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Monday, September 26, 2011

30 Day Photography Challenge - 13 Things

First I took a photo of myself with thirteen books that meant something to me.


Okay now that I got that out of the way, here's one where you can actually see the books and not simply the narcissist with the camera and a mad penchant for photo editing.


1. Steven King's On Writing given to me by Lola Sharp.
2. The 3 a.m. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley, a gift from Kirie.
3. Trouble De Ville by Steve Denton who has also published the graphic novel Hip Deep Mountain High.
4. Do Not Disturb - Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. My friend Lillian Ann Slugocki has a deliciously erotic story included.
5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. One of my favorite stories ever.
6. The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott. Writer's crush does not even begin to describe it.
7. Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees. This book and Betsy's blog opened up a whole new world of friends to me and I'm forever grateful.
8. The Pat Hobby Stories by F.Scott Fitzgerald. I can still see myself reading these as I munched a turkey on rye with lettuce, tomato and mayo in the cafeteria of the Rotary International building in Evanston, Illinois. Back then it never would have occurred to me that I would take an active interest in the writing of screenplays and scripts.
9. Elizabeth Berg's Say When. It's the first of Berg's books I read. I have quite the collection now. 
10. The Art of Table Dancing by DC Stanfa. Pee your pants funny. DC does things I only wish I had the gonads to do.
11. The Preacher's Bride by Jody Hedlund. As a sore-headed agnostic, I am clearly not the target market for this book, but I was lucky enough to win this from Jody's blog and by page three, was a fan. Between topnotch research and wonderful prose, Jody writes the kind of historical fiction that has broad appeal.
12. The New Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie. It's full of detail about the novels and the movies. And Christie's relationship with her characters.
13. Philip Roth's The Plot Against America. I love Roth's novels. This one knocked my sandals off.

And then I had an email exchange with Randal who gave me an idea. He asked if I'd be photographed with thirteen bags of kitty litter? While that would have mass appeal, I'm sure, I don't have thirteen bags of litter hanging around. (I wish!) I thought about other items I could photograph myself with, but ended up dismissing them mostly because I didn't have 13 of this or that.

1. Thirteen cats. (We're six short and I intend to keep it that way.)
2. Thirteen sex toys. (Where would I hide that many?)
3. Thirteen clean towels. (It is to dream.)
4. Thirteen whistles. (I wish I had thirteen whistles!)
5. Thirteen vintage cars. (Alas I am not Jay Leno.)
6. Thirteen jars of olives. (Not even on my best stockpiling trips did I snag that many jars of olives!)
7. A baker's dozen of donuts. (Come one, like they'd survive past the first photo intact?)

Having hit all those brick walls, I went with this which I fondly call The Writer's Life. The sound I was making was like a cross between the yowling the cats make when I don't feed them fast enough and Fran Drescher's laugh.


Geoffrey makes glorious sounds. Please go and tell him that his butt looks fine.
Summer offers swoon worthy sunsets. SWOONWORTHY.

17 comments:

  1. I surrendered to bifocals a couple years back. It's like a stepping stone to middle age, that and the paunch that won't go away no matter how much you work at it.

    Oh, and I like your literary selections. On Writing is a book I have returned to again and again, along with On Writing Well, and, of course, Strunk and White.

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  2. and the nice earrings peeking out from your silver hair.

    I love the fact you have a personal connection to the 13 books you showed us. I have far more than 13 (as I'm sure you do as well) but only a handful I've been given. You are a good friend to many.

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  3. Red lipstick plus red glasses = GORGEOUS!! That second picture is fabulous.

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  4. I'm not looking forward to 40 for the sole reason that I am nearsighted, and over 40 means bifocals for me. Bifuckalls. Maybe I'll just wear contacts with smart reading glasses over as needed. One can dream.

    Love your list. You are so creative.

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  5. You totally get a gold star for the last shot, which makes up for the lack of kitty litter stacking. I guess. Sniff.

    I've never read any of those books, such an anecdote proving that there are least 138 separate tomes in existence.

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  6. The Adderall Diaries intrigues me. I'm going to have a look now. And may I had how absolutely gorgeous your hair is. Photo editing? Pshaw.

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  7. Seven cats? WOW!

    Funny photos, feline fancier.

    (I never had more than three, meself. I miss them. *sniff*)
    ~

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  8. The second picture with the glasses on is stunning!

    "DC does things I only wish I had the gonads to do." I'm very, frightened.
    And I must get that book. Ha!

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  9. Susan beat me to it - you ROCK that lipstick. And I love that Betsy's book is in there.

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  10. You are so freaking adorable. And I LOVE LOVE that red lipstick on you!

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  11. What a fabulous project! Thanks for including my book Do Not Disturb. Loved the descriptions of why each book is important to you.

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  12. Just dropping in to say that while I haven't commented much, I am reading all of these...

    And I was surprised to find that of your 13 books I have not read one. That doesn't happen much - most people's stacks of favs include one or two I've read, at least... Your musical tastes don't overlap much with mine, either. I find this interesting and fun. It makes me grin.

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  13. I love this list! And that it's all in one place, so next time I'm perusing Powell's cluelessly looking for a perfect next read I can just whip out the iThing and there it'll be. Yay!

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  14. I discovered Elizabeth Berg just a few years ago and read her entire collection in a single summer.

    And DC will be a happy camper to be included here...

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