before the peppers

monkey mind
Feeling a bit spacey. Yesterday (Sunday, Father's Day), designer Lesley and I made the last of the changes in the final manuscript of the anthology. Today it goes to the printer. This has been a long haul, more than six months, and more intense than usual. I should know by now that books aren't born easily or quickly and there's always a point where I wonder why I'm doing it at all and am desperate to escape or quit or drink a lot of wine. Well, I got through that danger zone (with moderate wine consumption) and now will face a few sleepless nights before the printer proof comes in. At 3 a.m. I'll be sure that typos and errors will prevail and the whole concept in my mind was really stupid and sure to fail and that no one will like it or buy it and the funders will have regrets and the contributors will be pissed. There, I said it!

accepting myself
So, in this spacey place, I found the pictures that Heather Lynn Sparrow took of me during the Remarkable Women literary event last year. What fun! Heather is a outstanding photographer with an out-of-the-ordinary artistic viewpoint. Many of her subjects are dressed up (or down) and the results are usually unexpected. I chose the feather boa and typewriter from her props. This photo (one of several) makes me look more interesting than I am. Thank you Heather! I could be a woman from early Edward Weston photos, stylized, pictorialized, before the peppers and toilet bowl, and not diffused.

Some of Heather's photographs will be in this year's edition of Chokecherries. Lovely, edgy, abstract, mysterious. Check out her website to see her full roster of subjects. She's really good! When the book is out I'll post some photos from it.