etc.

Feast day of both Peter and Paul. Yes, that Peter and that Paul.

Last week, I received an e-mail from someone unknown to me, who gravely reminded me that I had not said anything at all about the saints lately, and would I please recommence with the daily lessons in hagiography, thank you very much. And so, Nicholas, my apologies. Today’s lesson is delivered in your honour. Such, as it is.

Lately, I have felt that I have lost some of the magic here at etc.. I feel a bit like I’ve had a productivity demon looming in the background, driving me to create, create, create, so that I have something to show you at the end of the day. I think part of this might have something to do with the shop, which I have been feeling awkward and anxious about of late. Should I be doing things to “promote” the shop? Should I be fiendishly creating so that it is bursting at the seams with irresisitable goodness? Should I be doing more “marketing”? (There’s that language of commerce again). What I really need is a stern reminder of why I decided to open the shop in the first place: simply because I was amassing more “stuff” than I knew what to do with and having a little corner of my site where people could opt to buy that stuff (or not) would justify my endless doing & creating and, in some very minor way, also justify the endless experimentation I’ve been doing, with all the genres and raw materials I’ve been jonesing to experiment with, lo these many years.

There. I feel a bit better now. Promotion, productivity, marketing, be damned.

I’ve been reading a bit lately. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears, to be exact, a book which I commend to you without hesitation. It’s grand. If you like a haughty mystery set in Early Modern England, that is.