Angela N. Hunt

Or: Anji Begins the Great Yule Baking

And the holidays are in full swing.

Got home last night and again was incapable of writing, but I did run, which is all that matters. Did not hit 3 miles, but came damn close. Poor dog I think was certain I was torturing her. But it was temperate and warm and pleasant and with the fingernail moon in the sky, it was not too hard to believe myself running with Artemis and her hounds.

Photos didn’t happen either. Run kicked my ass, and after getting the girls scrubbed and myself scrubbed, that was all she wrote. I was literally too tired to even eat any of my pumpkin pie.

I know. What’s wrong with me?

Tonight, hopefully I’ll get to dealing with all the paperwork that stacked up over November. Pray for me.

Out of shiny pictures to post, but I should have some edited and up soon, as I managed to hit wordcount for NaNoWriMo a whole six days ahead of the end of the month. Woot!

Thanksgiving was truly lovely and we are returned from LosCon 38, having a wonderful, if exhausting time. If all goes well, we will be back next year, but it’s dependent on a lot of other factors.

Having hit wordcount, I’ve done no writing today (except this), because frankly, my brain is cooked. I’ve never hit wordcount that fast before. As a result, I’m processing Post NaNo Ennui, Post Con Ennui and Post Thanksgiving Ennui all at the same time. I do not recommend it. I just want to curl up into a ball and sleep for a month.

One fun bit of new news on Vaudeville Goes to Hell though. I’ve got the Mad Model on board with the Busby Berkeley-esque number for the A Lawyer in Hell number. *cackle*

Because I desperately need to remember today the things that I am thankful for.

My girls – time is flying so fast. There, it’s gone. So tiny in my arms and now, fierce, creative, energetic, stubborn, glorious beings. I light my own fire from the exuberance of their own.

My husband – who has somehow managed to not be on my flickr… If you read his blog right now, you will see one of the primary reasons why I married him.

The Ant – also evades my flickr, and evades much recognition on the web, which is a crime.

This woman – because… where do I even start? I don’t have a body of work without her, because she has put *her* body in service to *my* art. Together, we have made something greater. I fully intend to keep shooting her until we are both old and gray and until everyone understands that Beauty is not confined to a millisecond of youth, but is eternal.

Miss Marie – for giving my Mouse the gift and love of dance, but more, for being my friend. Twice a year, I get to play in a theater again, because she let’s me stage manage the biannual dance recitals. Sometimes the Ant and I make skirts for the baby dancers.

Intelligentsia – it’s hipster, it’s over-priced, it’s elite. It’s also the best cafe mocha I’ve ever had in my life. And the baristas know me and read books and let me dominate a counter to write. I love them a lot.

This guy – there are times in your life when you are gifted with meeting a kindred soul. there are times in your life, when that soul exhorts you to become something better than you were, to strive for more than you were aiming for.

There’s more. So much more.

And last, but most assuredly not least, I am thankful for *you*.

Blessed be, Beloved.

Anne McCaffrey has died.

She showed that Dragons weren’t evil.

She showed that women were leaders.

She showed the power of song.

May I grow up to be a tenth as fierce and as brave as she was. May I leave behind as wonderful a legacy and as many books. To say she had an impact on my life and on my work is to make a gross understatement.

The Chant of the World doesn’t exist without Menolly or Killashandra. Harper Hall. Crystals sung into power. Dragons teleporting through space and time. Lessa standing on a decaying tapestry and defying everything to save her world.

I wanted to tell her thank you in person some day. Here will have to do.

Thank you, Anne. For everything.

What the White Queen Desires
Limited to 25
$125

And I think the last of what I currently have processed. Sadly, there won’t be anything new until Dec. 1. NaNoWriMo owns me until then. But hey! Be of good cheer! Then I’ll be back to it!

So you can compare and contrast, this was the view from the pedestrian bridge when I left yesterday:

And this isn’t as heavy as it normally gets. Apparently, some of the firms just told their workers to stay home. Unfortunately, I did not get similar dispensation.

It took me an hour and a half to get to the dayjob today. When I crossed the pedestrian bridge from the garage to my building, this is what I saw:

Eerie.

Like something out of The Omega Man. I kept expecting Charlton Heston to come screaming up in his Mustang.

In the distance, I could hear chanting, yelling and sirens.

Never again say to me that we can’t make a difference.

And this one, I feel like I got the color adjustment on the ocean *just right*.

* * *

Having a rough time of it lately. Today, especially, as the Bad Brain has reared its ugly head for the first time in weeks. I lay it at the feet of this head cold that I cannot seem to shake, as the training for the marathon has left me feeling pretty balanced. But it’s hard to stay in positive headspace when full of snot.

I’m cranking away on wordcount for NaNo, which is gratifying, though I am off my own personal pace today. But if it keeps rolling like it is, I should crack 31K today, gods willing.

My friend, Vicky Jo, said something very cool to me when I told her about my state of Now What? She said something to the effect of it being fertile ground for something new to appear. And to ask myself: “Wouldn’t it be nice if…?”

It’s been a great help and it’s given me some tiny directions to go in. And today’s tiny direction is to get sushi for lunch and pound more words on this novel that seems hell-bent on unsettling the crap out of me.

Alice’s Stone II
Limited to 25
$125

And what was a random moment at the shoot, became part of the overall story as Girl Alice finds a black stone of her very own…

Wading in the Blood Sea II
Limited to 25
$125

I absolutely love the light in this one. It’s just perfect.