Featured at SaltyInk.com

Novelist Chad Pelley keeps a cool new blog on Atlantic Canadian writing called Salty Ink. He's introducd a new feature on individual writers, 'Shedding Some Ink,' and he starts with me.

Clarification -- Sutter Cain, 'Doesn't Really Matter'

Okay, to clarify: the music is by Sutter Caine. The animation comes from a completely different project, from a short called The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, directed by Anthony Lucas. I completely missed -- and still can't find -- acknowlegement of Lucas' work at this entry on Youtube. Apologies to Lucas and the Morello team.

Sutter Cain, 'Doesn't Really Matter.'

Found this treasure on YouTube. Trust me.

"I'm madder than a hatter, and it fires my might" -- Elemental, "Cup of Brown Joy."

Tea rocks. Enough said.

Defiance

I am spice, I am stutter, I am crutches, I am pain; I will eat; I will listen; I will struggle; I will sing.

Ankylosing spondylitis

... a form of arthritis primarily affecting the sacroiliac joints and spine. Can cause ossification and joint fusion. Hurts. Affects mobility. Hurts. Did I mention it hurts?

I use forearm crutches to get around. Passers-by generally glance at the crutches with fear and loathing. I did not see the same reactions when I used the more common underarm crutches -- which are bloody useless, I might add. Underarm crutches require much more energy to use, and the uppermost part likes to get tangled in the side of your bra, should you be wearing one. But back to the forearm crutches, the ones you lean forward on slightly ... why the fear and loathing? Do they seem more medicinal somehow? Do they make me look contagious? Do they remind people of polio? Maybe I'll start asking ...

Time to change the sheets, b'ys: The Bad Sex in Fiction Prize

Q: Michelle, why do you never write sex scenes?
A: Because I'm afraid I might win this prize.