A.M. Offenwanger's Blog, page 32

Let the Crazies Begin, or: Why I’m a Wrimo

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“What’s the point?” someone asked the other day, when the conversation came around to NaNoWriMo. (NaNo-whatmo? you say. NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. You know, that Novemberly craziness where I, and several hundred thousand others across the globe, vanish into a deep rabbit hole of mad, bad and dangerous-to-know novelling, aiming to write a 50,000-word novel in the space of 30 days. I might have mentioned it a time or three [dozen] before.)

What’s the point, indeed. Why do this t...

On Fear of Dogs, and Privilege

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When I was a little kid, my mother says, I was fearless. I would go up to even the biggest dog and, in the telling German phrase, put my hand right in its mouth – no fear at all. But when I was three, we were visiting at a great-aunt’s house, and she had a German Shepherd. He jumped out at me from behind a door, barking – it badly frightened me.

I don’t remember any of this. What I do remember is being afraid of dogs – debilitatingly so. The worst were German Shepherds, but it could be any d...

“Cat Contemplating Crops”: A Study in Line and Colour

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Here you go, have a piece of art to look at. It’s really deep, and meaningful, and stuff.

Filed under: art, this and that Tagged: art, grapes, harvest, Louis the Big Cat, photography, purple, random, silliness

Dear Internet, It’s Not You, It’s Me

Then again, actually it is you. I can’t handle your constant demands on me any more; it’s stressing me out when you’re staring at me with that hurt look if I don’t show up exactly at the moment that you expect me to; the negativity that hangs around you is dragging me down. And the time – you want so much time from me!

So I think we need to take a step back, evaluate our relationship. I don’t mean exactly break up, but, you know, maybe just be friends for a while.

Take care of yourself, Inter...

#WordlessWednesday: Furry in Seattle

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Filed under: travelling, Wordless Wednesday Tagged: coffee, Seattle, Steve, travelling, Wordless Wednesday

Just Sayin’…

I was watching a TV show yesterday, one that’s set in the Shetland Islands (and is, incidentally, called Shetland. What a coincidence). Anyway, there was a character in that episode named Catriona. You know, just like Cat in my Septimus Series. Nice name, right?

But then, to my great shock, I heard the name pronounced “Katrina”. Cat-REE-nah. Oh dear. I’ve always pronounced it Cat-ree-OH-nah. Have I been mispronouncing my own character’s name all these years?

I’m a bit of a stickler for correc...

Rearview Mirror on a Summer

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Long Beach, Vancouver Island

September has come, it is hers / Whose vitality leaps in the autumn…*

Except that my vitality ain’t doing too much leaping at the moment. I’m still scrambling to catch up with the long, busy, and, above all, “away” summer – you’ve seen a few of the pictures. We left home on July 9th; spent two weeks in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island; came home; then after all of two days I hopped on a plane (or rather, a series of them), and headed for Europe for a month. A few...

#WordlessWednesday: Time Travel

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Filed under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged: Germany, old stuff, suitcase, time travel, travelling, walking sticks, Wordless Wednesday

#WordlessWednesday: An Embarrassment of Riches, aka Can’t Choose What to Post

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Filed under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged: England, English breakfast, London, National Gallery of Art, Trafalgar Square, travelling, Wordless Wednesday

#WordlessWednesday: Thames

Filed under: Wordless Wednesday Tagged: London travelling Thames Blackfriars Station