I’ve been in a quiet, refilling-the-well, hunkering-down-in-my-cave sort of mode lately, without the overflow that would normally go toward blog posts. But today I saw this:

(Click to go to original where you can embiggen)

Credit & Copyright: Isaac Gutiérrez Pascual (Spain)

And suddenly my well was brimming over again. I’ve been staring at it on and off throughout the day, trying to identify the reason why. Something about the juxtapositions, I think. Massive and minuscule, dark and bright, soft and sharp-edged. It’s not just beautiful– it provokes an emotional reaction, a yearning and a fear. I still haven’t worked out why exactly. Perhaps it’s the inherent tension: will the moon be consumed by those clouds? Where are the birds flying?

This picture feels like the next book I want to write.

After seeing it in my google reader this morning I immediately set it as my new background, and cracked open a new file of story notes. I spent the morning reading background mythology and listening to Irfan and Vas and Dead Can Dance. I saw a feather on the ground as I was taking a walk at lunchtime and it stuck in my brain in the way that makes me think it means something, even if I don’t know what yet. I can feel the mental pot filling up with tidbits, and with luck they will start precipitating into actual story soon.

~

Writing-wise I’m taking a break from the sequel to Circus Galacticus, partly because I need some distance to see it clearly, and partly because, due to the vicissitudes of publishing, it is no longer under contract (the UK publisher who had contracted for CG and the sequel has canceled the project, and the sequel hasn’t sold– yet!– in the US). Sad, but hey, it gave me the opportunity to use the word “vicissitudes”! And of course Circus Galacticus itself is still on the way in the US, although the publication date has been pushed back to Fall 2011. I really did enjoy writing the sequel, so whether or not it is ever published I do not regret writing it. Plus, now I have more time to make it as good as I possibly can. So that’s how I’m trying to look at things.

Tags: circus2, poison maid