In many versions of the character Sherlock Holmes (the title of the post is a reference to the Benedict Cumberbatch iteration) the great consulting detective gets easily bored and does wacky things as a result. I’m not saying I’m a Sherlockian genius by any means, but I do have a busy brain that can make me a anxious when it gets bored. So, here’s how I survive long Zoom meetings with lots of people … and luckily it just looks like I’m taking notes
Night Owl’s Haiku
Joy to see the sun
Light the zigzag tops of trees
But still, yuck, morning.
Poet
Some days, not many,
I’m a poet.
I rein down the world.
Force it to slow until I can see
The clouds move and
Words grab hold.
I’m not one of the Emilys
or Langston, of course.
Who is?
But some days,
Not many,
I’m a poet.
-Jenel Alan
So this sign was the result of my determination to add something to my office at the beginning of the academic year that would help me set the tone. One dollar store trip and a little acrylic paint later I had my cloudy sky inspired sign. I’m also pretty proud of my planter which I made with my husband’s help from an old kitchen canister set.
I take lots of pictures of trees. It’s one of my favorite parts about living in the Pacific Northwest. Trees also have a good reputation in literature – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Giving Tree, “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer – plus the paper in my books comes from trees. So being a book lover and a tree lover makes sense, I guess.
This is the third acrylic painting I’ve done with this striped technique – and I think it turns out kinda fun
For a long time I dreamed of having a job with a real office. Now that I have one it’s been fun to add creative touches. Plus, it gives me another place to put all the various stuff that I and my husband make. I added this little guy to the bookshelf today.
I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I posted to the blog. I had such momentum in October 2020 – I thought I was ready to publish only to find out that I’d lost the newest, most edited version of my manuscript… over a year later I’m still working through it again.
I do love being creative. I’ve continued to write, and paint, and take pictures, but making anything official out of it was more energy than I could summon apparently. And I can’t say that I can commit to anything more than this one post. But one post is a start.
And here’s a gallery of photos and one painting from this last year.
I feel confident enough in to officially announce that my novel Rell is going to be available as an ebook through Amazon in November 2020! Yay!
You can click here to see the ebook cover and read the book description. In addition, starting next week I will have the first two chapters available for free.
Just writing this makes me 51 percent excited and 49 percent terrified!
