Erin Morgenstern's Blog, page 14

foxie.

So last night we stopped at FAO Schwarz after dinner and in the Central Park Zoo section there was a plushy fennec fox and we had to take him home. I mean, how could we not?

I carried him home sticking out of my purse like a small dog and as far as I could tell no one even noticed. I kind of love New York for that. (I have, for the record, only asked the fox what he says about a hundred times.)

Also in adventures from last night: I very much enjoyed David Blaine’s Real or Magic, I am fond of his style anyway and Ricky Gervais’s lovely rambling reaction at the end about real things disguised as illusion reminded me of the circus.

In other news, off to warmer climes for extended holiday season stuff soon, though I can hardly believe it is so late in the year already. This year flew, like a little fast thing with wings.  I will likely be even more MIA from the internet than I have been already due to the wonderment that is NaNoWriMo. (Current word count: 38,415.) I will probably Instagram Thanksgiving cooking adventures. Also I have downloaded Welcome to Night Vale to listen to on the road trip because I have heard endlessly good things about it.

There are lots of random things to post about and hopefully I’ll find more time to post about them in December, and I’m keeping all my crossables crossed that 2014 ends up being a bit calmer than 2013 on several levels. I hope you are all well & wonderful.

flax-golden tales: bargain-priced wisdom

bargain-priced wisdom

I can feel them sneaking glances at me from across the room but they don’t swivel their heads and fix their giant owl eyes on me until I get closer.

“We will share with you the Wisdom of the Ages!” one of them chirps.

“For less than 30 Euros!” the other adds.

“How much less?” I ask, even though I can read their price tag.

“One cent!” they chirp in unison before bursting into hooting laughter.

The shopkeeper thanks me when I buy them and appears to enjoy muffling their exuberant cries about going on “a box-journey” with tissue paper as she packs them up for me.

I put them on the mantelpiece when I get them home. They criticize my taste in furniture and complain that the fireplace makes their feet too warm.

I contemplate returning them and then they start doling out the Wisdom.

They punctuate each mind-expanding revelation with hoots and bad jokes but I’m too busy looking for a pen to care.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

magic & dreams & art, brought to you by twitter & tea & kickstarter

I have talked about the magic of Twitter here, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned the time a burlesque dancer I’d never met before asked me to tea.

I am shy. (She ended up having to ask twice if I recall correctly.) But I am slowly teaching myself to be more adventurous and after the initial introvert hesitation I agreed.

That’s how I found myself drinking tea in a 1920′s train car that I didn’t even know was in the middle of midtown Manhattan, having one of the most delightful afternoons I’d had in a very long time.

Magic.

I am so very glad, because Veronica Varlow is one of the loveliest souls I have ever had the pleasure to meet & I have a feeling she will be my friend for a very long time.

So I’d like to try to send some magic back to her, if I can.

Veronica and her husband Burke (and their chihuahua Niney) are kickstarting the feature film they have been planning and preparing and pouring their dreams into for years, Revolver.

You can go to their kickstarter page to read and see lots more about the film (including their award-winning trailer) and follow their updates to see photos and videos from the road trip that they’ve been on for the past month while they’ve been fundraising.

But I want to put this video here, so you can see Veronica talk about why they’re doing this herself.

There are only a few days left, they need to reach their goal by or before this Friday November 15th, and they’re getting closer and closer, but they’re not there yet. The wonderful thing about crowdfunding is that little bits add up, so even a $2 donation can make a difference if enough people pledge.

(Also, they have some fabulous backer rewards. I’m getting a tarot reading with Veronica that I’m very much looking forward to.)

So, maybe we can spread some magic and make some dreams come true and on top of that, we’ll get to have more wonderful art in the world.

I think that would be lovely.

 

flax-golden tales: secrets in the sea

secrets in the sea

You may whisper your secrets to the sea

And the sea will keep them for you

Cover them with crashing waves

Carry them out on retreating tides

Pull them under

Tuck them into coral-adorned recesses and between the curves of seashells.

The sea will hold your secrets in its depths

And if you need them back, you need only ask

They will be returned to you

Damp and salt-kissed and safe.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

november is national novel writing month

I probably don’t have to tell you all that November is National Novel Writing Month.

And you probably already know that The Night Circus started life as a tangent in a NaNoWriMo novel and was then further developed through subsequent NaNo-ing. (It very likely played a part in the circus itself being autumnal, since I was always writing in November. Also, autumn is my favorite.)

But unless you follow me on Twitter you may not know that this year I’m participating again, for the first time since 2009.

I am cheating. Oh wait, no, I am a “NaNo Rebel” which is a nicer word for cheater. One is supposed to start fresh and write a new novel and I’m not doing that. I’m working on not one but two projects, my already started novel-in-progress and a secret new something. My goal is to get 50k of shiny new words written between the two of them before the end of the month.

This is the most I’ve been writing in bulk in awhile, for a number of reasons, and it’s weird to get back into it. I am already failing at one of my old standard NaNo practices of getting a head start. I would always try to bulk up my word count on day one or two so I’d have that extra buffer of comfy words but I’ve been staying more or less right on pace through this first week, I only managed to pull a teeny bit ahead of daily average today.

I’m mostly working on the new thing, to get my brain into non-editor, no self-criticizing, just-keep-writing NaNo mode and so far it seems to be working. I’ve come up with several bits that are not completely terrible in amongst the stuff that is completely terrible but led to the not so bad stuff. (And one particular thing which is so delightful that I am far too pleased with myself and pretty much assures that I will try to turn this into something salvageable someday if only for that one fantastic thing that should really live out in the world and not just in the demented part of my brain that it sprang from.)

Here’s the part of the post where I show off my little wordcount widget:

And here is where I link to NaNo-related things.

This is the official NaNoWriMo site.

This is my official NaNoWriMo Pep Talk. It includes my best advice and tips and a tangent about a taxidermied marmot.

This is a post I did with other links and informative NaNo-related things last year.

This is a quote from that post, regarding people inevitably saying and posting disparaging things about NaNoWriMo that I think deserves to be restated:

I cannot fathom disparaging anything that encourages storytelling.

Get into the nuances of the issues or problems with it all you want, and I will be first to say don’t dare start contacting literary agents on December 1st, but disparaging the entire endeavor makes me growly. Grr.

And this is an Instagram photo of me and NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty.

 

flax-golden tales have been pre-written and prescheduled for the month (the one from the first of the month is, of course, for all the NaNo-ers), in-between blog posts will likely be photo heavy or NaNo progress updates.

This is, by the way, the tenth anniversary of my very first NaNoWriMo. I failed that year. Didn’t fail the next year. I feel pretty good about this one so far, but it’s only the 7th. We shall see.

flax-golden tales: the story trees

the story trees

They string histories and myths and fancies and fables together and hang them in the branches of the story trees.

The garlands of tales catch the light and shimmer in the branches, half-hidden in the leaves.

If you listen closely, you can hear fragments and quotations repeated by the wind.

They add new stories and old stories and retellings often.

Daydreams and nightdreams and wishes and lies.

Fairies rub story-shoulders with murderers and innocents and lawyers.

Happy endings lead to new adventures and lost loves and never-there loves and new loves and back again.

There are always more stories to add.

But the branches are strong.

There is room for them all.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

jellies!

I inadvertently left the jellyfish out of the last post so now they get one of their own.

vancouver in pictures

This is a much belated post. Remember when I mentioned I was going on proper vacation at the beginning of the month? We were in Vancouver. We’d been planning it for awhile, Adam hadn’t been out to British Columbia in a few years and I’d never been anywhere Canadian beyond Toronto, so we spent a few days in Vancouver city and then the rest of the week out in Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

I want to go back to the city again to spend more time and eat more food. We had such good food there. (My must-go-back favorites were Hawksworth &  Salt Tasting Room.) Also apparently Vancouver is a magical land of gluten-free cookies because we kept finding fantastic ones everywhere, including in ice cream sandwich form. We went to the Vancouver Aquarium and saw otters and lots of jellyfish and we went to the Granville Island Market where we ate lots of delicious things and also watched a seagull murder a pigeon. I didn’t plan any book things because vacation but I did offer to sign stock at a Chapters because they had the circus everywhere and the booksellers were adorable and wonderful. Most things in Vancouver were wonderful, other than the murderous seagull.

Vancouver Island is easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. All the trees are so gorgeous and moss-green, fairy-tale foresty. In Tofino we took long walks on the beach (we had remarkably good weather) and saw fat starfish. We ate more delicious food and drank tea and read books and I taught Adam how to play Clue. It was beautiful and calm and relaxing which is just what I needed & I’m sure we’ll go back someday.

Here are a few photos, all taken by Adam. There were so many lovely ones but I tried to pick my favorites.

flax-golden tales: sunset-colored death in a temporary cage

sunset-colored death in a temporary cage

I caught Death in a cage in the backyard.

It was mostly an accident.

The cage was supposed to be a trap for ghosts but it didn’t work the way I expected it to.

Death looks like a sunset that got torn up by the cat.

I thought death would be darker, or heavier. Bits of sunset float and curl around the bars and almost glow, but not quite.

At first Death was very quiet, then it started making a low humming sound but after awhile the humming turned into words that felt like music in my head though I could never remember what they said.

The cage didn’t last long since it was made of paper, the wind and a little bit of rain pulled it apart until it looked more like streamers than a proper cage.

I couldn’t tell when Death left exactly, it was there and then it felt like it was still there but it wasn’t anymore.

Even though Death is gone I can still hear it in my head.

 

About flax-golden tales . Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

odessa in photos

Last week I was in Odessa, Texas as part of their One Book Odessa festivities for The Night Circus.

It was a wonderful, magical, fantastic couple of days and I met so many lovely people. I am amazed and awed at all the work and attention to detail that went into everything, Chandresh himself would be proud.

Above are some of the decorations from the Ector County Library, silhouettes of mini Widget & Poppet in the children’s section. The whole library looked amazing, the stairs were the Cloud Maze! And I loved the Wishing Tree.

Thursday was the Night Circus Gala held at the grounds of The Globe Theatre. Did you know that there are replicas of Shakespeare’s Globe & Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Texas? I didn’t, so it was a delightful surprise and a gorgeous setting for all the circusy festivities, including magic and tarot reading (I got a very spot-on reading myself) and the most adorable contortionist and fabulous music by White Ghost Shivers.

And then there was this cake which I was completely blown away by, photos can’t do it any justice because there was so much gorgeous detail from every angle. It was made by Brenda Ornelas and there are more photos on her facebook page.

The next day we were on the front page of the newspaper.

On Friday during the day I got to meet a bunch of wonderful high school students who had created their own circus tents that were all incredibly imaginative and fun. And that evening we had an onstage interview and q&a and book signing that was full of interesting questions and I apologize again for saying the name of the Scottish play (several times) in a theatre.

Then there was a beautiful (early) midnight dinner with exquisite little courses by Chef Alejandro Barrientos, which was extraordinary. (Also there was Night Circus wine!)

Dinner was followed by a special presentation of the dramatic reading of Part One of the book by Mark 10 Theatricals which was absolutely wondrous and so creative. This is me with the gorgeous cast & director:

Now I’m home in NYC and it all seems like a lovely dream. I’m truly astounded by the thought and care and creativity on so many levels, and I feel honored to have had my book embraced by the community so enthusiastically.

And huge thanks and gratitude to Randy Ham, who was not only a gracious escort for our time in Odessa and a splendid interviewer but the ringmaster behind all the circusy festivities.

Thank you, Odessa! Now I’m going to stay home and write and not get on airplanes for awhile.