I’m writing this Wednesday evening as I crawl into bed and hope for quick and restful sleep. At 4am, five hours before this posts, my partner and I will be packing up a rental car and heading to Minnesota for a mini-vacation. I’m beyond excited.

I’ve been so preoccupied lately that I didn’t come up with a topic for the blog this week. Part of what’s been keeping me busy, though, has been a different sort of creative pursuit. When I was a kid, along with being a voracious reader, I was a fledgling artist. I was never great, but from the time I could hold a pencil, if I wasn’t reading or making up stories, I was drawing. Last weekend, somewhat on a whim, I picked up a 5.6mm lead holder, some different types of lead, and a couple of sketchbooks, and started to draw. I even incorporated some of the fountain pen ink that’s been sitting around on my desk for a while. Here’s the proof (the turtles are concept sketches for a tattoo I’m dreaming about):