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December 2012

On Winter Solstice

Winter 2012

"It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it."   - Anaïs Nin (from The Diaries)

"You're an artist ... that means you see the world in ways that other people don't. It's your gift, to see the beauty and the horror in ordinary things. It doesn't make you crazy--just different. There's nothing wrong with being different."  - Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

Winter 2012


In praise of the impeded stream

Rain runs down the hill, swirls past rocks and storm debris, cutting new channels through the land.

“There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say 'It is yet more difficult than you thought.' This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” - Wendell Berry

Let me be like the water, flowing past every obstacle. Fearless. And singing


Changes, house-cleaning, and a golden goose...


The Golden Goose by L. Leslie Brooke


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.

Terri Windling & Rima Staines, photographed by Tom Hirons, 2011

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).

Pendant from silverandmoor

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)