A SLUT but to point out how stupid counting is in this situation, but individual activities--and kept it straight into the high four digits.

Can't help it, it's just part of my psyche. I've counted anything countable--and not told anyone about it--since I was a little kid.

So you know, I thought I'd tell the internet.

Knitting is an excellent past-time for me, since it involves a lot of counting and basic arithmetic. Arithmetic (I won't call it math) is a visceral pleasure for me, especially since I'm also a bit of a synaesthesiac, and numbers have colors and even notes, so when I add them together or count, their colors and sounds fire off in my brain. So knitting is by-god spectacular in there. (My brain is a weird, murky place, if you couldn't tell.)

I realized the other day whilst working on a camisole that is just a whole lot of boring stockinette stitch, that I can't concentrate on something that's not broken down into units. This is not an ADHD thing--not my particular brand of issue, though about half my family has it. I need the small rush of pleasure that comes with finishing a unit--a row, a block, an object--to keep going. So I put in stitch markers every twenty stitches or so, and am a happy bee. (Stitch markers are tech anyway, especially when making lace.) So my brain can do its counting-to-ten acid trip and also get the endorphin dump of feeling like progress is being made. God, you should see my head on road trips, endlessly recalculating arrival time with every new road sign. LJ friends-of are kind of hilarious in there, since their movement is unpredictable and largely unaffectable, but still has colors and feelings of progress attached. I was WAY into numerology as a youngling, for all these various reasons. It's still the New Age activity I'm most embarrassed about, mostly because it feels so private, not because it's popularly maligned. You don't count in front of other people!

Whenever I take up a new craft I compare it to writing, so this made me realize: I do the exact same thing with books.

I do a lot of arithmetic. If I write this many words every day I'll be finished by X time. Lather, rinse, repeat for each day's performance. (Which, by the way, do you guys have any interest in seeing what I do every day posted here? Wordcounts, projects, etc? Would it be horribly boring or interesting?)

Anyway, even if that schedule never works, the number thing is so pleasurable to me that I have to do it. And I have to split things up into chunks--chapters are convenient, and I can't say for sure that this isn't the source of my short chapter habit (considering the length of next week's Fairyland chapter, I doubt it) but it's not only chapters. It's words. 5k is a. red and b. a milestone. I need to pay attention like that. The 10ks (silver) are big ones, and it matters to me all out of proportion when I complete a 10k portion. It's like a stitch marker.

Funny, I don't really notice bigger units, though. Like, even though there might be 3 or 4 units of 25k in my book, I don't note them. It's the 10k markers that I latch onto. They feel managable.

This process is pointless. It doesn't accomplish anything. But my vampire sense say it must be done or there will be no book. A book is made up of ever-increasing units. So is a hat. My brain thinks if it doesn't count things, they might be...sort of hurt. Same reason that when I was a kid I ate a little bit from everything on my plate in a specific order, so none of my food would feel like it was being left out. Good grief.

I wonder about this, though. Little rituals, and how they shape the world we choose to walk through. At some point I hadn't been counting things, and then I did. Maybe it was a conscious choice. Maybe not. But now it affects my work process and my daily living and hangs pretty, sparkly colored numbers all over it. I guess that's the definition of a habit. But I don't think I could break it if I wanted to.

This has been your confessions of a numerological freak. (ONE freak! AH HA HA.)

Fairyland is going to have some company on Mondays: tim_pratt , awesome author extraordinaire, is in the same awful situation with his wife's lay-off that many of us are these days. So he's posting chapters of The Bone Shop, a novella about Marla Mason, the heroine of his urban fantasy series, and asking for donations.

Marla Mason is the chief sorcerer of Felport, a woman who's tangled with gods and monsters and come out on top (if a bit damaged in the process). But she wasn't always a formidable engine of brute force and pragmatism; she started out alone, in a strange city, without allies or any more power than the average teenage runaway on the street. Marla was always willing to do anything necessary to survive, and it didn't take long for her to stumble into a world of magic, danger... and even the occasional moment of grace.

Bone Shop tells the story of Marla's evolution from runaway to sorcerer's apprentice to mercenary magician and beyond. Fans of the urban fantasy series that began with Blood Engines will find surprising secrets revealed about Marla's past, and new readers can meet the character from the very beginning.

Go here for more info and to donate!

• 12:17 Awake. Don't wanna be. What is up with books keeping me up all night? Thanks a lot, LITERATURE. #
• 14:32 Waiting outside job interview place. Reading The Secret History of Giants. #
• 21:35 Home at last. Heavy fog tonight. Have sackful of mackerel in the fridge as was .99 a pound. Amazing yarn package in mail from @jasminchua! #
• 21:38 @alexandraerin He thinks the interview went well. Now we wait. #
• 22:03 @jasminchua Thank you so much! It's so gorgeous! Will get your book in the mail asap. #
• 22:59 Mad Men = MANLYEMO #
• 22:59 Also Vincent Kartheiser is cursed to forever play insufferable little shits. #
• 23:10 @tessa_racht I quite like it--I adore Joan. She needs moar scenes. #
• 23:52 Holy crap am successfully knitting with DPNs! It's like wrestling a petrified octopus! #

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I'm terribly late in posting about this, but life got crazy there.

So, at Penguicon, earthenwood  gave me a little aluminum box with my name on it. The box is now a knitting supply case. What was inside it? A big pile of OMG.





It is a Casimira slave bracelet! Though it looks to me like a device to control wicked clockwork bugs. (For someone who is creeped by bugs in real life, I've sure walked into a lifetime of fantastically gorgeous bug gifts.)

earthenwood  is phenomenally talented. She makes the beads by hand, and beads are a large share of her work, but when she makes a whole piece she takes my breath away. The pleasant and powerful weight of this on my hand is quite addictive. I immediately start channeling Ms. Wicked Bug herself.

Seeing the worlds inside my head become real like this is a heart-stopping proposition. I'm never going to get used to it. Or stop being incredibly fucking humbled by the makers who touch their magical hands to my pages.

Earthenwood Studios' Etsy Site

I just wanted to thank you all again for following Fairyland and donating. This has been and continues to be an extraordinary journey.

We're heading down to Portsmouth today for a job interview for justbeast . We'll see how it all goes.

In the meantime, I am not the only one using crowdfunded fiction to get by--check out alexandraerin and Tales of MU. It's a magical school highly unlike any you've read. She's been doing it a hell of a lot longer, and her stories just go on for days. She's also been an incredible mentor to me throughout this project, despite needing sponsorship of her own. That kind of generosity and rising-tide love is why our village is so wonderful.

• 14:28 @tenebris It's Pumpkin Patch #1 from 2007. #
• 14:51 Post con zombification in full effect. #
• 15:42 Wait, so I can no longer blog on my own book pages on Amazon...(cont'd) #
• 15:42 And blogs by Amazon employees having nothing to do with my books is supposed to replace that tool? Fuck off, Amazon. #
• 16:14 Wish I knew more wirewrapping. I've these awesome beads from Elise & I'm not totally sure what to do w/them. Except give them to @kythryne. #
• 16:26 Since what I WANT to do is make a #Fairyland necklace to wear while I'm writing it.The beads are perfect, if I could find a focal pendant... #
• 16:27 But my skill is small. I can do a little. Could /probably/ figure out the basic make-beads-string-together-with-wire-loops thing. #
• 16:35 @marianallen The best would be a bent spoon, for reasons which will be clear next week. But I don't think I have one. #
• 16:36 @jimnduncan I hope so. I hope a press is interested, in either a full run or a limited edition. If not, I will do something myself I think. #
• 16:39 What's your favorite water-element folkloric beastie? #
• 16:43 @jimnduncan I want the necklace for me, for writing inspiration. I suppose I could auction it after it's all done, but... #
• 17:02 How massively awesome is this? bit.ly/34gXj #
• 18:11 Have asked on BPAL swap comm for any pumpkin-based scents to trade for books, imps, bottles. Anyone here want in? #
• 18:14 @sihaya09 I have those, but thank you! #
• 18:47 @alexandraerin @meilinmiranda This is the new world...more and more of us, I think, will do this. Also I <3 Thea Gilmore. #
• 18:57 @alexandraerin I did. That's a bit harder with writers, not least because there's less audience than music, distro, etc But it's the future. #
• 18:58 @alexandraerin And of course Gilmore is already a known quality. As I should know, it's easier that way. You're much more hardcore. #
• 18:59 @meilinmiranda Link me to info about it? #
• 20:00 Oh my god I just ate the biggest blueberry ever. Maine rules. #
• 21:31 @saraphina_marie How? #
• 23:16 @azhure Oh, thank you, love. How kind of you to say. #
• 03:19 @amylikestodraw What would you want in trade? #
• 03:20 Finished The Sparrow. Parts I thought were brilliant, parts weak. Definitely felt the end was rushed, deaths too easy, resolution a bit pat. #
• 03:26 Also finding the lack of denouement in modern novels really upsetting these days. #

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Was pretty awesome.

This was the first time anyone had paid to bring me out to a con other than when I won the Tiptree, so I was a little shy at first, nervous as to whether I could be worth the effort. It also occured to me that first night that I have never gone to a con without a group of friends that I was meeting there or who came with me. This was the first con I'd gone to by totally by myself, without even justbeast . It really helped thatelisem  took me and Teresa Nielsen-Hayden andsdn  on a field trip to her house the first day, where there are infinite beads and BPAL to geek out over. (And of COURSE, elisem gifts me with an LE imp that smells awesome on me and is, by definition, hard to find--Pumpkin Patch with pumpkin, pear, white grapes, and jasmine tea. Garrr. My weakness is pumpkin! And women who bead!)

I won't get into the panels I was on too much--I was mouthy, as I usually am. I shared a little more personal stuff than I usually do on panels, especially the Food, Fashion, and Fornication one, because it was a really safe space and a small con. It was noted several times that the programming skewed oddly towards the craft of writing, and what I really got from that was a bunch of awesome ideas as to how to teach writing. The panel highlight of the con was probably sdn's outburst during the structure and pacing panel, which really cannot be duplicated online, but its sheer awesome got her a round of applause.

The highlights for me were the people. Getting to spend real time with elisem , who I think is the bees knees but don't often get to see without a dealer's table between us. papersky , who is awesomely smart and of whose books I am this huge fan, and actually talked to small, weird me and was so kind. truepenny  and her husband, who I actually got to sit down and talk with for a good chunk of time. drwicked  and his awesome girlfriend who I think has no LJ. tabethawallace , who rocks so very, very hard, and reminds me in looks, mannerisms, and voice so much of my former editor Juliet. If Juliet dyed her hair black and smoked. Ok, so I was a little dazzled by the hot sarcastic chick. Everyone has their kryptonite. Will Alexander, who still has no LJ, but is fast becoming a Favorite Human.

Rooming with sdn  was totally great. We see eye to eye on so much, and are funny sarcastic chicks ourselves, who occasionally act like we're 12. sdn  rules all with a candy fist.

And I got to meet pameladean . Which was a big moment for me and I tried to keep the dork from coming out, because I am a moron when I meet writers I love, I cannot help but turn into a puddle of fangirl. Especially since Tam Lin is this huge part of my youth. And especially because she's so friendly and laughs a lot and is so beautiful and literally full of light--she just kind of beams. Later in the con, sitting with her at brunch, I had one of those moments: my life is different, now, than I thought it was going to be. And what she wrote in my copy of Tam Lin made me cry.

I felt terribly loved and taken care of throughout the con--people knew about Fairyland, and wanted to eat with me, and hug me.

All in all it was a really good con, and I'm glad I got to know so many new people--it's easy to slip into a con comfort zone, and awesome to be jostled out of it. Thank you, Fourth Street, for bringing me into your world.

If you have signed up for a monthly mailing subscription to Omikuji in the past month--I do not have your address. Paypal does not provide it. Please email me so I can get your mailing out this weekend. If you signed up for a yearly sub, no worries, Paypal includes it there.

Also, we are still trying to deal with the database of people who's yearly sub was up in March, April, May, or June. You can help by letting us know if you decided not to re-subscribe in the comments, or re-upping before this month's mailing goes out.

Secondly, starting next week, there will be a new section on the Fairyland site--the Fairyland Museum. It will contain all of the icons, banners, and shiny things that folk have made for Fairyland, with links to their sites. This is a pretty high traffic site these days, so if you want to make something to go into the Museum, let me know. It make me giggle with glee--and might get some traffic flowing your way, too. And from here on out, tag entries with Fairyland artifacts or icons as "fairyland museum."

• 10:07 New Fairyland chapter up! Now with RSS feed! catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland #
• 12:01 @drwicked be right down #
• 12:53 @drwicked & his super hot & sweet girlfriend are princely folk. #
• 12:53 Garrrrrr. Flight delayed. #
• 13:24 @alexandraerin well, this IS taking place 70 years ago. I picked omaha because some of my family is from there... #
• 13:35 Too much traffic in boston, flight delayed an hour and change. Sitting in airport writing more Fairyland and listening to Sooj. #
• 13:46 @alexandraerin yes, I even have picks of the family home there. my patrn. grandfathers family immigrated from denmark to omaha. #
• 14:06 @alexandraerin between you, me, and the internet, I've never read the Oz books. #
• 15:09 what do you all think of the new #fairyland chapter? catherynnemvalente/fairyland #
• 15:15 Finally boarding. Amusing to be in an airport considering #fairyland today. Gargoyles ARE more honest. #
• 15:29 Yay someone's reading Catherine Asaro on the plane! #
• 23:23 Finally home. Feeling dumb as have left Important Thing in hotel room. Hotel has it though, is sending it to me. #
• 23:52 Elise gifted me an imp of an older BPAL PP--Pumpkin w/Pear & White Grapes. Of course, it smells amazing on me. Curse you, limited editions. #

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The second chapter of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is up!

In Which September Passes Between Worlds, Asks Four Questions and Receives Twelve Answers, and Is Inspected By a Customs Officer.

The site has a few shiny upgrades--an RSS feed and links to Digg, plus Facebook and LJ groups. We're working on making it Kindle compatible, I think that and our other big (sekrit) upgrade will be online next week. If you have other suggestions as to how to improve the site and the experience of the book, leave a comment--we are listening.

A few shinies have started to appear on onaleopard (and yes, my train folk, that was an On a Boat/On a Train reference) as people get inspired to make lovely Fairyland artifacts. I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to see Fairyland going through the "folk cycle" this way, so soon and so wonderfully. If you make things and Fairyland sparks you, please do show me--it makes me smile very wide and do small leaps on the inside.

My brain spent a lot of this weekend in a corner making Fairyland story, even while I walked and talked and everything. It is a precocious beast, this book.