Me & Chroi

One of the benefits of going to art school is that you get to meet a lot of great artists. My friend and photographer Lacey graciously agreed to take some photos of me and Chroicoragh before she heads off to her new home. I'm going to miss her terribly and needed a nice keepsake. I'm not too into getting my picture taken lately but wanted a nice memory to keep. Lacey does sunning work with families and couples and has a way of capturing the light that makes her photos glow. Please visit her website here, and her instagram account here. Thank you so much, Lacey!

Follow Chroicoragh at her new home here. She has 2 little girls to raise and a mama to keep sane. Her Unicorn magic will continue on :)

You can also see all of her picture posts form the past few years by clicking here.

(images ©Lacey Youngs. Not to be used without permission)

Research can be deadly (OR) Why Scotland?

So, as I'm writing (yay!), I'm listening to a guided meditation.  There is a very calming voice in my ears telling me that I am intimately connected to the creative power of the Universe.I'm also looking at pictures of the Scottish countryside, because that's where the next part of my story takes place. Why Scotland? Why do American writers always go back to Scotland? I'll tell you why: because it's pure dead brilliant that's why. And if you've ever been there, you know what I'm talking about. It's been over 20 years since the summer I spent there, and it still pulls me back.My husband thinks I'm crazy. I'm sure he thinks it's just a nerd-fantasy thing, and yeah it's that, too. I'm a nerd, I like fantasy, so that's cool. But he probably wishes I would shut up about it -  the same way I get when people talk about football.But looking at the pictures helps me get in the mindset. Where my characters are, what they're doing, the topography they're traveling through. If I can see it in my mind's eye, I can follow them, and let them show me what's going to happen next. It also helps me focus.Why is research deadly? Because like so many other things - like blogging for instance (ahem) - it takes away from what I should be doing, which is writing.The searches, images, and learning more about the things in my story help me feel connected to what's going on in that world, as opposed to letting my mind wander back to the dusting and the laundry pile. Not to mention that it's Christmas and that puts a whole new spin on the lack of writing time. Even though research (er, Google) can be a deadly distraction from your daily word count, sometimes you just need to dump the everyday garbage out of your head before you can make way for your story. Don't overthink and don't be too hard on yourself.Thankfully, I'm making progress. I keep telling myself that all I have to do is keep moving my story forward, and it will tell me where it needs to go.So now I'm going to stop blogging and researching and get back to writing. Happy Holidays everyone.xoxo heidi.Enjoy some pictures of Scotland (click for source):http://www.flickr.com/photos/8184136@N05/4177776613/in/photostream/-- If anyone ever says to you, "Hey I've got an aunt who lives in Glasgow, you want to hang out for the summer?" Say yes.-- More Scotland info here.-- the meditation currently in my ears: click here.Merry Christmas.

Kittens and Puppies and Homework Oh My

Today I wanted a day off. I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want to do anything. But you know, 4 hours of yard work and two trips to home depot, dinner to make, laundry to do, toilets to clean, and oh, yeah. Homework.

I already need a beer.

It's been a busy year and a lot is always going on. There's always so much to do. And 99.9% of my creative energy has gone towards school. This is what I've been up to this past few months:

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5058,5072,5068,5063,5030,5077,5065,5070,5020,5067,5080,5021,5062,5071,5079,5073,5074,5060,5075,5061,5083,5041,5039,5040,5037,5076,5082,5069,5078,5034,5038,5081,5084,5088,5089,5085,5086,5087,5091"]

Next time, I'll show you what I've been up to since I've started at ASU! It's crazy! I'm surrounded by thousands of young people every day. Talk about a fish out of water.

If anyone has any questions on the art process, what do you DO in art classes anyway? What are we learning? on choosing to go back to college full-time, as a 43-year-old wife and a mother of 2, I'd be happy to answer them. Please leave a comment below.

And if you're wondering, "Why, of all fields of study to choose from, and in a struggling economy, would anyone go to ART SCHOOL?"

here's why:

So your son or daughter wants to be an ART major?!

by Adriene Jenik, director, ASU School of Art Thanks for stopping by.xo Heidi

White Chocolate Grill Couscous Copycat Recipe

If you've ever been to White Chocolate Grill and had their Couscous salad, you have probably been looking for the recipe ever since. The closest you will find is this teaser of a recipe from the WCGCooks.com blog. It's not quite the one you want, but it's a good start. I used that recipe as a base, tried to remember what all was in the deliciousness of what I had at the restaurant, and came up with my own. It's probably not exactly like the one they serve, but it's pretty yummy, and you can always play around with ingredients to see what you like the best. Here is the base recipe (from WCGCooks.com):

Lemon Apricot Couscous with Toasted Almonds

Yield 1 Quart

SCARAB giclée print

$45.00

• 2 cups Water

• 2 Tbs Honey

• 1 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 Tbs Fresh Lemon Juice

• ¼ tsp Kosher Salt

• 1 cup Instant Moroccan Couscous

• ½ cup Minced Dried Apricots

• ½ cup Toasted Almond Slivers

• 1 Tbsp Chopped Parsley

Method: 1.Bring the water, honey, olive oil and salt to a rolling boil. 2.Take off the heat and stir in the couscous and apricots, cover and allow to stand for

approx. 5 minutes until the seasoned water has absorbed into the couscous.

3.Fluff with a fork before serving. 4.Place warm couscous on a platter and top with the toasted slivered almonds and chopped

white chocolate grill cous cous

parsley. I change this up depending on what I have on hand.   This time, I made the couscous, and added (about a handful of each, chopped):

• Parsley

• Fresh Mint

• Basil

• Green Onion

• Yellow Pepper

• Dried Cranberries

• Dried Apricots

• Toasted Almonds

• Roasted Pistachios

• Grape Tomatoes (not pictured - I forgot, and added them later!)

• and Feta Cheese

white chocolate grill, cous cous, recipe,

Instead of serving the couscous warm, I rinsed it with cool water, dressed it with olive oil, & lemon juice & a little bit of honey. A splash of balsamic vinegar, and Kosher salt to taste. It's sooo good, and a perfect lighter side dish, goes great with grilled salmon, burgers, or all by itself. And if you are looking for a great recipe for Grilled Salmon, here is my favorite. I comes out great, every time! (Just make sure your grill is well oiled.) From Taku Glacier Lodge in Alaska: Taku Lodge Basted Grilled Salmon (From myrecipes.com)

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• About 1/2 teaspoon salt

• About 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 8 pieces (about 6 oz. each; max. 1 1/4 in. thick) boned, skinned wild salmon fillet

• 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter

• Lemon wedges

Method Below:

Taku Lodge Grilled Salmon

recipe continued

Preparation 1. In a large, wide bowl or 9- by 13-inch baking dish, stir brown sugar, wine, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until sugar is dissolved. 2. Rinse fish and pat dry. Add to marinade and turn to coat. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours. 3. Lift salmon from marinade and transfer to a 12- by 17-inch baking pan. Pour marinade into a 1 1/2- to 2-quart pan over medium-high heat; add butter and stir until butter is melted and mixture is simmering, 4 to 5 minutes. 4. Lay salmon, skinned side down, on a generously oiled grill over a solid bed of medium-hot coals or medium-high heat on a gas grill (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4 seconds). Brush fish generously with the baste; close lid if using a gas grill. Cook until salmon pieces are well browned on the bottom, 3 1/2 to 4 minutes (keep a spray bottle filled with clean water on hand to spritz any flare-ups). With a wide spatula, carefully turn pieces; brush tops with baste and continue to cook, basting often, until the salmon is just opaque but still moist-looking in the center of the thickest part (cut to test), about 5 to 6 minutes longer. Discard any remaining baste. 5. Transfer salmon to a warm platter or plates and garnish with lemon wedges. Add more salt and pepper to taste. I always use wild caught salmon, and just do a whole fillet at once. (pictured with a wasabi-crusted tuna steak). Enjoy!

Catching up

This site is experiencing technical difficulties. If you are having problems viewing photos, please be patient, I'm working on it. Thanks!I can't believe how fast this year is going. We are already a week away from midterms. The Barrett-Jackson car show, the Phoenix Open, and the Arabian Horse Show have come and gone. It's getting ready to be spring, and we've only just had our first rain of the year. Probably one of the more perfect times in our corner of the desert, and what people fall in love with when they come for a visit. Especially with the kind of winter everyone has been suffering through this year! Polar vortex indeed.It makes me glad to be here, but at the same time the snowbirds glory in our 80° February, what they don't realize is that even for us, it's unseasonably warm - and dry. It harkens to a tough year ahead for fire season, drought, habitat loss, and stress on wildlife. Not to mention a scorching May - September. I'm trying not to think of that now, and just revel in the glory of living someplace snow-and-windchill free.I feel a blog re-vamp coming on (again), so look for some changes coming up. While I have loved using Wordpress.org, and having the customization freedom it offers, I am frustrated by the fact that when I read through some of my posts, half the time the pictures don't show up (WTF?). And the whole hosting situation is a pain in the rear. So I'm looking to move the whole operation over to another web hosting site, hopefully with lots of improvements.I'm taking Austin Kleon's advice from STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST, and stealing ideas for how to make this site better. Austin sends out occasional newsletters with a quick update on his projects, along with links to interesting things he's found on the internet recently. Alex Yeske from Dreams + Jeans blogs beautiful pictures and product recommendations. I really like how both of these bloggers give a succinct post, paired with images, and suggestions from around the web, and hope to implement their best practices here. I'd also like to make to make this site better for YOU, my readers. Any comments? Suggestions on improvements? I'd love to hear them in the comments section below.Here are some recent photos: 

How to win an art scholarship

This is how I applied for and won an art-based scholarship.The Bethel E. Ells Scholarship is awarded to a part- or full-time art or art humanities major. I believe there is more than one recipient, but I'm not sure of the number. Here is the info from the application:

For students majoring in Art, this includes Drawing, Painting, Computer Graphics, Photography, and Sculpture or Art Humanities.

Amount: Full time students, 12 + credit hours: $500 - $1000 Part time students: 6 – 11 credit hours: $250 - $500

Applicants must have a 3.0 GPA in Art or Art History, or High School senior eligible for Spring 2013. All applicants for Art Scholarships must submit an essay. In addition, studio art majors must submit a portfolio of work for review. Applicants should submit their work on disk, jump drive or hard copy. Black and white and color prints may be submitted as such. Any artwork over 11x14” must be submitted on disc or jump drive. Submit all articles pertinent to the application together in one envelope up to 11x14”. Enclose official transcripts and two letters of recommendation. For students who have not completed 12 college credits, attach high school transcripts along with two letters of recommendation.

It was definitely a challenge to even complete the application process because it was due the weekend after Thanksgiving, and right before finals. Between family gatherings, completing my final projects for 3D Design and Color Theory; and cramming for my Art History final, I worked on my scholarship application.Luckily, my Portfolio class prepared me for it. ART255B, The Portfolio, is a required one-credit class for art majors. I took this class as an independent study option at another school. My advisor met with me once a month for about an hour or so, and gave me assignments. Throughout the semester, I built up 3 different portfolios: 

1. Educational; covers academic history and student work for applying to a university arts program (This is the one I will use when I apply to the Art Education program at ASU*)

2. Professional; shows qualifications and diversity when applying for an art-based job. (This will be my portfolio when I apply for a job as an art teacher. You'd also use this to apply for a job in a museum or arts organizations.)

3. Gallery; when you become so badass that you think people should PAY for your art, you'd use this portfolio to try and get a gallery show. (Yeah - I'm not quite there yet.)

You prepare a different resume, CV, artist's statement and image files for each portfolio. To apply for the Beth Ells scholarship, I used my artist statements as a jumping off point, and wrote my essay from there.  I got copies of my transcripts and prepared a comprehensive portfolio, with images of my student work so far (which I have brilliantly used to illustrate this post), and a few things I've done outside of school.And, two of my AWESOME teachers wrote letters of recommendation for me. I hope I can live up to their expectations and I'm humbled by their kind words.When I opened the award letter I think I scared my husband. He hasn't seen me jump up and down like that in awhile. Plus I screeched out "Oh my god!" right in his ear. Poor guy.I'm so happy and proud to share that I have been awarded $750.00 for the spring semester!YAY :)Here is the essay I wrote:

Art has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. I loved the slippery feel of finger paints as they spread across wet paper, or squishing Play-Doh into purple spaghetti. As a child, my favorite classroom activities involved making something. I learned from all members of my family that something crafted by hand is not only a necessity, as store-bought things were usually too expensive, but when we put pride into whatever we make, the end result is a reward in itself. I did not come from a family of artists; rather, a bunch of stalwart Midwestern immigrants whose daily lives depended on what they could provide for their families - much of the time from scratch, and often from spare parts. As a result of doing things right, many of their handicrafts could be considered art.

When my youngest son was in elementary school, he went through a very difficult struggle with a learning disability. School for him was a place of confusion, where he found that no matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t good enough. Facing ridicule from students as well as teachers (the sad truth), he suffered from depression, anxiety and low self-worth. BUT the one place he could go, where everything he did was good, was the art room.

At this time, I offered to be the classroom volunteer for the Art Masterpiece program. As part of the program, volunteers were invited to attend classes at the Phoenix Art Museum. We received ideas for lessons and heard lectures from the Art Librarian. Over the next few years the class made Soleri-inspired windbells, Lichtenstein-style portraits, and charcoal drawings of the desert. I loved it. I couldn’t wait to get in there with the kids and talk about art! This new found love, along with seeing how art helped my own son, inspired me to go back to school to pursue a degree in Art Education.

Art is the physical manifestation of expression. Therefore, my foundation for teaching will be “no bad art.” That is to say, if a student shows up, does the works and expresses themselves, that is their art, and how could that be considered “bad,” by me or anyone else? I fully intend to take the lessons I’ve learned here, and help that student see where they can make their art even better.

Art History classes have made a huge impact on me, and the more I learn about art, the more I want to learn, and share with others. For my Honors project I created a two-class lecture and presentation on the Early Medieval period. I intend to make future lesson plans revolve around an Art History core. I’ve also become interested in the value of Art Therapy, and would love to incorporate art into a Special Ed program. Beyond the public school setting, I hope to one day work with the elderly, either in a teaching aspect, or as an art therapist, if I am able to further my education.

My goals are to learn about art and how to become a better artist myself, as well as promote other artists and the idea of art in general to the public. I hope my classroom will be a safe haven; the place where kids feel welcome and happy no matter what else is going on in their lives. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to be anyone’s savior. I want my students, young and old, to discover that through art, they can save themselves.

I truly believe, 100%, that art makes the world a better place.

If you're thinking about applying for a scholarship, do it!! It's a little extra work, but it is so worth it. Plus it feels good to know you can accomplish what you set out to do.What about you? Do you have any goals or accomplishments to share? Leave a comment.Thinkin bout tryin out for a scholarship:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VIG3SdCiSAMy sincere gratitude goes out to the Bethel E. Ells Scholarship committee and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Christopher. Thank you for this opportunity.

Thanks

So, I'm sure you've noticed a huge gap in posts. I mean, of course you have, because you're a regular reader and you love my wit, and you can't WAIT until you see a new post from me!Kind of like how I am with The Hermitage, Dreams + Jeans, and Fine Art Tips.A lot has been going on. I have been taking 17 credit hours this semester, and I can't remember the last time I've worked so hard and been so happy in that work. I'm telling you right now: If you've been in a slump, or maybe want to advance in your career but lack of a degree is holding you back; GO TO SCHOOL, even if it's just one class at a time.There's nothing that will revive you more than feeding your brain. It's the perfect time in the economy, too. Things are starting to bounce back, but it's slow going and business is still slow enough that if you wanted to, you could squeeze in a morning or evening class. Some of them are scheduled to only meet once a week, if that's all you can commit. There are loads of scholarships available, and enrollment is down, so they WANT you to go to school.But assuming you can afford one class per semester - maybe two - what would you take? What has always piqued your interest? Ancient Egypt? Art History 101- Prehistoric to the Gothic, or World History to 1500.What have you always wondered more about? How to really use Excel, so you can go up a paygrade at work? CIS 105 or Excel Level I.

Or, have you always wondered why rocks look like this? Take Geology 101! I liked it so much I took 102 as well.Why don't you do something for you? You've always wanted to try painting. Remember how much you loved watching Bob Ross? I recommend taking Color Theory first. It's been a challenge, but a good one!

Think about it.Besides school, we've had a few birthdaysand lost our two best friends :(Butter (aka Best Dog in the World) was 13, and Pepper (2nd Best Dog in the World) was 12. They passed away within a month of each other.Our new girl, Juniper, was a birthday surprise, and missed meeting Pepper by two days, but kept Butter company for the last month. She's adorable, and smart, and keeps us all on our toes.The horses have gotten hairy. They got a post-Halloween treat.Keira is still for sale. It's strange, I think she must be waiting for the perfect home. I've had several people interested in her, and a few offers, but they all fell through for various reasons. All she needs is time and attention. She's super smart and sweet, and responds well to training (see video on her page). I'm so surprised she hasn't sold yet, because she's pretty close to perfect. But that's just my opinion ;)I gave my first class lectureand we've had some rain.Coming up, I've got a post on a popular author, a round-up of my projects for the semester, an out-of-town writing conference (so exciting!), and after Christmas, I get to go visit my family. Please continue to keep my sister-in-law and our parents in your thoughts. This is our first holiday without John, and he is greatly missed.Here and now, it's holiday time in the desert, cool and crisp in the morning, sunny in the afternoon.I'm thankful for it all - my family, our health & home, the opportunities we have.And to you, for taking the time to visit.Much love,Heidi...If you'd like to do more online browsing, please stop by my friends' sites:Pb Crazyr. mccormack writestaysteele.comstrategicbongoTracyJoyCreative

Back to School: Projects

Have a look through my first semester of college!

What I learned at Barnes & Noble Today

• Time flies when you are looking at books.
• There are way more books to read than I will ever have time for in my life.
• For fiction books, all you need to read is the first page to know if you'll like the book.

• My fantasy-adventure story is still relevant. The "does it matter?" slump/doubt has been completely erased, and fed with new inspiration. Thanks to the teen & young reader's section, and re-visiting some of the classics.

• My read-aloud bedtime book is very relevant, and I can do my own illustrations. Even though I'm totally getting into unleashing my artistic side, I've been overwhelmed by my lack of experience. I keep thinking: How can I illustrate this story while fooling everyone into thinking I know what I'm doing?

With the recent nudging of a very good friend, some inspiration from Neil Himself (watch this video, and if you already have, watch it again), and today's hours spent in the children's section, now I know: art is art. Everyone has a different approach, and like Mr. Gaiman says, no one  can tell my story but me. No one can create the art that's in my head but me.

So.

Off I go.

Back to School

Here's a picture of me, my first week back to school, after a 22-year-break:I've been fortunate enough to have been a stay-at-home mom for 16 years, and a few years ago, went back to work part-time to help out with things like grocery money. Weird thing about teenage boys is, they like to eat. I enjoyed my job slinging magazines at the grocery store, and my other part-time job, driving delivery lunches for a couple of really awesome caterers. But the work was hard on my back, and I kept thinking...what's next? Am I going to be lugging 20-lb bundles of Vanity Fair down to the checkstand when I'm 60?So I started looking for a "real" job. Something that might earn me more money, maybe some benefits, and something I might be proud of. Not that I wasn't proud of the way I lined up and categorized the magazine aisle, but I think you know what I mean.And after perusing all of the jobs listings that seemed of interest to me, I realized: I can't do any of them. As much as I would love to get into a marketing job (literary agent, maybe?), design, or editing, I have no experience or job training - other than keeping two boys and a husband in relatively clean clothes and lasagne for the past twenty years.So, what could I do? Work part time for the rest of my life? Go back to retail or waitressing? Real Estate?Luckily the timing worked out right, and back to school I went.I've had more than a few people tell me that I would make a good teacher.Growing up with an über-feminist mother in the 1970s, in the days when there were only 3 major professions a woman was expected to aspire to were: secretary, nurse, and teacher, and having my mom always telling me that I could be ANYTHING, and that I should never settle for status quo, the idea of being a teacher never appealed to me. (Well, besides the office supplies, and being able to write on a chalkboard.) But it just seemed so unglamorous. Besides, I was going to be a movie star, remember?When I began to look at what I really enjoyed it occurred to me that I really do like to teach things to people. And I've always loved art, have also always wanted to learn more about art and how to be a better artist. And whenever I did try to imagine myself as a teacher, I thought I would love to be an art teacher.When my youngest son was in elementary school, I offered to be the classroom volunteer for the Art Masterpiece program. As part of the program, volunteers were invited to attend free classes at the Phoenix Art Museum. Then we got all sorts of ideas for lessons and how to integrate them into the classroom. We could even tour the museum for free, and ask all sorts of questions to the Art Librarian. Over the next couple of years we made Paolo Soleri-inspired windbells, Lichtenstein-style portraits, and charcoal drawings of the desert. I couldn't believe how much I loved it. And while the idea of volunteering in the classroom (usually for some sort of party) typically made me cringe, I couldn't wait to get in there with those kids and talk about art.The most surreal part of starting college again was that the day before my very first day of school, my dad called - that 2:30 AM call that no one wants - to tell me my brother had died. I'd been on the phone with family, crying for 24 hours, and then I'm putting on a backpack and carrying a sack lunch. It was all too weird.The first few weeks of school, my brain and my heart fought between being excited and happy, or heartbroken and crying. More than once, I had to excuse myself from class because it was just too much. But I felt him, every step of the way. My brother had gone back to school in his 30's and received his degree in music education. He is part of the reason I decided to give it a try.I learned so much my first semester: How I'm in LOVE with art history; how I get all science-nerd-fangirl over geology stuff; how, even though I'm a rockstar computer whiz when it comes to blogging, I don't know sh*t about Excel (my only B!), how I get way in over my head for simple design assignments, and while I'm decent at drawing, I still have a long way to go.Even my summer school classes, English 102 and Public Speaking - which I thought would be a breeze - challenged me in ways I never expected.Look for more about my school adventures in the future. It's certainly an overwhelming change of pace, going from full time mom to full time student, especially as an older -excuse me - non-traditional student, but it feels good. I have always loved to learn, and maybe I'm at the right time in my life where I'm able to appreciate the lessons. Wish me luck.Look for Images from my first semester in the next post: Back to School: Projects

Meet the Writer - Tom Leveen

An author interview on the craft of writing.

Featured Writer: Tom Leveen

Book: manicpixiedreamgirl, Contemporary YA

In celebration of Tom's latest book, and because I LOVE MY READERS :D I am giving away a signed copy of manicpixiedreamgirl! Read on, and enter for your chance!!I said it when I read Party, Tom Leveen's debut novel, and I'll say it again: I will be very very shocked if we don't see a TV or movie adaptation of his work sometime in the near future. While Party could easily be adapted into an MTV series (each of eleven chapters is told from a different character's point-of-view, all on the same night - at a high school party), and Zero has an indie-film feel, manicpixiedreamgirl is like today's version of a John Hughes film.Yes. I just compared up-and-coming YA author Tom Leveen to the Martin Scorsese of 80's teen angst.And it's apropos, considering, in Tom's own description of himself freshman year, he had "that whole John Bender thing going," or at least that's the look he was going for at the time. But as all of us former freshmen know, the look you want to have is much further from the persona you actually project. We want to be badass, confident and sexy; when in actuality we are awkward, nerdy, and to most of the world, still "kids."In manicpixiedreamgirl's Tyler—loosely biographical—Tom captures these feelings to a T. Internally, the rush of what you wish was your reality, all the hopes, dreams, and feelings flowing like a fast-moving river; the image of yourself looking fabulous, walking up to your crush and reciting some impressive commentary on Whatever Is Relevant At The Time. But externally, you can barely look them in the eye, and what you really say—the still-puddle of one-syllable responses: "yup," "nope," "uh..." John Bender reduced to Brian Johnson.I first introduced you to Tom in this guest post for Will Write for Coffee. When I met him, Tom had just released his first book, Party, and gave a presentation at our regional SCBWI conference. I had loaned out my copy of Party to a friend, and had stupidly forgotten my wallet in my other purse and wasn't able to buy a copy at the conference. Being a geek, I like to have signed copies from authors I've met. I asked Tom if I could order a signed copy online. He did the absolute coolest thing right then and there—checked to make sure no one was looking, held his finger in a "shh," and slipped me a copy from his messenger bag, which I then sheepishly brought to the autograph table about 10 minutes later. He's been a rock star in my mind since.Even better, after I'd asked him to do this interview, he was scheduled to appear at out local Indie, Changing Hands Bookstore, for the release of manicpixiedreamgirl. I dragged my 15-year-old son and his friend along, and listened to them complain all the way about how boring it would be. I had to bribe them with Jamba Juice just to go with me. (Really, five bucks for a fruit shake?) I forced my son to actually sit down with me during the presentation, rather than let him wander around the store wreaking havoc. What a heinous mother I am.About two seconds into Tom's presentation, my son and his friend were laughing hysterically, and I was laughing so hard I was crying. He is so animated and enthusiastic about what he does, and grateful for his ability to do it, it's infectious. And by the time he's done relating Tyler's story to his own evolution, you are pretty much just as in love with his wife Joy as he is. Seriously, if your school or organization is thinking of an author visit - don't even look anywhere else - Tom will entertain and motivate like none other. And if Tom isn't enough, his son Toby will definitely do the trick.It's an honor and a privilege to introduce you.

Meet the Writer: Tom Leveen

On craft:

How old were you when you started writing?I wrote my first story in second grade, so, about seven years old I think. My teacher made me rewrite it and read it aloud to the first graders. At first I thought I was being punished for something, but once I got up in front of the class, I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life: tell stories and be in front of an audience. So that’s worked out well.Where do you write?I write in an indie coffee shop not far from my house, and also in my home office.

When do you write?New stuff—brand new, no revision-type stuff—I generally do in the mornings. I used to stay up all night and write, and I miss doing that, but having a toddler has that effect. I use afternoons and evenings to do editing or revision, as well as other business stuff. Like answering interview questions!What helps you write—music, pictures, maps, journals, etc.—what gets you into that mindset?A routine.I recommend this to all writers. If you can get into a pattern, your brain starts to make associations. Like at my coffee shop, there’s a certain table and certain chair I always use, and within a few minutes of being there and getting set up, I can feel my brain (usually) start to click over to the job at hand, which is continuing that day’s story.Beyond that, internet research helps me a lot. The more I dig into a topic and click around on websites, the more ideas I get. I do usually make playlists for my stories, too, but I don’t listen to music while I write anymore. Sometimes when I’m making copyedits, but that’s it.What are some things that stand in your way? logistically as well as creatively?See above!No, really, the internet is without doubt the writer’s best friend, apart from time. But it’s also a curse, because man, you start off with just needing to know some quick obscure fact, like the capital of Guam, and then an hour’s gone by and you haven’t written a word. And by “you” I mean “me,” of course.Creatively what makes me stumble is doubt coupled with certainty. For whatever reason, the stuff that I feel most excited about turns out to be my worst writing, and the stuff I’m sure sucks is inevitably what my agent picks up on and wants to read more of. So it gets very confusing in my head sometimes.What do you do when you "hit a wall?"It depends. I’ve gotten better at being honest with myself and how I’m feeling, be it physical or mental. There are some days like, “You know what? This ain’t gettin’ done. It’s just not happening.” When I feel like that, then I pack it in and do something else for the rest of the day, and try again tomorrow. Then there are other times I hit a wall, but I can still feel like the words are there, the story is there; I just have to figure it out. In those cases, a walk helps. Pacing around the house. Talking out loud. Anything to let my mind wander for a bit. Usually within ten to thirty minutes the dam breaks.Beyond that, I will often just open a new story and start something new or work on something old. Let my subconscious figure it out. Do you use an outline—do you know exactly how the arc will play out—or do you just let the story develop as you write? If so, how do you outline? (notecards, etc.)Hm…good question. I guess both.What tends to happen, lately, is I free write a first draft, or at least half a first draft, and then go back and give it an outline. Sometimes I’ll use the Hero’s Journey as a template, not necessarily point by point, but just to see if there is in fact, you know—a plot. (There isn’t always, especially in that first draft.) My outlines usually just consist of a Word doc with notes (often longer than the book itself, it turns out), and sometimes an Excel doc so I can move things around and keep the plot points, character names and locations, etc., organized.In terms of the arc, I don’t usually know exactly how things will turn out, though on some stories, I discover the ending about halfway through the writing. Zero’s ending has been the same since the first draft in 1993. For manicpixiedreamgirl, I knew most of where I wanted it to end up. But with Party – which went through more drafts than the other two – I never did know for sure how to tie it up until just before we pitched it.How do you draft/revise? (i.e. do you just get it out in one big "dump," then revise, revise revise, or do you revise and edit as you go)I try hard to get the first draft out all in one go. Usually what happens is I’ll do a bit of revision as go, though. If I stop to revise too much, the book never gets done. And there’s no point in revising a story that had no middle or end. I think I’ve gotten better about completing those first drafts. They are awful, but that’s what first drafts are for!What are some tools that you use? (reference guides, manuals, websites—a favorite pen/notebook/computer)Well, I use the internet pretty extensively for research, whether it’s just a quick fact check or more in-depth. I often use videos, too—documentaries, usually, or travelogues. I do all of my composing on my desktop and an obsolete netbook. Come to think of it, the desktop is obsolete too, but I can’t stomach the newer versions of Word. I want my old 2003 version, thanks.Lately I’ve also appreciated using a handheld recorder or the sound recording option on my cell phone to speak quick notes or lines of dialogue before I forget them. That’s been hugely helpful.Beyond that, I don’t really have anything special to use while writing. I don’t think…Do you use critique groups? How did you find them?I do not, at the moment, but I did before I was published.  I highly recommend the forums at www.absolutewrite.com, without whom I would never have gotten my first agent. No question.I haven’t really had a formal critique group since college. I think there is value in them, but I also thing aspiring writers need to know what to look for—namely, people (or just one or two good beta readers) who will not only be honest, but know what to be honest about.I’ve taken some creative writing classes that I really enjoyed attending, for instance, but in hindsight realized: I didn’t learn a damn thing! The feedback was nice and encouraging, and I made a few changes that helped the story…but a bunch of people saying “I liked this; I didn’t like this” is not the same as a knowledgeable person saying, “Your pacing is too slow in chapter two. Your secondary characters are flat and uninteresting. The plot is too convoluted. Cut chapter four entirely.” Things like that. Concrete ideas and suggestions that turn a decent book into a marketable book.I don’t know how to find those. But if anyone in the group has published, that helps. But the real hard part is listening to criticism and knowing when the criticism is right. I always recommend checking local libraries and indie bookstores for groups.

On your current project:

What was your inspiration for this book?Real life! Sort of.I actually already had an outline of manicpixiedreamgirl that formed the spine of a one-man play I wrote and directed a few years out of high school, which itself was loosely based on real events. But manicpixiedreamgirl is not autobiographical; it’s just emotionally true to what I experienced.What kind of research did you do for this book? And, were you surprised by something that you learned in your research?I didn’t need to do much research with manicpixiedreamgirl, because it dealt with writing and theatre, two things I know a lot about. And since the story already had a framework from the play, there wasn’t much to look into.On the other hand, for Sick (Oct. 1, 2013, Abrams/Amulet), I had to do a ton of medical research. Gross, disgusting medical research. I was surprised that my initial concept for the “zombies” in the novel (they are not undead, though the characters have a whole debate about that) was reasonably medically based, or at least could be.How good did it feel to write that last line?For manicpixiedreamgirl? Very good. Like closure. Much like Zero, this one had been with me a long time, and it was nice to put it to bed.

On the business of publishing:

How did you find your agent/editor?I used AgentQuery.com and resources on AbsoluteWrite. I may have even used a print version of Writer’s Market, come to think of it. I built an Excel sheet with the agency’s name, agent’s name, when I submitted, and what if any response I got. I got picked up after about forty rejections by Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and I’ve been there ever since. How has self-publishing shaped your career as a writer? / What is your opinion of self-publishing?I haven’t yet done it, so I can’t speak with any authority. I will underline the “yet,” though, as I am already in the early stages of planning some self-published work.My opinion of self-pub is this: One, it’s not going away. Two, to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park: “Writers can get so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”I’m less of a doomsayer about traditional publishing and agents than some of my best writer friends, but there’s no doubt the industry has changed and will continue to change. But I will also say that my most valuable instruction came from my agents and editors. I always recommend that writers give the traditional route a try first, if only for the experience of revision (and revision and revision and revision…) that goes into a good, marketable novel. Being able to write a good query and condense that novel into 200 words or less is a good skill to have for someone going the indie route.I try to say this to every writing class I teach: Writing fiction is a business. And self-publishing is twice or more the work traditional publishing is because you’re doing it all alone. Yes, there are examples of big breakthroughs, but they are in the minority.My friend Erin Jade Lange (author of Butter) recently said at a conference, “You have to love writing more than showers.” She’s dead right. You have to love this more than just about anything else on earth to make a real go of it. The man-hours it takes to really, truly put out a great novel is daunting. Or should be, if you’re think about it enough. Finishing up your NaNoWriMo book and plugging it into Smashwords on December 1 is not how to do it.Sound advice to all the NaNos out there! What can you share with our readers about marketing? (i.e. what, if any, support did you have from your publisher? Costs involved? Things that worked best/weren't worth it, etc.)Ya know, this is my major weakness. I’m still learning. I think postcards are a great idea, I carry those around with me. Business cards are still useful. Having an online presence is essential, even if you don’t want one.Really the biggest thing was making ARCs and e-galleys available to the book bloggers out there. That’s where a lot of interest gets generated.But when it comes to MG and YA authors, there’s no beating getting yourself in front of students. You don’t need a gimmick or anything; just be yourself and talk about things that matter to you in a way that will matter to them. I think I sell about as many books based on my writing classes and presentations as I do what any journal has to say about the novel itself.(As I stated above, I can attest to Tom's presentation skills. Not only have I seen him talk about his books, but I've taken his "Say Words" writer's workshop. He helps writers portray realistic teen dialogue. And, the class that Tom had been working with at Estella Mountain HS came all the way across town just to celebrate his book release. Think he speaks to kids? Yeah.) 

About You:

What is a trick that you've learned along the way that has made the writing process easier?None that I am aware of…Okay, no, just kidding. For me, (relative) silence and having a schedule. Those two things have helped more than anything else. Some authors call it “B.I.C.” which means, Butt In Chair. It means there’s no substitute for sitting down and writing. Now, I myself often stand while at my coffee shop, because they have these great, tall bar tables. But you get the drift. Even if the only time you can write is Thursday morning from five a.m. to seven a.m., then by cracky, that’s when you will write. And the more you do that, the easier it gets.What writers inspire you?The late John Bellairs (The Mummy, The Will, and The Crypt) influenced me a lot. So did early Stephen King stories and novels, and most of Robert Cormier’s books (The Chocolate War, etc.) I kind of want to be Laurie Halse Anderson when I grow up . . . or at least have the range of influence she does. I’d put A.S. King in there, too. These women are at the forefront of tangibly changing the lives of adolescents, and that’s what I want more than anything.Really the writers who inspire me are the writers who I’ve become friends with since this whole thing started. There’s a whole clutch of YA and MG writers here in the Phoenix and wider Arizona area, and they are truly awesome people. I learn – present tense – a lot from them.What do you like to read for enjoyment?Lately I have been reading a lot of nonfiction. It started when a good friend of mine recommended the popular book Born To Run. I really enjoyed that. Then she recommended another that I fell in love with Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. A third followed. So now anything she recommends to me, I will read.Then I began reading up on Gandhi while doing research, and that led to a whole list of must-reads. So these days, if I’m not re-reading some middle-grade novel from the eighties that I grew up with (kind of like comfort food, only, in words), I’m reading one or more nonfiction books on any number of topics.We all know that learning from our mistakes is part of the process of becoming who we are. As a writer, what's one lesson you've learned that you would like to pass on to others?Writing fiction is a business. Sorry to go all serious on you, but yeah – the instant you decide you want someone to pay you for writing fiction, you are a small business owner. Act like it.I'm so glad you said that. I think more writers need to realize that being an author is WAY MORE  than writing a book.What's next for you?Next is Sick (Abrams/Amulet), which releases October 1, 2013. After that is Random (Simon Pulse) in Summer 2014. I’m getting some side projects worked up, slowly. Mostly I just keep looking for places to present and to teach. It’s the best part of all this.I can imagine. After seeing you speak several times, it shows that you really enjoy teaching others about writing, especially kids. Thank you so much, Tom! I hope everyone has learned more about what it takes to be a writer. Readers, see below for more of Tom's books, and a chance to win a signed hardcover copy of manicpixiedreamgirl!Tom's Books:

Party

Zero

manicpixiedreamgirl

 For a chance to win a signed hardcover copy of Tom's newest book, manicpixiedreamgirl, leave a comment about the interview, below! Winner will be chosen at random in one week and notified by email!! Good Luck!Tom's website: www.tomleveen.comTwitter: @tomleveenFacebook: Tom LeveenAnother great interview with Tom: Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTESee Tom at Phoenix ComiCon! Phoenix New Times review of MPDGLast but not least...What's the funniest thing you've seen online lately? The funniest thing was actually something I had to go back and look up not long ago: A piece from The Daily Show about the Navy SEALs who took out the pirates while on a boat. photo of Tom Leveen used by permission © John Groseclose www.photographybanned.comThanks for reading!Heidi

Sample Chapter - Ruby and the Unicorn ch. 12

It's been awhile since I've posted any progress on my book, and with going back to school, it's been a bit on the backburner (again), but with some recent encouragement from writing friends, and a Unicorn-loving little girl, I think it's time to revisit Ruby.

Chroicoragh, the Unicorn in my backyard, inspired me to write this book. Ruby is a 13-year-old girl, growing up in the middle-of-nowhere, Middle America. She might seem familiar to you. Here's my "elevator pitch":

Her parents are breaking up. The hunky farm boy down the road doesn't notice her. She's having strange dreams of hummingbirds, and all she can think about is getting a horse. But when she discovers a Unicorn in her neighbor's barn, Ruby Fortuna goes on the adventure of a lifetime.

An elevator pitch is something you could use if you ever are stuck in an elevator with, say, Faye Bender or Jennifer Laughran, or George Lucas, and they just happen to say: "Oh, you wrote a book? What's it about?" Then you give them your pitch, and by the time you are stepping off the elevator, they're shaking your hand and going, "Have your people call my people." Then 12 months later you are at the book release/movie premiere/Newbery Awards, saying, "Thank you, thank you, it all started with a serendipitous elevator ride..."But first, one must finish the book. :) Working on it! Until then, a teaser: 

RUBY AND THE UNICORN

Chapter 12

 Dodder’s Field sat on a low hill above the river. The small cemetery dated back to the days of the town’s founding fathers, and some of the limestone grave markers dated over 150 years old. Elm and walnut trees stood guard over peaceful grounds, seldom visited, but well-kept. Graceful stems embraced granite monuments of residents past.Moonlight shone down through the trees, giving the place an eerie otherworldly glister. Bad enough being in a cemetery at all hours of the night, but the strange glow trickling through branches and and reflecting off headstones made it seem they had stepped into another time. Though the air felt balmy, Ruby shivered as they entered the hallowed grounds. David looked around, scanning the shadows. Chroicoragh went forward, and sidestepped walking over a grave, out of respect for the mortal remains within.Ruby, taking note of the plots, looked down and realized her boots and legs were not getting wet anymore from rain soaked grass.“Hey, look. It’s dry here,” she said, and startled herself by how loud her voice sounded in the stillness of the graveyard.David paused to glance around him.“Huh, you’re right. Must not’ve rained here. That’s weird.” He was careful to use a more subdued voice.“Really weird,” stated Ruby, “especially seeing as how big that storm was.”“So,” David began, “this all started with a hummingbird?”“I think so,” Ruby replied.The two had been discussing the day’s events, and David was still trying to put the pieces together. Ruby had told him about her dream and then seeing the hummingbird when she woke up, and then later, in Molly’s barn, with Chroicoragh. And she told him all about the storm, and the lightning, and discovering the Unicorn.When David had asked her why she’d been out at Molly’s in the storm, she told him about her parents’ fight, and that creep, Mr. Miller, and of the ruined photograph. She didn’t say anything about seeing Bobby and Missy and the other kids in the car. She’d been embarrassed and humiliated, and besides which, she didn’t want her best friend David to know she had a crush on Bobby, his bossy big brother.  It would’ve been too weird.“Well, I wonder what the bird has to do with any of it,” David pondered.“I don’t know,” said Ruby, “I never really thought about it. I just thought it was strange to see a hummingbird. Have you ever seen one around here? My grandparents had some around their ranch out west, but I’ve never never seen one here.”“Nope, me neither. Why don’t you ask her?” David said, thumbing in Chroicoragh’s direction.Ruby perked. The thought hadn’t occurred to her, and she’d almost forgotten about her ability to communicate with the Unicorn, since the creature hadn’t spoken to her since they’d left David’s house. Chroicoragh seemed to be aware of Ruby’s thoughts, because the girl then heard the soft lilting voice in her head:Child, sometimes ‘tis better to listen than to speak.“What do you mean?” Asked Ruby.The boy has a good heart, he will suit us well on our path. As we walked, I did not interrupt your tale so that I may better attend to the essence of your companion. “Where your mouth may make you blind, your ears may make you see” she quoted. “What’s that from? It sounds familiar,” Ruby asked.‘Tis wisdom of the Ancients, replied Chroicoragh, passing a large lichen-covered mausoleum.“Where your mouth may make you blind, your ears may make you see?”“What?” Said David.Ruby repeated the phrase, and pushed a fern out of her way.“What does that mean?” He asked.It is a lesson. Remember it well,  the mare cautioned.“I’m not sure,” started Ruby, “but I think it’s the same thing my dad says to me sometimes when I’m arguing with him. Only he says it ‘Sit down and shut up.’”Yes. One cannot hear what he speaks over. “Anyway, Chroicoragh, do you know anything about the hummingbird?”Dappled moon-shadows darted grey and white on the soft grass as they walked, and shafts of shimmery light stood like columns in a cathedral.Humming bird? The mare questioned. What is a ‘humming-bird’?“The little bird that was flying around your head today, in Molly’s barn.”I saw only the sprite, Chroicoragh answered.“Sprite?” Said Ruby.“Sprite?” echoed David, “you mean like 7-Up? Ouch!” he said. He had run into a blackberry bush, and its thorny brambles stuck to his shirt.“No, ssh,” said Ruby to David, “I’m trying to hear her.”“What Sprite? Like a fairy?” Asked Ruby.“Oh, yeah,” said David to himself, “shoulda known that. Duh.”One of the fair folk, yes, Child. Siofran, Lord Chamberlain of the High Court. A wood-sprite; an honorable breed.“Oh. Sounds important.”Yes. Very important, Chroicoragh replied, but said no more.Ruby noticed they had almost reached the far edge of the cemetery. She turned to David.“Where did you see it? The fairy ring.”He got his bearings.“Well, there’s the Pierces’ plot, over here, and the Ayers monument is that way...where’s the tree with the ‘No Hunting’ sign? It marks the back of Schultz’s property. That’s where the fence is down and you can cut through.”“How’d you find this place anyway?” Ruby asked him.“Debbie showed me.”“Debbie Twist?” Ruby said, in disgust.“Yeah. Old Schultz is their grandpa. What?” He asked, noticing the look on Ruby’s face.“Ew. I don’t see why you guys are always hanging around those Twists. I can’t stand them. They’re so phony,” Ruby tilted her chin up in defense.“Oh, come on, Debbie and Missy aren’t that bad. Besides, our parents have been friends forever. We’re just used to seeing them, that’s all. Oh, there it is,” he said, heading for a large elm, an old metal sign nailed to it side, and rusty barbed wire enveloped in its skin. The fence had deteriorated enough to let the three of them pass through, single file. First David, then Ruby, and Chroicoragh following behind.As Ruby stepped from the sanctuary of the graveyard to the woods beyond, she thought she heard light notes of laughter, like a giggle.She trailed after David as he wound his way through the overgrowth, backtracking and correcting his path along  the way, studying the trees around him, trying to find a particular spot.We are near, Ruby heard Chroicoragh’s voice, but there are others.“Others?” Ruby stopped, and reached out to grab David’s shirt, “wait up.”He stopped, and the tinkle of laughter floated to them again.“Wait a minute,” David said, “that’s where it is. But who’s over there? Did you hear that?” He asked Ruby.She nodded, holding her finger to her lips in a “ssh” motion. Then she waved her hand, pushing toward the ground, signaling to go slow. She wanted to find out whoever was in the woods before letting her own presence be known, and especially didn’t want any strangers seeing two kids out by the cemetery at night with a Unicorn. Try explaining that, she thought.With that thought in Ruby’s mind, Chroicoragh understood, and hung back just enough to be able to see the children, without being seen herself.David inched forward, crouching low behind ferns, and a fallen tree. Ruby crept up beside him, and peered into the grove.A circle of oak trees formed the border of a clearing, carpeted with thick moss. In the moss dotted with acorns, another perfect circle formed, a ring made of hundreds of mushrooms,  some tall, some short, broad and button-like. Ruby could see why they called it a Fairy Ring. The moonlight within the ring flickered and shimmered like glitter in one of her grandma’s snow-globes. Mysterious and magical, it drew her in.The sound of voices reminded her to remain cautious, and she pulled her focus away from the ring. Across the clearing on the opposite edge near the trees, lay a young couple canoodling on an old blanket. The boy wore cut off shorts, and tube socks. He kissed the girl, oblivious to anything else, and his hand groped beneath her blouse. Suddenly Ruby’s face felt warm. She avoided looking over at David, afraid he would notice her spying, even though she knew he saw the same thing.The girl arched her back, and spoke softly. A ray of light illuminated the view, and Ruby’s heart caught in her throat.Missy Twist....and Bobby.

END OF CHAPTER 12

I'm kind of scared to be putting this out there, so be gentle with me. Let me know what you think in the comments.Would YOU keep reading?

Easy, yummy BBQ Chicken

If you know me, you know that I do a lot of cooking. I don't really have much choice. Feeding the monkeys is a full time job in and of itself, especially monkey #1, who, if there isn't a homemade meal readily available, will alternate between the fridge and pantry, and proclaim,

There's no FOOD around here!

Even though there is food; it's just not prepared. God forbid they feed themselves. Just kidding - they're getting better - it's all a learning process, right? When I was 19, all I knew how to cook was Macaroni 'n' Cheese and cold cereal.  Besides I'm happy that they'd rather have my cooking.So why don't I do more cooking posts? Good question. Mostly the reason is, when I'm cooking, I'm rocking & rolling, and don't think to take pictures until after everything is finished. Plus, I don't have a very photogenic kitchen and a super-duper camera like some people. I use my iPhone in my grungy old kitchen with the fluorescent lights from hell. (You know, one bulb is always flickering, and they do that weird humming noise until you bang on the ceiling?)So, if you, my viewing public, don't mind some yellow-ish photos, I will be happy to share more recipes. My cooking style is mostly homemade, using as few packaged products as possible. Usually I have a long version, and a shortcut version of what I'm making, depending on how much time I have, what I have on hand, and the status of the growling coming from the Monkeys. I use sugar, I use butter, I use gluten (whatever the FUCK that is anyway), I use meat, so if you are looking for some specialty diet, this ain't  the place for you. BUT I do try to make everything as fresh and (relatively) healthy as possible; i.e., while I do use butter, I use olive oil more.If you like it, great if not, too bad. Around here,

You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.

BBQ Chicken:

Heat oven to 350°

• 1 ½ - 2  Roasting chickens, cut into pieces or halves
• Kosher salt
• ½ Onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1-2 whole cloves garlic, no need to peel
• olive oil
• squeeze of lemon
• water

(optional side dishes - baked sweet potato, and sautéed broccoli rabe; see below)

Sprinkle salt on chicken, and place on a rack in a baking pan (I used a cooling rack on a cookie sheet - see picture). Spread pieces of onion and cloves of garlic all around the pieces of chicken. No need for perfection - you just want to get some flavor in there. Then drizzle olive oil over the top, and squeeze a wedge or two of lemon over everything. You can just leave the lemon wedges in the pan, as the flavor and aroma will mix in while everything is cooking. If you want to, and you have it available, you can add fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme too, but I didn't do that this time. This was just a quick n' dirty throw-it-in-the-oven type of dinner.When your chicken is seasoned, add about ¾ cup of water to the pan, cover the whole thing tightly with foil, and stick in the oven. Leave it for about an hour and a half, more or less. (The longer it cooks, the more tender your chicken will be, but too long and it will fall apart. Really too long and it will turn to charcoal and your house will burn down. So think about and hour - hour and a half.)(Super secret tip! This is also how I make melt-in-your-mouth BBQ ribs! Only you cook those for about 3 hours.)After I got the chicken in the oven, I scrubbed & dried some sweet potatoes, schmeared them with olive oil & sprinkled with Kosher salt. I placed these on a piece of foil (because they drip when cooking) right on the bottom rack of the oven.Do some laundry, sweep the front patio or go on Pinterest for awhile.Wash & trim your broccoli rabe. I didn't take this picture, but it looks like this (click for source):Now you might be saying to yourself, "Ew, it's all green, and leafy; I'm not going to eat that!"Oh yes, you will eat it, mister, and you will like it!This stuff is loaded with vitamins, and even though it looks gross to you non-veggie eaters out there, it is really quite delicious, especially when prepared right. AND it's the perfect compliment to your BBQ so quit yer bitchin and make it already! It cooks pretty fast, and it tastes best when eaten right away, so you can wait until your chicken is almost done to start it.

Sautéed Broccoli Rabe

Put a large pot of water on to boil. When boiling, add a generous amount of salt (a handful). Throw in the broccoli rabe and let cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the stalks are just tender enough when pierced with a fork or knife.While the broccoli rabe is cooking, chop 2 cloves of garlic.Drain broccoli rabe in colander and dump out the water. Put the pot back on the stove and heat up 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sautée the garlic just until translucent (about a minute or two on medium-high heat. Not too long or too hot, or it will burn. Hint: if you do burn garlic, toss it and start over. It won't taste good). Then add the broccoli rabe back to the pan, and heat through. It will only take a couple of minutes. Squeeze lemon over the top, and you're done! Super easy & good for you!Now, back to your chicken.Before removing the chicken from the oven, go outside and heat up your grill to about 400°. (If you don't have one, I'm sure a grill pan or an indoor grill will work.) Make sure to spray the grill with non-stick spray or oil the grill racks with olive oil.Remove the chicken from the oven and carefully drain the water from the pan. Get some BBQ sauce and a cold beer and take everything out to the grill.Throw your chicken on the grill, then close the grill. Flip the chicken over back and forth, every 3-4 minutes or so. Spread the BBQ sauce on with a basting brush every time you move the chicken. Do this a few times, just until you have gotten a nice glaze of sauce and some nice crispy grill marks, to your taste. I like mine just a teeny bit burnt around the edges. But I'm weird. At any rate, you should only have the chicken on the grill for about 15 minutes (give or take) altogether. Otherwise it will get dried out.Be sure to sip the cold beer while you are grilling. Don't ask why. Just do it.Then when you get the pan in the house, you want to test a chicken wing, just to check and see how it came out. And before you knew it you ate two chicken wings and forgot to take a picture.

Then you say to yourself:holy shit that was the best BBQ chicken everand decide to post it on instagram. (Making sure to #tweet it as well.) Then you decide you'd better take a pretty picture of it before you maul the rest of it.Now go eat.xo heidi

Self Portrait, With Horse

Taking pictures of horses: Hard. (Because they never stand still)Taking pictures of yourself: Hard. (Because your arms are too short and you haven't quite perfected the social media self-portrait that most teen girls can do in their sleep nowadays, and you are a big middle-aged dork.)Taking pictures of yourself AND your horses? Well now that's just downright comical. I kept laughing because they stick their big noses in the way. (my horses are just as dorky as I am)My results:

wordpress, in all their wisdom has done another update, and I haven't figured out how to fix this photo gallery. hang in there. I'll get it fixed :)thanks for laughing along,Heidi

And So It Goes

This has been the most difficult post to write. Which is probably why it has taken me so long to attempt it. I guess maybe I thought if I didn't acknowledge it, it wouldn't be true.My brother died.This post is for him.

♡

These are things that my brother loved:

• my sister-in-law
• music
• laughing
• beer
• cigars
• basset hounds
• his car
• guitars
• correct grammar
• really good music
• Neal Peart
• going to his weekend property
• the album Asia by Asia

 "The Heat of the Moment" has a distinct drum rhythm, and when John was learning (rather, teaching himself) how to play drums, he would start that LP over and over at the very beginning, put on his headphones, and drum out the beat on the one practice snare drum that he had gotten for Christmas two years before, when my parents were still married, and probably hoped that all those years of paying for a rental trombone wouldn't be washed away by a shiny new drum. It replaced the beat-up square of leftover carpet that he'd been using up until then. Actually I think the drum was a gift from my Grandpa. Which makes sense because it was just the type of gift my grandpa would give - something to impress everyone else. Something that was a little expensive, and something that was close to the kid's heart but his parents were on the fence about, so you bought it for him and instantly became the hero.

I'm assuming the trombone was either rented, or a loaner from the school; we wouldn't have been able to afford a new one. I imagine he was probably allowed to buy a used horn a after a few years of sticking with it, and starting the drums would have to be a side project. He would go on to play trombone in the school band all the way to graduation (and later in college, majoring in trombone), filling in on the drums here and there for practicing in the bandroom, and starting a garage band on the weekend with his buddies. (What's up, Northern Lites?) As a senior, he actually got to march with the drums.Anyway, the snare drum had to have a towel stuffed in it to mute the sound of the drumming, because if there's any noise that gets annoying after a while, it's a sixteen year old boy teaching himself to play the drums by playing the first two minutes of an 80's schlock-rock band over and over and over and over.BOOM - boomboom - TAH! BOOM - boomboom - TAH!Drummers, you know what I'm talking about.Asia was was right after my parents got divorced, and me, my brother and my mom had all moved into the apartment above my soon-to-be stepdad's photography studio. I guess I was the only one who just thought it was incredibly convenient and not involving any other sort of coincidence that there just happened to be an attic apartment for rent in the 3-story Victorian home on Main Street that housed a studio, office darkroom, and private residence of the man who would marry my mother less than a year later. But things tend to go over my head.I don't think anything EVER went over John's head, which meant he had put 2+2 together, and realized why we lived in the same house with this man, and just what was going on when work ran into the evening hours. Which explains why he was so pissed off all the time, and pounding on that drum as if it had just committed some sort of offense.Which is why music saved my brother.I honestly have no idea what kind of person John would have become had it not been for the saving grace of Music.It was his confidant, his confessor, his therapist, his "safe place."He hadn't had the easiest life. When we were very young, he had some tough experiences, which for the sake of good manners will remain private for now. But nevertheless, at the time these things were happening to John, publicly he had to put on a good face, be the happy kid; the good son. And when he had time to himself, the only thing that kept him from acting out his rage destructively, was music.Before Asia - before the divorce and during everything that led up to it - Our parents' records - The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins soundtracks (our mom used to sing us to sleep with "Stay Awake," and evey chore was accompanied by "A Spoonful of Sugar"), John Denver An Evening With John Denver and Neil Diamond Hot August Night; there was the Big Band Era - Glen Miller, Buddy Rich and Benny Goodman; 70's rock - The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix; 80's everything - Journey, Michael Jackson, Rush (of course), and Billy Joel. We borrowed the Billy Joel LP, Glass Houses from the library so many times we had to buy it.In addition to playing First Chair Trombone, John added a cymbal and base drum to his set and moved it to the basement, and wasn't allowed to play too late into the night. But during the day, if you were within a quarter mile of our house, you would say, there goes that Giovannoni kid again on those drums.I remember one time, being in the attic bedroom, singing along to Pat Benatar, and hearing John practicing down in the basement, there was some type of military fly-over, and I heard my first actual Sonic Boom. I thought John had just hit the drums really hard.So as the family split apart, more pieces got added to the drum set as he saved his money: a cymbal high-hat, a tom-tom drum, some type of smaller drum that I don't even remember the name of, and so on. Then we moved away. From our familiar small town to a bigger, busier, medium-sized city. The high school population was triple that of our home town, and in an area not far from the projects. He lasted one day at that school, then decided living in my dad's 2 bedroom, one bath rental apartment in the country and going to high school with his friends was a much better idea. So he moved back with our dad, and I stayed with my mom and stepdad. I considered the whole moving thing kind of an adventure, and besides, if I was going to be a Movie Star, I had to get out of that small town.The next summer, the three of us, my mom, stepdad and me, moved to Arizona. I would go home to the Midwest at Christmas and on summer vacation to see my dad and John, and my "wicked stepmother"—which is what we jokingly call my awesome, amazing stepmother, who pretty much everyone agrees was a gift from God. At Christmas, we would go to all of my Italian family's houses for dinner. There would be lots of eating, lots of loud talking and laughing and drinking and smoking and laughing. And kids running around being noisy, and music playing. And probably some yelling in there, too.I would show off my latest stupid 80s haircut, and—as my cousin Brad never fails to remind me—wore a pair of white Van's on which I had painted the proclamation FEED THE WORLD. I also sported some wicked eye makeup. More than any 15 year old has a right to wear. But hey, I was breaking out. I was finding myself.John wore his signature Levi's, white Oxford button down, leather loafers, a sport coat, and an Alex P. Keaton-inspired necktie. He was gorgeous, but didn't think so. He'd be at the ancient upright piano in my grandmother's basement, and since it was the only musical instrument around, he sat there, on the bench, tinkering with the keys, playing around, finding the notes he was looking for—and that's how he started to teach himself to play the piano. Sometimes my cousin Nathan would sit with him, and talk while my brother played, since they were of the same away-from-the-noisy-crowd disposition. His defense was to either separate himself, or be the most obnoxious one in the room. Having a guitar meant he could be part of the action, but still have something to hide behind.But I really didn't see much of John on my visits home. We had different friends, and the older sibling seldom welcomes the younger sibling into their group of friends. Especially guy/girl variances. When your best buddies want to date your sister, you tend to want to keep your sister as far away from them as possible. So we didn't do a lot of stuff together. Besides, I was too busy hanging out with my own friends in between family outings. My friend Tracy and I were pretty much joined at the hip. I'm still looking for the scar that shows we were somehow surgically separated.And the places John would be? Practicing songs with his band, Northern Lites; or hanging out in the choir room at school. Our choir teacher, Mrs. Keene, band director, Mr. Cerveny, and John's piano teacher, Mrs, Schiller, were the human counterparts to his music therapy. They each took equal parts in saving my brother from himself. The choir room, that ancient basement sanctuary, where John would be joking around with his friends or flirting with his girlfriend as she sat at the piano. The girl that he broke up with a year later when she went to Minnesota for school, and kept in touch with over all the years and after they each had a string of relationships, and each a failed marriage. The girl, who after all of that, 25 years later, would become his wife, Chris. Yeah, that girl. The one who always knew him, who understood him, and who had his heart.And in that 25 year span, he went to college, dropped out of college, tried a move to Arizona—which was cool, because we got to hang out together—but ultimately decided AZ was not the place for him, packed up his drums in the '69 Caddy and drove all the way back home to Illinois. And I went to college, dropped out of college, moved to Chicago, failed miserably, moved back to AZ, went back to college, met my husband, dropped out of college again, and got married and started raising a family of smelly boys who idolized their smelly uncle.In that time, John and his then-girlfriend, Carol, began an adventure that neither of them would believe would become what is is today, 18 years later: the award-winning landmark of downtown Palatine, The Music Room.He had gone back to school, attending nights first at Harper College, then went on to Elmhurst College. During that time, he traveled to Europe with the jazz band. Switzerland, Ireland, Malta, Italy and probably a few more spots. He received his degree in Music Education at age 35 (and is hugely responsible for inspiring me to go back to school to pursue my own degree now - in Art Education - at age 43.)Though their romantic relationship ended, John and Carol's friendship and business partnership only continued to grow. They built The Music Room into not only a space for retail and rental instruments, but a gathering place for musicians to both teach and learn. They have also given back to the community with their Gear Shift donation program for used instruments.http://youtu.be/KxjRCVbm9acBut The Music Room was so much more than John's business or job; it was his life. (Second only to his love for my sister-in-law Chris, and the time they spent together at their weekend place, going to local spots for dinner, or just having quiet time at home or with family.) And it shows in the hundreds of comments we have received from former students, their parents, and patrons of John's, as well as members and friends of the band he formed, The Big Cluster Big Band, and former band mates of Simply Vintage.Who could guess that one day you'd get a call, something about a brain tumor, and fourteen months later you are saying goodbye.*And here I am suddenly an only child, in a spinning haze of life going on regardless of the fact that my brother is gone. Going to class, filling up with gas, shopping for groceries, watching TV, taking a shower, having dinner, feeding my horses, checking one kid's homework, and the other kid's college plans, making lunch for my husband, all the day-in day-out stuff that I always did.Only now it's this weird reality. I have more sympathy cards on my kitchen cabinets than I had Christmas cards this year. People I haven't heard from in years, reaching out to me with folded-paper hugs. It's so bizarre. So wonderful and sad at once.And maybe it's taken me so long to write this because in all the business of everyday life, even with the cards and phone calls, even with the times that the realization has knocked me sideways, it really hasn't hit me until now.We didn't  have the perfect relationship (who does?). We didn't talk everyday, or even every month. But the thing about me and my brother was that we didn't need to. We just got each other. In a way that not even my parents, my husband, my kids, even my best friends - John understood me, and I him. That's the biggest thing I will miss. The one person who knew me better than anyone else, is not here anymore.Not here, perhaps, but not gone. He was sitting on my shoulder the whole first week of classes, cheering me on. He's with my sister-in-law, watching over her and trying to help her feel like she's not alone. He and my grandpa are puffing away on cigars, keeping an eye on our parents. He's with his buddies, calling them all a bunch of no-good shitheads. He's with his nieces and nephews hopefully making sure they don't get into too much trouble, but probably snickering when they do. And he's definitely at the store, his baby for the past umpteen years.It's just...selfish, I know, but I just wish he was still here.Things I've learned over the past year:Laughter is the best medicine.True love won't let time or space get in its way.Never underestimate the power of being nice to people.Forgiveness is hard.Oncology doctors and ICU nurses are in a class by themselves.Frampton Comes Alive is an album that should be listened to all the way through, over good food, with people you love.A year goes by way too fast.This was played for John at his Celebration of Life. I couldn't think of a better song:http://youtu.be/FHO6a2H-pqYMore about John here, here, and here. And on YouTube here and here.*also: I just want to say Kudos to Valerie Harper and thank her for being so open, brave and honest about her recent diagnosis. Hopefully by bringing more attention to brain cancer, scientists and doctors will be able to come up with more effective treatments for this brutal disease.

Thanks, as always, for reading. xoxo heidi.For information or to donate to the John Giovannoni Memorial Scholarship Fund, click here.please feel free to leave a comment below.

Free Publicity? No Way! (Ok, but you have to buy me shoes)

If you have a blog, website, are a newly published author or some other type of quasi-professional needing free publicity, and would like your farm or book or thing featured, please send your website and email address to: wcgypsy(at)me.com or use contact form below. You will be contacted when space becomes available. I am also interested in emerging artists, and would be happy to consider adding a "gallery" category to the blog.If you have a strong dislike for swearing and brutal honesty, you probably won't like my site.Writers: If you have an idea for a guest post, please send me a brief pitch and a link to your blog so I can see what your writing is like. With your post, you will get a link back to your site, social media promotion for the week it is posted and I expect the same from you. We help each other out. wcgypsy(at)me.com Make sure your idea fits in my blog somehow. No religion-themed writing accepted.Only those with a website or blog will be considered. (If all you have is a Facebook fan page, step up your game and get serious. Facebook is essential for social media, but it does not substitute for your own website. There are tons of free hosting platforms. I recommend Wordpress.com or Tumblr. My site is run on a self-hosted Wordpress.org platform which I don't recommend unless you: 1. really know your computer shit, in which case you already know about wordpress.org; or, 2. you are completely crazy, like me.) (Update: I no longer use wordpress.org for this site, but wordpress.com. I use Squarespace for my art portfolio site.)I do not do paid promotions, I recommend things that I personally like and do not hire out my opinion. Anything and everything on my site that links to another site is either because it is information that I myself find useful; or I am giving credit to a source; or I know the author or business owner PERSONALLY and by talking about their craft, service or linking to their business, I am giving them my personal support.If you like what you read or would like to thank me for linking to you or talking about you, Please reciprocate by sending people to my site.Here is a link: http://westceltgypsy.com(To share a link, right-click on the link, choose "copy" from the drop-down menu, open up a new email message, and in the body of the message, right-click again, choose "paste" from the drop-down menu, and a copy of the link should appear. Then put "Check out this awesome website!" in the subject line, and mail it to as many people as you know. You can also paste the link into your facebook status or tweet about it or PIN ALL THE THINGS!)Also, I wear size 7 ½ shoes.

 [contact-form subject="I want free publicity, and BTW, your blog rocks." to="wcgypsy@me.com"] [contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="true" /] [contact-field label="Email (will remain private)" type="email" required="true" /] [contact-field label="Website" type="url" /] [contact-field label="Comment" type="textarea" required="true" /] [/contact-form]

Bear with me

So...thank you to my readers. It's been almost two months since my last post, and I can see by my stats that I still have readers, so, really - Thank You.

I have been working on my latest post for a while - it's a tough one, and not quite ready. But I felt I should at least check in with you and give you something. I don't know why...like your lives are so empty and meaningless with out my mindless blathering...

The past month has been filled with life-altering change. One  I'll address later but the other (and both changes happened within a 24-hour period of each other) is that I am now a full-time college student. I'll be talking a lot about that, but in the meantime, until the new post is ready I thought I'd give you a few things to read.For my bookish readers, I must recommend two sites by my very dear friends and critique partners. (If you don't know what a critique partner is: they are the very special people who you somehow trust enough to read your precious, precious manuscript-in-progress and love it when they point out to you the crappy parts that need fixing.)PBookCrazy.com - Crazy about Picture Books

 My friend Dawn is a picture book NUT, and will soon have her own manuscript gracing many an elementary students' shelves. Her writing is so full of energy, character, and heart that kids will love it as much as Mo Willems or even Dr. Seuss. This is her ode to her chosen medium.RMcCormackWrites.blogspot.com - Rhonda McCormack's author siteYou first met my friend Rhonda in my interview here. She is really getting some steam underway with the release of her YA mystery, Wildflowers. If you haven't stopped by her site yet, now's a good time, because she's having a giveaway! Check it out.And if you're new to my site, I thought I'd pull a few favorites from the archives:Focus, in which I discuss the useless information that may one day come in handy if you're ever on Jeopardy.

Colicky Babies and Rookie Mistakes, in which I discuss horse colic, and show an embarrassing photo of myself, circa 1982.

What's in a Name? Part I, in which I correlate Brock Lesnar, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, the storybook Heidi, and a vintage perfume commercial.No, really.So, enjoy reading, and bear with me. I'll have something new soon.Thanks for stopping by.Heidi 

All Horses

A little artwork for you to share. (Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, etc)(Please link back, thx!)

Foggy morning, December

We finally had a good soaking rain. It has been over 3 months since we had any precipitation, and the whole place - the house, the yard, the whole city for that matter, had been covered in layers of dry gritty dust. There was a lifeless pallor over everything, keeping the color and vitality of the desert hidden from view.While everyone in the rest of the country gets hammered by storms, here's us:

Not that I'm asking for a hurricane (my heart goes out to everyone affected by Sandy), but a few drops here and there would be nice. Below is a lovely photo of what we Phoenicians call "the brown cloud," caused by ozone: "Ozone is an invisible gas created when other pollutants in the air - such as those created by combustion- are heated by the sun." Just another day for us:

And then I'm sure this doesn't help the dust situation - summer dust storms known as Haboobs. (Yes that really is what they are called, and yes, they really do look this big and freaky)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrcVqtmugj8]

So when we hear we are getting rain after almost 4 months, we kinda freak out. All the weather people have their sleeves rolled up, the maps are flashing all over the place, and weather is the LEAD STORY.

What is just an average storm in any other part of the country is an event for us. I mean, it didn't just rain...it rained for two whole days!! 

I loved it.

Sat in my jammies drinking coffee all Saturday morning, then actually got my rain jacket out of the closet (yes, it had DUST on it!), and went out Christmas shopping.

In the rain!

It was kind of exciting. Everyone had jackets and/or hats, and some even had this fancy type of nylon water shield that they would hold over head. You see them a lot in British shows.

But the cool this was, everyone was in a good mood. And mellow. No grumpiness, obnoxious yapping or complaining...just cool, you know? The rainy day vibe.

The horses loved it, too. They stood out there, just soaking it in, and getting good and muddy.

And then I woke up Sunday morning, to

FOG.

Let's see what else we can find around the ol' place...

Thanks for hanging out with me on my foggy desert morning! I hope you are enjoying some crisp fresh air, wherever you are.

Interview with Gypsy Vanner Founder Dennis Thompson

Recently, I posted photos of a cart for sale at a local furniture store, and asked readers if they knew anything about it. Now, I kinda still live in this little bubble of "nobody really reads my blog, right?" Even though I get hundreds of hits, I don't really know who reads it, or if they are all just hits from people looking for random horse pictures, copying them to their tumblr pages, and moving on without reading. I still think it's just my parents.So I was pleasantly surprised when I received an email from some dude, telling me that the cart I found is what's called a "Turkish Gypsy Potter's Cart." The message went on to tell me that I had some errors on my "What is a Gypsy Horse" page, about the history of the breed, the different names, etc.So I was all like, "Who does this guy think he is, telling me my carefully written and researched paper is all wrong?"Dennis Thompson, that's who.Gulp.Humble pie, anyone?Yeah, this dude who just sent me an email because he read something I wrote and wanted to comment on it, is probably the biggest expert on Gypsy Horses in the U.S.Why, you ask?He brought them here.Dennis and his late wife, Cindy were on a business trip in England when they came across what would be the first Gypsy Vanner horse, a stallion named Cushti Bok. Read all about their discovery here. After four years, many trips back and forth to England and Wales, meeting the Gypsies and immersing themselves in their culture, Dennis and Cindy brought the first Gypsy Vanners to America, and founded the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society. Cushti Bok (meaning "Good Luck" in the Romani language) became the first horse in the registry.This tale is well documented, and I had read it before. I have always been blown away by their story. Dennis and Cindy's love for horses, their non-judgmental curiosity of the Roma culture, and their dedication in establishing a new breed registry here in the states - it could be a novel. (Or at least an All Creatures Great and Small type PBS/BBC series. Come on. That idea is gold. Why am I not a TV producer??)But besides the original tale, I really didn't know much about the Thompsons. I'm always wanting to know more. Someone recently told me that I have the "inquirer" default - always asking questions. But without questions, how do you get answers?Over the past few years, looking for lots of answers about Gypsy Horses, I have done so much reading. I find out about the breed: where they came from; proper conformation; stallions; what to do when your horse gets scratches; all sorts of things. And you end up visiting tons and tons of breeder websites. They will show you their stallions, mares, foals, and even show you around the barn sometimes. But for whatever reason, people remove their personality from their business presence on the web. A big disservice to potential clients, if you ask me.The whole reason you visit the indie bookstore before you go to Barnes & Noble is because you like the store owners, and want to support them. Or your town's ancient hardware store over Home Depot. When you are buying a horse—a living, breathing piece of inventory, who can actually take on aspects of its owner's personality—why wouldn't you want to know more about them?After perusing a farm's website, I'm always left wondering, how did you get into horses? Do you train them yourself? Does your whole family get into it? Where do you live? Do you like Star Wars? Tell me about YOU.This is pretty much the question I posed to Mr. Thompson (okay, maybe not the Star Wars bit), after thanking him for his comment and his offer to help me correct my heinous misinformation. (Yes, it's HEINOUS! I hate being wrong. If you'd like to read the revised version of my "What is a Gypsy Horse" page, click here.) And he was kind enough to oblige.

Dennis Thompson Interview

• Thank you for allowing me to interview you!

Hello Heidi, it is my pleasure. It has been seventeen years since my late wife and I brought the first Gypsy Vanner Horses to North America and people still have many questions about the Vanner breed.

• Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born in Indiana to a father who was an educator and a mother who owned the first McDonalds in America with a hitching post—yes it was in Indiana Amish country. I was an extreme animal lover as a child with 150 rabbits, pet skunks, snakes, you name it I had it. They called me The Guppy God in grade school because I had 50 aquariums in my home and would take Mason jars of baby Guppies to school to sell for 5 cents each. A pet store that I frequented ask me to work for them when I was a teenager. That store was owned by Ed Lowe, the man who invented Kitty Litter. I would wind up managing his stores and then spent the rest of my adult career in the animal products industry designing products for animals and setting up distribution in the animal products industry world wide. I currently live in Ocala Florida on my farm called Gypsy Gold.

• What is the first horse you remember? How did this horse affect you?

Horses have been my passion for my entire life, first the neighbor's Shetland Ponies, then another neighbor's paint horse named Lady and then my own American Quarter Horse named Presto Dial, a son of the late, great Johnny Dial.

• Did you come from a horse family?

I was the first [in my family] to have a passion for horses and all animals.

• How long was it before you were able to have your own horse?

In the fifties, my neighbor had Shetland Ponies he kept in an apple orchard and I had a large Willow tree in my front yard.  I would fashion bridles from the willow branches and ride the ponies in the orchard until they made a mad dash for the barn and my reins broke. That happened over and over so the passion was bigger than the pain.

• Tell us about YOUR first horse.

Presto, was a very beautiful classic looking Quarter horse. The kind that might be referred to as a foundation Quarter Horse today. The Quarter Horse breed has changed.  I hope the Vanner breed does not do the same.

• How did you find out about Gypsy Horses?

My late wife and I discovered the Gypsy Vanner Horse . Stimulated by the look of one stallion standing in a farmer's field in England, we discovered that the horse belonged to a Traveler and that he had a band of mares that looked just like this stallion that he kept hidden. We would spend that day in a Gypsy camp, become the first Americans to ever attend Appleby Horse Fair with the sole intention of understanding Gypsies and their horses. We would trace the genetic history of that stallion through three countries, uncover the unknown vision he was born from, trace that vision back to two stallions that existed soon after World War II (Sonny Mays and The Coal Horse), Identify most of the great stallions and mares that developed over the next 60 years, name the breed and established the first breed registry in the world for a selectively bred horse developed by Gypsies, The Gypsy Vanner Horse Society.

• Gypsies are not an inexpensive breed. What about these horses "sold" you on the idea of owning one?

If I say Gypsy horse, the statement about not being expensive is true, if I say Gypsy Vanner Horse the statement is false.A very high percentage (possibly 80%) of the horses raised by Gypsies (Gypsy horses) are not a breed, they are a type of horse of unknown heritage and often have smooth-legged genetics, like Connemara or Irish Draft.The Gypsy Vanner Horse or Vanner is a specific looking horse born from a vision to create the perfect caravan horse.The look is that of a small Shire with more feather, more color and a sweeter head; an average-size horse with a draft horse body.Hair is an additive or cumulative gene (recessive), so nothing but hairy-legged horses developed the Vanner breed.  The Dales Pony in the opinion of Fred Walker (King of the Coloured Horses) was paramount in the breed's development (not the Fells Pony).The Dales brought down the size, kept the feather and heavy bone and put the sweet head on them.Yes, some have Fells Pony in them but those have a lighter body look and are therefore not the breed's bulls-eye genetic or look.You can buy a Gypsy horse colt for 100 BPS, a Vanner colt will cost ten to 100 times that. Horses raised by Gypsies of unknown heritage are called Trade Horses, Export Horses, Knacker Horses or Coloured Riding Horses and are raised as a commodity-based animal for the restaurant business in Belgium, Holland, and France.All horses raised by Gypsies were called Coloured Horses or Coloured Cobs, nothing else,  there was no differentiation between the breed and the type. Gypsy Vanner Horse is the first name in the world to separate the breed from the type, that is why the name Vanner is so important—it holds the breed's vision and promise.The best and most expensive horses Gypsies raise (their breed) are hidden.If you had five dollars you would leave it on the kitchen table. If you had ten thousand dollars you would hide it. The Vanner breed is often hidden, while common horses raised by Gypsies are not.

• How/when did you decide to implement a breeding program, and what do you look for in a stallion or broodmare?

I am the first breeder in North America and imported the first two stallions and fourteen mares.  I breed for the same vision Gypsies had for their perfect caravan horse or Vanner (a horse suitable to pull a caravan in the English Chambers Dictionary) Heavy hips, broad chest, short back, heavy flat bone (at the knee) feather that starts at the knee in the front and hock in the back that covers the front of the hooves.  (Breed standard)

• Do you have a trainer, or do it yourself?

I hire trainers who embrace modern techniques.

• Do you attend shows?

I did in the beginning but not anymore. It is very common for horses who win at shows to trace back to the original sixteen horses my late wife Cindy and I brought to America.

• What riding or driving disciplines do you prefer? (western, dressage, carriage driving, etc.)

I wrote the mission statement of the GVHS and in that mission it talks about how the perfect caravan horse is suitable for any number of equine disciplines. That was the only thing about the mission I did not have great passion about. To my surprise they are amazingly versatile and can do anything, including jump. I own Breyer and Vogue model, The Gypsy King. He was trained in the art of Dressage by an eighty + time USDA champion, gold medalist and Olympic contender for the Olympics in China for 2008. She called me just before the World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park and said "He's one of the most extraordinary horses of any breed I have ever ridden in my life"Quite a statement from a rider of her caliber! Yes, they can do anything.

• Do your horses interact with the public?

I give tours to as many as 100 people per week, those people all interact with the horses. I coined the phrase "Golden Retriever With Hooves" and they certainly are. If you would like, one day I will expand on why I believe their temperament is in their feather.   

• I Would LOVE to hear more about that!

• What's next for your farm?

The process of trying to establish a breed in the age of the Internet is challenging.  I would like to create a better way for breeds to maintain the look and temperament (the pure vision) they were born from.History tells us that breeds change or why would there be two Morgan Horses, why doesn't the Quarter Horse look the same, why does a German Shepherd walk up hill, the list goes on and on.I have pondered why and have identified the problem and the solution.  I want the Gypsies Vanner Horse to keep its magic forever.Me too, Dennis. I hope you, and we as members, are able to keep Fred Walker's dream alive. Thanks so much to you and Cindy for all of your tireless efforts in bringing this special horse to America, and for maintaining the breed standards set by the originators of the breed, the Gypsies.OK so I guess more than just my parents read my blog. :)Thanks Dennis!Here's another recent article with Dennis going further into the breed's history.Please feel free to use the comment form below, and thanks for reading.