A joyous New Year to you all!

There hasn’t been much posted on this site of late because I’ve been finishing the first go round of Wolfproof’sThe Travelers’ Market. And I’m happy to say that my first readers, and invaluable critics, have the manuscript in their hands. But more about TTM later. Now on to other things… sequel,

I’ve always liked this quote from Peggy Noonan:

“… words, like children, have the power to make dance the dullest beanbag of a heart.”
—Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution

We all need something to jolt our beanbag hearts into dancing. I thought I would share two things that recently set my heart dancing. The first is the YA novel, Endymion Spring, by Matthew Skelton. Matthew is an expert on books and printing and it shows in his writing. I haven’t finished the novel yet, but the language is beautiful. Consider wrods like “shambolic” and descriptions that compare paper to “tattered moths.”

The second encounter is with a group called the Kindlings Muse. I’ve been listening to their podcasts, on my new Christmas Ipod, over the last few weeks. Hosted by Dick Staub, a live audience meets Monday nights at Hale’s Pub in Seattle to discuss important ideas related to arts and culture. Their website offers this description:

In a media age characterized by the confluence of polarization & trivialization, The Kindlings Muse is an intelligent, imaginative, hospitable exploration of ideas that matter most in contemporary life as sparked through our personal journeys and through our shared cultural experience in art, movies, books, music and events. http://www.thekindlings.com/

Definitely worth a visit to their site.