Fiction – Page 11 – Britt Skrabanek

The Book Decor Workout

Last weekend I stumbled upon a new workout. It’s all the rage with the A-listers in Hollywood. (Not really.)

Here’s what you need to get sweatin’…

Tall ceilings with a daring, unreachable shelf.
Sturdy ladder that will keep you from eating shit.
Insanely heavy boxes of books (lots of them!)
Grippy shoes or bare feet, because socks on the kitchen counter are a safety no-no.
Stretchy pants that won’t split in the private area.
Balance, endurance, and a touch of insanity.

So, anyway.

We finally got around to some more unpacking after a two-week stalemate. Although our new Portland apartment and our old Milwaukee apartment are comparable in square footage, they are night and day in all other aspects.

Our 1930s gem we used to live in came with cute built-ins to solve all of our book storage woes. I showed them off last summer in the Show Us Your Shelves challenge that was going around the bloggerhood.

This sleek building we now inhabit is a different creature entirely.

Every bit of space counts when you’re living in modestly sized digs. Lining entire walls with bookshelves can destroy your chances of having anywhere to sit, eat, sleep, etc.. And while my books are the loves of my life, a little practical furniture goes a long way.

Luckily for us, we happen to have 12-foot ceilings and a solid shelf soaring into our kitchen heavens. Problem solved!

Side of the fridge…

Top of the fridge… (For funsies, I stacked a Hitler biography right above “Poems That Touch the Heart”.)

The very random corner nook with absolutely no rhyme or reason to the book placement…

The Yoga friends breathing deeply to remain calm hanging in their dangerous neighborhood…

The Ken Follett region with my dad’s old guitar… (Fun fact, Ken plays the bass guitar in a blues band.)

And finally the glue holding this whole operation together, the champion coffee table books masquerading as a bookend…

It’s been a few days and even with my shoddy architectural design, we have not had any catastrophic domino effect. My comfy chair happens to be right below that cabinet cliff.

Just keep your fingers crossed for me.

When I woke up the next morning and, with the exception of my back and legs, had long forgotten the Book Decor Workout, I had a foolishly happy moment when I walked into the kitchen.

There were all of my friends. Perched high, their lives in peril but smiling back at me nonetheless.

Any of you book lovers can feel me on this. Until those book friends were freed from their boxy confines, I still wasn’t at home here.

It’s funny how many times we’ve moved and always looked accusingly at the books. The choice to give some up arises, and then we veto it and keep them all. Even the ones that were gifted and we still haven’t read. Even the ones that aren’t our faves.

Because the books make our home. Sure they’re heavy bastards, but they’re simply lovely.

Later that day I unpacked one of the last remaining boxes and guess what I freaking found? Ten more damn books.

Time to grab the ladder and get my book fitness on!

Have you ever tackled a home decor project that turned into a surprise butt-busting workout?

On a completely different note, I was absolutely tickled this weekend when my sweet friend Jessica from Notes of Nomads included one of my recent posts in her “5 Best Blog Posts of the Month” roundup. If you haven’t check it out yet, please be sure to take a looksy!

Home Is Where the Writing Is

Yes, those holes in the Yoga mat were caused by a no-good cat.

Home Is Where the Writing Is.

Silly spin on a cheesy saying? Alright, maybe a little bit.

When I woke up today and looked at my tattered (fourth?, fifth?, sixth?) draft of The Bra Game, I didn’t feel overwhelmed. A goofy grin spread across my sheet-wrinkled face.

Since uprooting my life two weeks ago, writing has seemed like another planet to me. I thought I would be able to manhandle my creative drive and keep the momentum. But already I knew that I wasn’t the same gal I was before The Accidental Spirit Quest.

It’s not that I haven’t been inspired, it just seemed so impossible to become still enough to handle it. To give my writing the attention it deserved.

This week I began editing again. And, it feels really awesome.

The end of this crazy novel project I started a year and a half ago is in sight. Through a full-time job, a 200-hour Yoga teacher training, my mom’s breast cancer, and a cross-country move I am proud to say that I somehow persevered.

Writing was my constant through all of the change, as it always has been and always will be.

I want to take a moment to thank the blogging/writing/reading community. After a few days of getting settled here, I hung out on my pretty new patio and opened my laptop with uncertainty.

Was my blog even still there?

Had it been hijacked or had it run away?

Or, did somebody finally realize all of the monumental gibberish I’ve been spouting in cyber public and hook my neck with a cane to yank me off the stage like a cartoon?

But, there sat my little blog. There you all were. Like a sweet place to come home to.

Getting back into the swing of things has been challenging. Thank you all for sticking it out with me.

I love the way we support each other, laugh our asses off, and share pieces of our lives. And to think…we are from all walks of life, from all corners of the map.

I mean, how cool is that?

When I am me, I am free

Stunning Irish photographer Meticulous Mick and I have come together to provide this little number for you.

I first heard of his collaborative spirit when my lovely blogger pal Sheila Hurst teamed up with MM to create Pavement and Paint.

It’s not hard to be inspired by his ridiculously beautiful photos, so he sent me a couple of photos to work with. While they were both absolutely breathtaking, I found “Faded Colour” irresistible.

I thought of this boat as a breathing person, a woman neither young nor old, with doubts and desires. My mind went into a frenzy and I scribbled for a few minutes to create this random something.

I’m not a poet, so call it what you like.

Be sure to get your butt over to Meticulous Mick’s collaborations page if you want to team up.

Faded Colour by Meticulous Mick (aka John Grant)

WHEN I AM ME, I AM FREE

I could be smooth and new like them

Gliding along the sea in some infinite breeze

Without feelings, without pain

Like porcelain dolls never fazed by the rain

But, I am me

Weathered, chipped, and a little faded

I’m not expensive or high-maintenance

I’m a bargain with my colorful simplicity

Because I have traveled

Across the vastness of life

I remain lovely and bright

Sailing through the dark and the light

My generosity has carried so many souls

And they have guided me in the right direction

I have known life in all of its exquisite ways

Beneath me in the water, above me in the sky, inside of my earthly body

All of it made me real and alive

They made me beautiful

These journeys across the endless sea

When I am me, I am free

Writing. It’s glamorous.

Sometimes writers think of the perfect dialogue for that intense moment. Sometimes we scribble it down quickly and leave it lying around. Sometimes our spouse picks up the post-it and wonders where it all went wrong.

Just a little writing funny to share with you guys. I’ve been pretty aloof lately, a crazed woman with questionable hair holed up in the editing cave.

Mr. H is a trooper, watching me cautiously from afar.

Each day I’m drowning in stacks of paper and piles of cats, rubbing red pen off my hands, laughing at ridiculous typos, talking to myself…WAY too much, and trying to fight off bursting into tears for no reason at all.

Oh yeah…what the heck is with the English language?

I stared at the word “first” for a good fifteen minutes one day last week. I even checked merriam-webster.com. I’m still suspicious, but I guess I’ll go with it.

Our apartment is dirty, and littered with maniacal post-its. But, I’m almost ready to hand off this book of mine to another set of eyes.

Don’t worry. We will survive, as will the cats.

Writing. It’s glamorous.

Any psycho writer stories you’d like to share below? Go for it! I could use the moral support right now.

Author Interview: Britt Skrabanek

Hey, lovely humans!

Just wanted to share my very first author interview with you all!!! (Can you tell I’m super stoked?) Sheila Hurst is a real gem for taking some time to sit down with me and my cat editing team. It was a surreal and awesome experience.

Stop by Sheila’s to check it out…

Sheila Hurst

I’m excited to introduce Britt Skrabanek, author of Beneath the Satin Gloves and Everything’s Not Bigger. Thank you for trudging through the snow to visit and for bringing Aphrodite and Hazel, your cat editing team. I’m sure they’ll help keep us warm while we talk.

I loved your descriptions of Berlin in Beneath the Satin Gloves. Have you lived there?

One summer in college I studied abroad in a sleepy town near Stuttgart, then my husband and I traveled to Berlin a few years after that. People were surprised we were only going to Berlin for ten days and blatantly encouraged us to do the usual tourist fail. You know the one – trying to squeeze in the entire continent of Europe, never stopping to absorb the experience. That’s not our thing at all, so we scooped up an apartment in former East Berlin and lived there for a…

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