December Paper Boat
December and the darkest days (both dreadful and delightful) of the year are underway. I find myself switching on lamps and lighting candles earlier and earlier as the solstice approaches. While most of us are feeling anything other than festive this time of year, due to the business of the world in general, I am nevertheless making do with cups of mint hot cocoa and my fun little advent project of collages (some animated, some not.) You can find them over on Instagram all this month through the holidays in their weird and creepy tradition of spooky Victorian ghost stories I enjoy every year.
NEWS & NOTES
New Work
This month finds some pieces from my PRETTY DEAD THINGS project (aka the casket girls series) in a fun new zine I stumbled across, THE MORGUE MAG, which has some of the coolest design happening among its print and electronic pages. Read them here or pick up a copy of the print edition on Amazon.
Latest Book
RUINPORN has made its way finally into the world and can be found in the dgp shop. Use the code “DECEMBER2024” to get a discount on a signed copy, as well as anything else in the shop through the end of December. This book is about post-pandemic society, grief, loss, hauntings, and the perils of technology and is quite chonky at around 150 pages, longer than any of my previous collections.
Patreon Relaunch
In January, I will be relaunching my Patreon with a new look, new membership perks, a more streamlined subscription structure, and all sorts of Patreon bonus content, both electronic and physical, including monthly paper bundles that feature postcards, mini prints, zines, any full-length projects, and more. After the beginning of the year, I will be sending details on how to join and what it entails. While I love making most of my creative output and experiments available for free, I realize there are some things I would love to do if I had a little more financial activity coming in from creative things than most months, so the subscription prices will help me with supplies and materials to make those things happen. You will also get lots of Patreon-exclusive electronic content like bonus video poems, self-guided workshops on various poetry and art things, and more…
DESIGN & DIY WRITING
This month has been particularly heavy with holiday assignments for fun upcycling and projects, as well as holiday entertaining:
Reuse Dead Mums To Create Cheery Outdoor Christmas Decor
The Glamorous Christmas Candlestick Holders You Can DIY With Dollar Tree Items
Save Your Old Tea Cups And Saucers To DIY The Most Unique Christmas Tree Decor
Turn A Dollar Tree Hula Hoop Into Twinkling Holiday Decor With A Stunning DIY
Create The Cutest Decorative Jar Covers To Spruce Up Your Home For The Holidays
The DIY That Turns A Dollar Tree Find Into Sparkling Table Decor With String Lights
These DIY Rosemary Wreaths Smell Amazing And Look Stunning In Any Home
Quick Guide on How to Host the Best Cookie Exchange Party in 2024
23 Beautiful Christmas Day Table Setting Ideas for 2024
A Complete Party Checklist For Throwing The Best Event of The Season!
53 Fun Christmas Drawing Ideas for the Festive Season in 2024
27 Ugly Christmas Sweater Ideas For a Festive 2024 Party
57 Fun & Festive Christmas Door Decorating Ideas in 2024
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
from THE MIDNIGHT GARDEN
In the graveyard, all the ladies line up tidy in rows. Babies and boat accidents and bad
husbands. Braid each others hair in the grave, where their fingers turn black with mold and the mice play in the space between their ribs. Root through the skull looking for memories or dreams or stormy portents. She was too pretty to be dead, but too dead to be pretty. Hands folded over the lace they wrapped her soundly in and sent her to bed. Wed her to monsters and moldering flesh. Tethered her limbs to the coffin like they were wrapping a Christmas goose. All her teeth loosening in her jaw, mouth sewn up, and blood in her eye. Hyacinths in her hair, in her hands, pinned to her lapel.
The banker burrowed his face against her throat. Opened her body like a trinket box and jangled. Wrangled and robbed with the best of them, a pistol in his pant leg. A fistful of cash. The gash he left on her forehead an omen. The broken arm, the bruised thigh. All an opening into dark that she followed like a rope, the terrible singing of dish rims and boiling water she’d plunge her hands into each night and watch her skin turn pink.
When they buried her, the banker cried and thrashed against the bed. Crawled beneath it feeling out the dark with his fingers. The monsters there ravenous with wind and cloven hooves. Their fur matted and woven with blossoms and blood.
THE BLOG
This month has featured some comments on poetry and AI fears, writing as time capsule, writing in a hostile world, and some introductory notes on RUINPORN.
IN THE SHOP
New chapbooks in the dgp series from Renee Ehle, Mary Gilliland, and Maria Terrone…