6/28: getting word
...that a recent pamphlet reached its recipient--and the book I used for the pamphlet's erasure (The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame) is one of her favorites.
6/27: moving
...the books and shelves from my old storage unit into a new (bigger and less expensive) one that Chris has rented. The ideal is to have no books in storage at all--to give away many of them and only keep the ones I really need/want, but for now consolidating so that we're renting only one unit rather than two has to count as a victory.
6/26: unexpected time
...spent writing. The power went out this morning, which curtailed some of my plans. So I brought Ferrero and Adreani's Odyssey into the main room, where I could look at it with the help of the light through the big windows. What a pleasure to look at, think about, and be interested in.
6/25: getting good news
...at the end of a day with vexations. A chapbook I co-authored with a friend has been accepted for publication. It had been accepted some time ago by a different press that went dark after Covid, so it's especially nice that it found a new home at last.
6/24: trying
...to let very nice mail and email from friends counterbalance some frustrations in my day.
6/23: finishing
...The Wildcat Behind Glass by Alki Zei, translated by Karen Emmerich. I'm really glad that the review in the NYTBR prompted me to give it a go!
6/22: meeting up
...with a friend this afternoon for some conversation at a microbrewery/coffee bar. I tried a drink that was a mixture of iced coffee, orange juice, pineapple syrup, and oat milk.
6/20: packing
...books from the small storage unit to move into the larger one (so we won't be paying for two). We had meant to do this months ago (sigh), but things got busy and hard. At least it's happening now. I'll go back tomorrow and try to do more so that we can finish next week.
6/19: readying
...some re-printed pamphlets for mailing. I sent out a baker's dozen back in March, not knowing at the time that the fuser on my laser printer was worn out and so wasn't sealing the toner sufficiently. By accident I learned that the press of the postal machines meant that the excess toner got imprinted on the facing pages. And oh how mortifying that something I wanted to send as a pleasure arrived messed up. It's taken me months (practically and emotionally) to get my printer situation sorted, re-print copies that (hopefully) will fare better, and write an explanatory note. But now that's all done and copies are in their addressed envelopes, set to go out in tomorrow's mail.
6/18: managing
...to do good (and necessary) work on Heron Tree this afternoon, despite not having slept at all last night.
6/17: combined
...doctor visits. When I made my appointments, the scheduler said they needed to be two separate ones for insurance purposes. But when I went to my first one today, the doctor said she could do them both at the same time--so I don't have to go again later this week.
6/16: drafting
...an embarrassing letter. It'll go out to a small group of friends and family to whom I sent a pamphlet back in March. I didn't realize at the time that the fuser on my printer wasn't working and consequently the toner wasn't sealed--so the excess got pressed onto the facing pages when the pamphlet went through the postal machines. Not how I want a pamphlet to arrive on someone else's end! Now that I have a new printer, I made fresh copies to send out and wrote a letter to explain. I was dreading dealing with this--I'm mortified that it happened and red-cheeked when I think of sending the new ones out, but I know I'll feel better once it's all in the past tense.
6/14: another round
...of Quiet Writing at a distance with a friend. I'm under-the-weather today, so I didn't know if I'd have 2 hours' worth of thoughts & words, but I did! Though my summer project of looking at images that close retellings of the Odyssey is turning out to be bigger than expected (and that feels overwhelming / anxiety-producing at times), it is really fun to linger on analyzing the pictures.
6/12: receiving postcards
...from the iHanna DIY Postcard Swap. It was a pleasure to send mine out, and it's nice to find some from other people in my mailbox.
6/11: two hours
...of writing about Gareth Hinds' graphic novel adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. I focused mostly on its closing pages and how they relate to the opening ones.
6/10: embossing
...a booklet in response to a mail call for tactile art. No words--just embossed asemics.
6/9: starting the morning
...by reading an article in Artforum. It got me into a creative mindset that lasted the rest of the day as I worked on a new pamphlet. Though I didn't end the day with a satisfying "product," it was a luxury to spend hours trying different things.
6/7: returning
...the new printer that wasn't working. I spent a good amount of time on the manufacturer's help line (to no avail), and then I discovered another thing that wasn't working about it. The store where I bought it was willing to let me return it without all of the original packaging, so I'm calling that a win.
6/6: making
...a birthday card for a friend, and liking the way it came out.
Also: making connections between an article I read this morning (on the depiction of alternative education in children's literature) and the seemingly unrelated research I'm doing this summer (on closing images in illustrated or graphic novel versions of the Odyssey).
6/5: 3 good things combined
...this morning: sitting on the porch with the cats in the cool air, doing quiet writing, and focusing in my writing on analyzing images (from Marcia Williams' retelling of the Iliad and Odyssey).
6/4: getting
...Tilde's insulin. It took 4 trips to the pharmacy plus some phone calls and texts to get everything sorted out, but through it all the pharmacy staff was friendly and helpful.
6/3: learning
...how to make an origami mini-book this morning. I used the tutorial for "Method 2" here: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Origami-Book (I already knew how to make the "Method 1" book). I used scraps of origami paper I had on hand, and the result is colorful. I've left it standing up, fanned out, on the table all day so that it can make me smile when I walk by it.
6/2: returning
...to Artforum. I've let the issues pile up, and now it's a pleasure to-be-deferred no longer.
6/1: thinking
...about fragments and closure--two things that are often on my mind literature-wise but that I hadn't connected until today.
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