Elise Matthesen

Some of you know I sometimes do "Artists' Challenges" where pieces of my work wind up inspiring writers or other artists. One of the best parts of this for me is that I get to read things early. An even better part is knowing I put some encouragement out there, and someone made something from it, and now we all get to read/see/experience it.

Anyhow, I am thinking about this because I ran across a review of Sarah Monette's story collection Somewhere Beneath Those Waves, which has several stories in it that got a bit of inspiration from something I made.

I joke that it makes me feel like a sort of odd grandmother: I didn't do the work, but I am connected. :) Maybe I'm a fairy grandmother? (I'm definitely a fairy godmother. That's another part of my job that I like a lot.)

Anyhow, check out the review of the collection from a decade ago. From the review, I count six stories that were Artists' Challenges; I should go find my copy and make a better count.

Sarah is a hell of a writer, and in addition to all the Artists' Challenges, she's written the best description of an artist's job that I've ever seen. Maybe she'd let me reprint it here. Oh, wait, maybe it's out there already. (It's in the anthology Glass Bead Games, I know for sure, because it's the closer.)

Aha! Found it! Here: "Rhino Carries the Moon" -- and there is some lovely stuff in the comments, too.

And now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to packing boxes of shiny things to send to their people. Only nineteen more orders to go before done. Might not get them all for tomorrow's pickup (which already has sixteen boxes in it) but I should manage by Monday, even at my slow rate. Sometimes Rhino carries the Moon slowly. Good wishes to all of you who are doing so, in whatever fashion.