As you may have noticed, I've been doing some tweaking and house-cleaning on my website, including changing the name of this blog...which I gather has caused a bit of confusion. Jane Yolen recently wrote to ask:
"When did 'The Drawing Board' become
'Myth & Moor'? Did I miss the grand opening? Was there a ribbon cutting
with some royal there with big scissors? Did we just walk through that
open gate? Or did you do a sneaky run and we, all aglee, ran after you,
our fingers stuck fast to the golden goose?"
Oh golly. I wish the truth were quite so magical -- but it fact, I simply forgot to announce the change! My apologies, dear readers. So here it is, the overdue pronouncement:
The name of this blog is hereby officially changed from The Drawing Board to Myth & Moor.
And here's the reason behind the change:
After some gentle arm-twisting from Ellen Kushner and kind aid from Katharine Duckett, I now have a Tumblr site for my art. It's named after the house I live in, Bumblehill, and supports my Etsy shop, The Bumblehill Shop.
Since "The Drawing Board" sounded art-focused, which could cause confusion between the two sites, I decided it was time to re-name this blog, in keeping with its broader focus on writing, books, music, and the wide-ranging field of mythic arts. It's still my primary home online, however, and nothing but the name has changed.
The name Myth & Moor has been rattling in my head ever since Rima Staines, Tom Hirons, and I sat on the hill behind my studio (on the day Tom took the picture above) discussing what we would name an art gallery (should any of us ever be so fortunate as to have one) dedicated entirely to local mythic arts. One of my suggestions was Myth & Moor...which was partially inspired by silverandmoor, the jewelry studio of my friend and hillside neighbor Miriam Boy-Hackney. (One of her gorgeous pieces is below.) I've been intrigued by the name Myth & Moor ever since, and recently realized it was perfect for this blog...particularly now that I'm settled here on the moor full-time (instead of dividing my time between Devon and Arizona as I used to, pre-marriage, family, and Tilly).
So that's the explanation for the name change. I'm still updating and house-cleaning my whole website, as I tend to do once a year or so. But nothing else major is changing on this blog. Tilly and I are still here, Monday through Friday -- still starting each day on the hill and in the woods, and bringing our stories back to you. The Tumblr site, by contrast, will be art-focused and image-based -- dedicated to bunny girls, bird boys, and other critters of Bumblehill (and the things that inspire them).
Meanwhile, the conversation continues here. And I'm glad you're all part of it.
Illustration above: "The Golden Goose" illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1862-1940)