Tattoos!

Remember that April Fool's joke I made on this blog about my manuscript, Mommy's Visit to the Tattoo Parlor?

Sminthophile, aka Jacqueline, alerted me a new book, Mommy Has a Tattoo. From the website:

For the LOW cover price of $16.95 you will receive a SIGNED first edition copy of MOMMY HAS A TATTOO, while supplies last! MOMMY HAS A TATTOO tells the story of a little boy named James, who is afraid of his tattooed neighbor until he discovers that his own mother has a tattoo as well. Tattoos are a source of pride for lots of Mommies, and a source of endless curiosity for their kids. Discover why tattooed families across the country are falling in love with this book!


Who's laughing now? Phil Padwe, that's who. It's self-published, I think, but I bet there's a pretty decent niche market for it. My sister and I could be raking in the dough if we'd run with this. I know at least one reader of this blog who was looking for this VERY book.

Meanwhile, for those of you unwilling to make the jump to permanent ink, I have just the thing for you, especially if you have to be an assistant prof of information science at the University of Iowa. The Illustrated Librarian: 12 Temporary Tattoos for Librarians and Book Lovers. Available at Patina Stores.

A tattoo tale

Oh, and there's a funny story about the tattoo...I wanted to surprise Tony when I came to visit him in Rome, so I told everyone who knew both of us that it was a BIG SECRET so please don't email him and say something like, hey, what do you think of Sara's ink? So a week and a half before I leave for Rome, I went to a party, someone took pictures and posted them on a photo-sharing website. I was in a couple of them, no big deal. I forwarded the link to Tony to show him what he'd missed.

I get email back from him: "I can pick out 'said' and 'will' on your left arm, which sounds a bit like Molly Bloom. Care to explain??"

Busted! But you know, this is why I love the man. Well, among other reasons.

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Now playing: Thelonious Monk - Crepuscule with Nellie (Take 2)
via FoxyTunes

I'm back!

OK, as promised, I've returned to my blog. I sent Ben, my editor at Enslow, the completed volcano scientists Manuscript on Monday, November 5, and on Thursday left for a whirlwind weekend in Rome to celebrate Tony's 50th birthday (a few days late). It was a wonderful, romantic weekend. Our only obligations were to eat, drink, enjoy each other's company, and walk around Rome. A little bit of heaven. Here we are at the Forum (a funny thing happened on the way there...we got lost).


I think I also mentioned some sort of surprise that I'd announce after Rome...some of you already know about this. I got the tattoo I'd been thinking/talking about getting for years now. I knew I wanted to get something literary, but I didn't know what I wanted. I had originally thought I'd like to get an anklet with some sort of literary quote. After a lot of research, I settled on Molly Bloom's closing words to James Joyce's Ulysses: "and yes I said yes I will Yes." I've always thought of that as a affirming, life-embracing quote. Excellent! But what typeface? That led me to literary tattoos and typographic tattoos. But when I happened upon Ina Saltz's book, Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched on Flesh, I saw my quote in a lovely typeface (Vivaldi) and a triangular configuration that I fell in love with. Just in case you're having a hard time figuring out the body part, it's the upper part of my inner forearm.

All of this research eventually led me to an online article from The Believer. Oh, man, I see an obsession coming! Or at least a theme for a book!

I'm already planning my next tattoo. After all, I have yet to get that anklet I'd been talking about, and I know what I want now....








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Now playing: Mariza - Primavera
via FoxyTunes