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Well, I tried out my playlist and while most of the songs were good, a couple just didn't work. So, here's the new one that I'll be using for the race on Sunday (federal government willing...), along with the Beats Per Minute (BPM)

--Ooh La (The Kooks) 154 BPM

--Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne) 160 BPM

--Loser (Glee cast version) 170 BPM

--Everything's Just wonderful (Lily Allen) 158 BPM

--Time Warp (Glee Cast version) 178 BPM

--Whip It (Devo) 164 BPM

--Love is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar) 180 BPM

--Jiya Se Jiya (A.R. Rahman) --may I say, best running song ever 168 BPM

--Take On Me (A-Ha) 172 BPM

--Footloose (Kenny Loggins) 175 BPM

--Another Postcard (Barenaked Ladies) 173 BPM

Assuming the federal government doesn't shut down on Friday night, I'll be running the Parkway Classic 5K in Virginina on Sunday morning. 

Here's the music I'll be roadtesting today, to see if it will be an awesome playlist for the race. I like to run to music that lets me synchronize my footsteps with the beat so it's a challenge to find things within that 150-180 "BPM" (beats per minute):

--Karma Slave (Splashdown)

--Ringa Ringa (A.R. Rahman)

--Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)

--Loser (Glee cast version)

--Can't Go Back (Primal Scream)

--Time Warp (Glee Cast version)

--Everything's Just wonderful (Lily Allen)

--Jiya Se Jiya (A.R. Rahman)

--Another Postcard (Barenaked Ladies)

--Footloose (Kenny Loggins)

Hopefully I won't need that last song at all, since that takes me well into the "post 30 minute" range. Either way I should be crossing the finishing line with some happy music!

I should not be allowed to watch late-night TV or daytime basic cable. Because when I watch that, it's live. I can't use my DVR to flick through the commercials.

Which means I watch the commercials. More specifically, I watch the commercials for Stuff. Stuff I didn't know existed. Stuff I NEED.

And then I buy the stuff. Oh, not right away--I have never actually called one of those 1-800 numbers to indulge my curiosity in the Most! Amazing! Product! Ever! Instead, it percolates. I think I've forgotten my desire for that Stuff, and then I cruise down the "AS SEEN ON TV" aisle in CVS and boom. I must have it.  And if it's on sale, even for just fifty cents off, I am a goner.

You'd think the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter ($4 off at CVS last May!) would have cured me, this summer. I treated it to about a gallon of water each day, and it yielded three measley, and mealy, tomatoes. At least it had very impressive foliage. It looked like I was really, seriously gardening for the first time in my life.

But I'm sort of glad it didn't stop me. Because then I bought the Swivel Sweeper, as I am far too lazy to actually drag my big vacuum out of the closet--and it's light enough for my kindergartener to use, which he does enthusiatically if sporadically. And I LOVE it. I even bought one for my Mom.

Now I'm fighting temptation: I think I NEED the Gyro Bowl. It never tips, never spills! And it looks so groovy. But the $25 cost with shipping has stopped me COLD... so far. Wait 'til I see it in CVS.

And then there's that car seat slingie thingie. I saw an ad for it and now I can't find it ANYWHERE, online or in a store. Basically it's a big tube of stretchy fabric that slides down the front passenger seat in a car. You use it to hold onto your purse so it doesn't tip and slide off the seat. They also show it holding one of those 4-cup cardboard coffee holders. I am so entirely tempted. But maybe it's best that I can't find it.

The universe is trying to save me from myself! 

I have been doing a little running reconditioning program lately, because I'll be running the Parkway Classic 5K in early April. So running is definitely on my brain.

I do best when I listen to music when I run. Headphones are controversial, on race courses--organizers worry that runners won't hear race instructions or other runners coming up behind them. But I keep my music low and do a lot better with it. Besides, it covers up the sound of my gasping!

My favorite music is at 140-180 Beats Per Minute--that lets my synchronize my footfalls to the beat of the music. I run faster and longer when I've got BPM music.

While I'm getting ready for the race, I'm listening to the free JogTunes podcast. It lasts for 30-40 minutes and starts out with slower music that eventually ramps up to a full-out running pace. 

Then, once I'm running my face, I'll make my own BPM list with some of my favorite music. Here's the playlist I used for my last 5K, on Thanksgiving:

• Hey Na Na by Katie Herzig
• Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis
• Hey Ya! by Outkast
• Get Ur Freak On by Missy Elliot
• Girlfriend (Pied Piper Remix) by B2K (warning... FAST)
• Loser (Glee Cast version)
• Footloose by Kenny Loggins
• Helen by Helen Austin
• Steve McQueen by Sheryl Crow
• Time Warp (Glee Cast version)

Know of some great running music? Please share! April 10 is coming up fast.

One of my goals for 2011 is to have a "soul-feeding excursion" each month, to allow me to reconnect with joy and creativity. You may remember that I painted a lovely/scary tree in January. This month I went to see one of my favorite artists--Lady Gaga.

It was an awesome show. Calling it a concert doesn't do the Monster Ball justice. There was a (albeit limited) story line, amazing sets (a seamy urban street, the "scariest part of Central Park", an enormous puppet monster, a subway car) and of course incredible costumes. My favorite was a long white gown paired with large spiky fairy wings and a headpiece that moved rhythmically, as if it were breathing. The dancers were incredible, too, and somehow managed to be a back-up ensemble but also distinct and fascinating individuals in their own right.

But I expected all of that. I'd read about the show and who doesn't know how insane Gaga's costumes are? What really surprised me was how vulnerable she was. Most performers present a sort of emotional shield when they are onstage; they are protecting their inner selves, I think. But Lady Gaga was putting all of herself out there. You could see it in her face and hear it in her voice. And she really does want her "little monsters" (e.g. ticket buyers) to come away feeling liberated and embracing their true selves. It's not lip service. This is one strange chick who wants everyone to feel OK with indulging their own strangeness. 

The "little monsters" had some very entertaining costumes, too! While I just stuck with concert-goer black and sparkles, there was a woman next to me with Coke cans in her hair, and a woman to the other side in a ribbon corset and pink tutu. They were tame compared to some of the others--we spotted a few takes on her infamous "bubble" outfit and one memorable chick with numbers painted on her legs, a leather bikini, and not much else. 

If you have the chance to see Gaga, do it! We bought our tickets via StubHub and I'd do it again, for sure.

Three things I learned and was reminded of, as a writer, from this show:

1. Your audience knows when you love them, and they respond to it

2. Don't assume that you're too weird for wide success

3. Reward your audience with "treats" (i.e. a raucous rendition of Just Dance) after challenging them with something a little difficult or a little edgier than what they might expect. 

All the snow this winter has turned the snowmen into zombies!

The remaining snowmen are running for their lives!

The prompt this week for Illustration Friday is “Layer.” Whenever I watch waves, I think of them as having layers of colors. The colors of the waves crash into the colors of the water, blending the layers into one, until the next wave rolls in.

I wish I were at the beach right now! At least the sun is shining today

So, when we were getting ready to celebrate Little Dude's sixth birthday, I asked him what sort of cake he wanted.

"Star Wars", said he. "All Star Wars. With frosting."

Proof that he is my child, for a vat of frosting combined with Star Wars is pretty much my idea of heaven too. Especially if Han Solo is involved. But I digress. 

We started at my mainstay, the local bakery near our house that has been in business for decades. I love this place. You timewarp into the 1950s the moment you step in the door. But they do NOT make Star Wars cake. That's the problem with timewarps to a time before George Lucas could lift a camera. Strikeout.

So we went to Safeway, where they keep the cake book (you know, the big shiny binder with the pictures of all the cakes they make) behind the deli counter. They kept one eye on me at all times while we flipped through it, as if I was going to tuck it under my arm and sprint for the exit. And look! There's a Star Wars cake in there, but... "we don't make THAT one," they said to me. Their tone suggested I'd asked them to lace the cake with LSD and hand out glowsticks at the party entrance. 

I looked at the Giant supermarket cake book online. They DO make a Star Wars cake, the same one that Safeway decided was just too crazy to offer. But the toys... well. They'd snap after a few good light saber volleys. And the bright-red frosting gave me flashbacks to the fourth birthday cake--firetrucks. Good luck washing that red frosting dye from your fingers. Ew. I felt like the goody bag should have included an apology note.

And let's face it. Little Dude wanted a Star Wars cake for one reason: THE TOYS that would be on top. That is the same reason he chose McDonalds for his birthday dinner. I doubt he even tasted his stone-cold fries because he had a cool Tonka Glacier Basher Thingie in front of him. 

So I did something else.

I went back to my beloved neighborhood bakery and ordered a half-sheet cake. "In desert colors--like Star Wars? Tatooine?" I said. To their credit, I saw the baker actually write down "Tatooine". "Leave room for toys," I told her.

Then I went to the Toy Exchange in Wheaton, Maryland, just north of DC. This place is Star Wars collector heaven, but they've got toys at decent prices too, so you don't feel guilty handing the toys to your six year-old. I picked up two different Luke figures (Little Dude's favorite) and an original landspeeder. "I had one just like this when I was little!" I exclaimed. The owner's patient look told me that I wasn't the first to say that... or the hundredth.

On the day of the party, I cleaned off the landspeeder and pulled the Luke figures out of their packaging (no doubt incurring bad Collector Karma). Then I set them on the cake (the landspeeder got a layer of wax paper between it and the frosting). The cake came out great: a light-tan frosting with dark brown and white decorations and a few little blobs that I think were desert scrub. Very fine rendition of Tatooine. 

Result? A gang of little dudes grouped around the cake saying "Whoa. Wow."

And a huge smile on my Little Dude's face.

And a landspeeder I can play with when he's in bed.

All around, winner!

Even if the cake was nowhere these Star Wars cake masterpieces over at Cake Wrecks...

Maybe 5 was too young to start Little Dude on iCarly. Admittedly it is aimed at preteens and teens (I think). 

But he was sick one day, and if I had to watch one more Dinosaur Train or Mickey Mouse Club House, I was going to feed that overgrown mouse to the closest T-Rex. Even if it was that cute and cuddly Buddy on Dinosaur Train who inevitably is going to grow up and consume his adoptive family of Pteradons. He might as well start now by gnoshing on a childhood icon.

Sorry. I digress. 

So, I coaxed Little Dude into an episode of iCarly. "It's funny," I promised, having no idea if actually was.

He was HOOKED. The kid watches the opening credits to the show, now, giving rapid-fire plot summaries of each rapid-cut clip. "That was when they were locked in the space simulator," he chants. "That was when Freddy's girlfriend broke up the show." I can only imagine what this will do for his social life in college. While other dudes are quoting Monty Python to each other, he will be reeling off the script from iNevil or maybe his favorite, iStart a Fan War (for the unitiated, every show title starts with a lowercase i, just like Carly's web show). 

I have to admit, I love it too. And here's my top five reasons why:

5. It's the only show Little Dude watches that makes me laugh out loud (at least, without irony)

4. Even though I constantly tell Little Dude that Sam is a terrible, terrible role model (conversation the other day with him: "why detention is not a good thing"), I love that she kicks butt, and is constantly sneaking a snack. How can you not love that girl?

3. Sly guest stars. Jack Black? Jane Lynch? Can't beat that.

2. Carly's older brother Spencer? Pretty cute. It's OK to say that. He's like, 20-something on the show and probably 30-something off the show.

1. RANDOM DANCING!

Which I am going to go do right now.

As DROUGHT's release date neared, everybody had one question:

"What are you going to do that day?"

I did not have a good answer. While I knew I could spend the day wandering bookstores, looking for it, I also knew that stores might not have even taken it out of the box yet. And that would make a happy day just a plain old depressing day. So how else DO you celebrate? 

Here are the awesome things that I, and my wonderful family and friends, came up with!

--Tweets, Facebook posts and blogs: thanks to EVERYONE who announced DROUGHT's release yesterday! Special credit to my sister, who announced that she had no water in her apartment yesterday and completely had me worried for her until she reminded me that it was "DROUGHT Day". Ahhhhhhh yes.

--An old-school steak lunch at Capital Grille with my Patron of the Arts, aka my husband.

--Flowers! My lovely mother, sister and husband all treated me to flowers. The house looks so pretty today. I warned the house not to get used to being so fancy all the time. :)

--Happy hour out with friends, one of whom spent the day tracking and finally chasing down the DC Cupcake truck so I could try their cupcakes. And may I say they were spectacular. I will be posting more soon in a DC Cupcake round-up blog entry!

--Gifties!! I've got a bottle of bubbly stuff for celebrating, thanks to a lovely friend, AND check out this very cool item, at right. It's a vase made from a spoon. Which is absolutely perfect for DROUGHT, since the enslaved Congregation has to harvest water from living leaves with... spoons!

--And finally, we had a marathon viewing of Showtime's new series, EPISODES. It's about two screenwriters, so that seemed tangentially appropriate. I. Loved. It. 

DROUGHT has been warmly welcomed into the world and I feel like the luckiest author around, today. 

I'm a podcast junky. I listen to them when I wash dishes, while I shower, when I go for long walks, and when I drive somewhere. Mostly they seem to satisfy three sides of me: the nerd, the storyteller, and the mom.

For the uninitiated, a Podcast is simply an audio file that you download from the internet. I download all of mine through iTunes and put them on my iPhone--you can find a ton of podcasts through the iTunes store. But you don't have to have iAnything to listen to podcasts. My Dad used to download them and listen on his $10 MP3 player that he got on Woot!

Here are a few of my favorites (and, I should mention, all of them FREE). Know of any I should check out? Please leave a comment!

• Freakonomics Radio: a biweekly podcast about the "hidden side of economics", by the co-authors of the book Freakonomics. Sound deadly? It's not. It's funny, engaging and fascinating. My favorite episode so far is "Is America's Obesity Epidemic for Real"?
• Manic Mommies: a funny, honest and humble weekly podcast for working mothers. It's like sitting down for a cup of coffee with your other mama friends. They also have an entertaining blog that updates several times a week. I tell every mother who's balancing family and work to Check.This. Out. 
• Radiolab: an NPR science show that doesn't take itself too seriously. My all-time favorite episode is Famous Tumors. CONTAGIOUS TUMORS! That particular episode is NOT for the weak of stomach.
• This American Life: another NPR show that tells stories off the offbeat and fascinating. This was my very favorite thing about NPR until I discovered Radiolab (though my passion for host Ira Glass continues unchecked). Check out the recent Petty Tyrant episode--a full hour devoted to the entirely true and entirely unbelievable workplace bullying that happened in an upstate NY school district (very close to where I grew up!).

Next on my iPhone to listen to is The Accidental Creative, which has episodes about "Productivity for Creative Pros". A screenwriter friend tipped me off to the War of Art episode, but I haven't listened to it yet.

One of my 2011 goals is to have a "soul-feeding excursion" once a month. Last night was January's excursion.

I went with two girlfriends to DC's Brush-n-Blush. I've never heard of a place like this before. It's basically a big room filled with tables and table-top easels. They give you a canvas, brushes, paint, and smocks, and you can bring beverages and snacks (that's the "Blush" part of the place's name--adults are encouraged to bring wine!). Everyone paints the same picture. There's an artist/instructor at the front who walks you through the basics of how to paint the picture, but there's plenty of room and time for interpretation.

There I am, at right, merrily painting away. I probably had that grin on my face for most of the night. It was fun, and it was also a huge release to create without any consequences. I wasn't worrying about whether my painting was going to be good, or worth the time I devoted to it. In fact, I was expecting it to be BAD. All I cared about was enjoying being creative and spending time with friends.

Last night, the picture was a leafless tree against a sunset sky, with the moon behind it (the "sample" painting that we were all supposed to use as a  model is at left). We started with a red background, with purple and black feathered in. Immediately you could see how differently every person was going to approach their painting. Some studied the sample finished painting closely, trying to replicate it as much as they could. Others barely glanced at it. There were people who used big, bold strokes and people who used tiny, nearly invisible brushstrokes. I myself tended to throw on big strokes and fix it later with more layers if something went awry. Which it often did. 

So many writers are afraid that somebody is working on the same idea as them, at the same time--and that other person will sell their book first. But last night was a great reminder that no two works of art are the same, not even close. Each creator's taste, skill, and eye will lead to very different results. Even with the same "sample" painting, I loved seeing the variations in every painter's work last night. Take a look at the three, at right--mine, plus my friends' work. If you could get closer to the paintings, you'd see even more variation. 

I honestly didn't think I would want to keep my painting, before we went. But I'm actually kind of proud of it. I might even go make another one, sometime.

Can you guess which one of the three, above, is mine? My husband calls it my "Disney Halloween tree". Here it is, below, in all of its glory!

I'm not sure what my excursion will be in January. Got any ideas? Leave me a comment and let me know!

I like to read more than one book at once. There's a couple of reasons for this: first, there are so many amazing books out there that I have a hard time limiting myself to just one at a time. And second, I'm an expert in nightmares. But I also can't fall asleep without reading. So I need to have a "lighter" book to read when I have a scarier or darker book on my nightstand. 

This does have a bizarre result: in my head, the two books sometimes get a little twisted together. Sort of like the song mash-ups they do in Glee.

Right now I'm reading Carrie Ryan's beach-set zombie tale THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES (that would be the dark book!) along with Debbie Reed Fischer's BRALESS IN WONDERLAND, a story about a brainiac becoming a reluctant model in South Beach. Yes, oddly, both are set on the beach. Complete coincidence. 

So when I think about picking up a book and reading for a bit, for a moment my brain serves up images of a zombie fashion shoot on the shore by a big lighthouse. It sorts things out soon enough. But for a moment, those two books become one very strange combo. 

I've also read the dystopian SHIP BREAKER along with NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL (mash-up: furtive romances on a half-dissembled ship that carried Christmas trees), as well as BEAUTY FOR SHOP RENT next to THE MAZE RUNNER (mash-up: rehabbing a beauty shop in a world inhabited solely by boys and gooshy slicing monsters).

Do you ever read two books (or more) at once? What weird mash-ups does your brain serve up?

Every year I take two weeks off from writing, at the holidays. Now I'm back and I'm having a hard time getting back in gear. 

So I've got a word goal of 1,000 for tonight and I'm blasting some good psych-up-and-write-it music. Here's my own little weird mix:

--DOG DAYS ARE OVER (Florence + The Machine)

--JOHN THE FISHERMAN (Primus)

--BAD REPUTATION (The Hit Girls)

--GIRLFRIEND (PIED PIPER REMIX) (B2K)

--HOLOGRAM (Katie Hirzig)

Got any other faves to recommend? Because I'm thinking it's going to take a few days to really kick into action!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We went to see the balloons being blown up for the parade (pictures below), then had a big beef dinner (not a turkey fan), and a relaxing weekend. What did you do for Thanksgiving?

On to the real purpose for this post: balloon pictures! When you try to take pictures of the balloons while they are being blown up, you’re at the mercy of how the balloon is positioned and how many people get in your way while you are aiming the camera. These three pictures were taken with my cell phone and came out okay, although pics from other years have turned out better.

Hello Kitty

Kool-Aid Man

Wimpy Kid

So just how big are those balloons, anyway? They’re HUGE! Here’s a picture I took of Buzz Lightyear in 2008. Three people happily posed for scale … okay, they weren’t posing for me, so I blurred out the faces, but it’s still a great picture to show the scale of the balloons.

Buzz Lightyear

You might be wondering how they manage to find space to blow up all those balloons. What they do is close off the two streets on either side of the American Museum of Natural History and line the balloons up along each street. Here’s a picture from 2008 that shows Horton in between Shrek and some holiday balloons.

Balloon Line Up

Here’s another example. Remember the Kool-Aid Man picture above? Here’s the wide screen shot that shows him sandwiched in between Sponge Bob and a football and another balloon.

Balloon Line Up

If you want to see the balloons next year, be prepared for lots of people. The crowd is always wall-to-wall, even before you get anywhere near the balloons, and especially once you get there. It’s inadvisable to bring small dogs and strollers to this event, although some people bring them (it’s an easy way for a pet, child or adult to get injured in the crush of the crowd). Here’s a picture of the 2007 crowd. It’s a little blurry, so it’s hard to see past the first couple of rows, but it’s all people, as far as the eye can see (and no balloons in sight yet).

1 Comments on Thanksgiving Balloons and NaNoWriMo update, last added: 12/2/2010

I love creating new art, but once in a while I like to take an old piece and breathe new life into it.

The CBIG blog is celebrating NYC illustrator’s week by asking members to share a tip and an illustration. My tip is about revising old art to give it new life. When people think of revision, they usually think of text, but pictures can be revised as well. Many times the image gets revised as it goes from sketch to final, but sometimes you have a piece that just doesn’t work out, or a piece you always loved that doesn’t fit your current style. Those are prime candidates for revision.

Things to consider when revising old art: composition, emotion, color, character, and what the illustration is for (fun, portfolio, job, etc.).

Here are a few pieces I’ve revised recently:

First Snow of the Season

What’s new: snow (instead of rain), the cat (instead of a stuffed toy moose and stuffed toy bunny), and multiple changes to the girl on the right. It’s a lot better than it was before, but not perfect. Maybe some day I’ll revise it again!

Paisley Whale Singing

What’s new: almost everything! All I kept from the original image was the shape of the whale and the water. This is one of my favorite revisions. I also did a second paisley whale image. See all three pictures here. (Note: the original whale image was inspired by a whale I had done years earlier, but that image only showed the face, not the entire whale.)

Never play with a lit firecracker!

What’s new: the clouds and grass (plain blue BG before), the expression on the dog’s face, and the caption. This revision is for Illustration Friday this week; the prompt is, “burning.” A person running into this dog might say, “The firecracker is about to go off! The wick is already burning! Everybody run!” (Note: the old drawing was based on an even older watercolor painting of a firecracker wielding wiener dog.)

Secret NaNoWriMo Novel: Speaking of revision, I had a lot of time to think the first week of November (at least food poisoning is good for something). I decided to let my zombie novel sit for a while before rewriting it. Sheila the zombie cheerleader has some other things she wants to star in first, like the art for my Sketchbook Project (my theme is dirigibles and submersibles … and zombies – I added the zombies). She’s also been bugging me to create a new mini comic for her. Once I started feeling better, I started writing a new novel for NaNoWriMo that I’m really excited about (I officially started Nov. 8th). I’m keeping most of the deta

When I was 6, my father took me to see Star Wars in the theater. I'm sure he was a little horrified by his choice as the first scenes rolled, since only a year prior I had stood up during the Indian Princesses outing to the movies and yelled "DON'T DIE!" at the screen. (Hey, it was the obscure anime version of The Little Mermaid where she kills herself at the end...)

But I fell in love with Star Wars (without any yelling at the screen) and for two years, I dressed up as Princess Leia. Much to my sadness, though, my hair did not coil into the same thick brown glossy buns that she wore.

Now, as an adult, I had my chance. Little Dude decided he wanted to be Obi Wan Kenobi. And that meant that finally I could don the white robe again... this time with the right hair. NOW they make wigs for it!

So here I am, still remembering and loving one of my childhood "classics". Goes to show that if a kid loves your story, they never, ever forget it.

Next year, maybe I'll be Anne Shirley...

It’s after midnight, which means it’s officially October 31st. Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with pumpkins, treats, and people wearing interesting costumes. One of my favorite Halloween treats is roasted pumpkin seeds. YUM! If you’ve never made them before, here’s a recipe so you can try it this year. Pumpkin seeds are great to snack on while watching Halloweenie movies and TV shows, like It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Corpse Bride, Hocus Pocus, Sean of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, or Nightmare Before Christmas.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Step One: Obtain pumpkin(s). Decorate or wait to carve them (I painted one of mine this year).

pumpkins!

Step Two: Put down newspaper. Get out carving tools and a large bowl to put the seeds in.

preparing for the pumpkin massacre

Step Three: Cut off top (or bottom) of pumpkin and separate the seeds from the gook.

we have seeds!

Step Four: Grease a cookie sheet with a coat of non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Pour un-rinsed seeds* on to cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake at 250 degrees, stirring the seeds occasionally. Bake until golden brown and no longer wet. I usually taste them to make sure they are done. You should be able to smell them baking.  *You can rinse the seeds if you want, but they have more pumpkin flavor if you don’t rinse them.

roasted pumpkin seeds - yum!

Step Five: Eat and enjoy.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

This morning, the song, “Signs,” by Five Man Electrical Band got stuck in my head, which made me think, “I need a ‘Gone Fishing’ sign, only I want it to say, ‘Gone Painting.’” I could put it on my blog for times when I’ve got a lot of artwork to do and won’t be around for a while. Then I wondered if anyone would get a, “Gone Painting,” sign. Or one that says, “Gone Drawing.” Or, “Creative at Work.” Or one that says, “Am Writing.” Then I started to question my sudden need for a sign. I’d never needed a sign before.

ACK!

Since I couldn’t think of which sign to make, Daria the chicken offered to make one for me. This is what she came up with:

Silly chicken!

Nobody would believe that sign. I don’t even know how to surf! Although, with the weather getting colder, maybe I should learn how to surf this winter. I could go some place warm and tropical and … ack! A surfing sign is not going to help me to get my work done. I shook my head to clear out the surf fantasies.

“Meow!” Remus woke up from his catnap and offered to make me a sign, which was weird. Remus likes walking though my paintings when they are still wet and making a trail of colorful kitty tracks, but signs aren’t usually his thing. I went to make lunch. When I came back, Remus was finished with his sign:

Silly kitty!

I started to worry about what Remus was trying to tell me. I gave him a toy mouse to play with/attack, just in case. It looked like I’d have to make my own sign, one that shows people that I’m working, even when it looks like I’m not. I still didn’t know what to put on it, until I remembered the mouse I used to write about and draw pictures of. Here’s my sign:

Plotting out the great mouse novel.

What kind of sign do you wish you had? Or have you already made your sign?