ISSUE 10 ◦ by Heidi Horchler

Moving Forward | 6.12.20

“When you have something to do life will not allow you to move forward until you do it.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

As if Covid-19 and social distancing weren’t enough, the Universe is trying to one-up herself on the what-the-heck-is-going-on scale. Since much of what is going on is (or has become) very political, and I made a promise to never make this newsletter political, let me just acknowledge the current events by simply saying: Be kind to one another. Empathy can be our greatest antidote in times like these.

And keep moving forward.

AS for me, I’m still moving ahead with projects. My ABC Flash Cards are still in the works, and I have made the decision to submit Daydream Odyssey along with a watercolor activity book (for complete beginners) to publishers. I sold out of the beta versions of the coloring book that I printed in my living room, and rather than continuing to DIY the project I’ve decided to go for it and see if we can make it an actual legit book.

I was actually this close to self-publishing on Amazon via Kindle Direct Publishing (hint: ANYONE can do it), But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Self publishing would be the easy, guaranteed route to ensure that my books get published, but I’m not happy with reviews of the paper quality for their coloring books. Besides, I haven’t gone to 10 years’ worth of writer’s conferences to just take all of that advice on getting published and chuck it out the window. So, I’m going for it. I will officially be “on submission.” I’m using the activity books as Phase I of my publication journey, and will hopefully get my foot in the door at a small publisher with a decent art + creativity list. If all goes well, Phase I will pave the way for Phase II; picture book submissions.

Wish me luck! I’ll need it.

In between submitting proposals and working on my flash cards, I will be — as Andy J. Pizza says — “Taking a season,” the practice of allowing yourself a period of time to explore an area of making. My season will be devoted to color study, color theory, and free-form organic abstract shapes.

I have found that when I’m stressed, over-worked, over-stimulated by media, screen time and social media, my escape has been color. And, instead of trying to push, push, push to get the next big thing finished, I’m going to take a deep breath and dive into color. As usual, I’ll be posting regularly to Instagram and Facebook, so follow along if you’d like! (Links below)

Things to watch, read, or listen to:

Extras

Something Cool

No project this month!

But please let me know if there’s something you’d like to learn, or if you have feedback on previous projects.

If you’ve missed previous projects, check them out here!

Announcements

I was interviewed for Voyage Phoenix magazine! Read it here.

My online store is live! Click here to view.

Also a reminder about email notifications for my blog posts: I’ve set up a new email list for them! This will be separate from the newsletter subscription, so it will require you to enter your email again, this time on my blog subscription form, here (scroll about halfway down). But don’t worry, no one sees your info besides me, and I will never EVER share it.

Please leave a comment on my videos on YouTube or Instagram.

Thank you — as always — for your support, and a big thanks to those of you who’ve reached out via email or social media. This little project of mine is getting some legs and I have you to thank for it! I’m still going through my reply list so if you haven’t heard back yet, you will :)

xo, Heidi

P.S. Feel free to ask questions. Reach out through any of the social links on my website (below) or email me at heidhorch@gmail.com.