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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Fox and Magpie

Good morning, Reader! I think my grump slump is lifting. Why? It's so much warmer out today and it's sunny. I mean, it's in the mid forties for sure! I know. Crazy. I also started the day with coffee and a walk. It's nice not to cringe at the thought of leaving the house before midday.

Once again I'm determined to make headway in Chapter 4 today. It's slow going but everything feels good, it's just that progress is truly one sentence at a time. I've got my freelance project to work on as well as some other odds and ends. It can be so very easy to push writing to the side. I'm hoping NOT to do that today.

Have you read Terri Windling's most recent On Your Desk post? She talks about a fellow Devon artist named Danielle Barlowe(That's a link to her blog). I really like her watercolors, especially Between Times.(As you may know, I have an obsession with foxes.) The text reads, "With cunning and guile I slip between times."

And then this print caught my eye: The Fox and the Magpie. I thought, "That's my novel!!" The two main characters are Maggie--called Magpie by her family and whose love for the magical, shiny things in the world get her into trouble with the Fae, and Adder, a half Kitsune (that's a Japanese fox faerie), half High House Faerie. Isn't that neat? I found it strangely thrilling.

And now for today's Fantasyland definition, as provided by Diana Wynne Jones:

(Fans of Wildwood Dancing will **SPOILER**get a chuckle out of this one.)

"Pools. Any pool is likely to be numinous or Enchanted. Some give you strange VISIONS when viewed by moonlight, some just give you strange Visions. A few have additional virtues, such as healing or granting longevity. Some can lead you astray.

The Rule is that, of all prophetic objects (see PROPHECY), only Pools are allowed to give false information--and even they will base their misinformation on true facts."

4 comments:

  1. Oh Oh Oh - I want to read your novel! I am preparing work for an exhibition that goes up on Friday, and they are ALL illustrations on this theme - a little play going on in my head about a Magpie and the Fox woman / kitsune.
    Thankyou for showing my paintings :)

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  2. If only I was in the UK and could attend your exhibition! Good luck with it. I hope it goes well! I love that you see the fox as female and the magpie as male. It's so intriguing to me that we both put these two creatures/ characters together. There must be something to it!

    And thank you for saying you'd like to read my novel. That was so nice, and I will use that as motivation to fuel me through today's writing.

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  3. Ch 4!!! You can do it!!! Wahoo!!

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  4. Haha thanks, I needed that! Morning had suddenly gone off the rails. Time to refocus. I hope you're having a productive day as well!

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