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.

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

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?

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]

Why Do You Write?

One of the first pieces of advice I received as a writer was, "don't tell anyone you're a writer," this person said, "unless you actually get paid for it."I thought this was a great idea, because as soon as you tell someone you're a writer, they start asking questions.

Wow. A writer? Really?

They are clearly impressed.

Well what kind of stuff do you write?

You've piqued their interest. They want to know more. You answer:

I have a blog and I write about my horses, my family, and writing. And I have a few articles published online.Oh.

 You realize they are unimpressed - you pull out the big guns. You confess:

And...I'm working on a book.

They perk up again.

Oh yeah, what's it about?

You tell them that it's a middle-grade fantasy adventure, set partly in this world and partly in a magical world.Their faces belie the thought going through their head: a children's book?So you decide, well, you've already lost them, why not keep going? You throw in:Oh, yeah, there's a Unicorn it it, too. And fairies.Then they give you that face, without even thinking of it. That Oh-my-god-did-she-just-say-she's writing-a-book-about-Unicorns?That face.The kind of face I have when my uncle talks about aliens.You've lost them, and now they are trying to think of ways to get out of the conversation. They nod, smile, wish you good luck, and they're on their way.Basically people aren't impressed with the fact that you write unless you make a living as a writer.Problem is, it's kind of a hard thing to get into. The ultimate Catch 22: You can't make a living as a writer without first writing for free (i.e., working on a manuscript before you can sell it), but while you are writing for free, you aren't really considered a "writer."It takes a lot of time and a lot of work, and if you aren't currently being paid for it, that means you are unemployed. OR, if you are employed, you are probably doing something like stocking magazines, or working in a laundry or waiting tables, or whatever, then coming home and taking care of your family, cooking dinner, doing laundry, driving kids to soccer practice, all the while daydreaming about what your characters are doing in that scene that you might be able to get to if you wake up an hour early tomorrow morning.But if you are lucky enough to quit your day job for a couple of months, others in your life will assume you have all this time on your hands because:

You Don't Do Anything All Day.

And then, because you "don't work," you will get all of the extra side-chores to do, like getting that thingamabob fixed and calling the plumber and oh, yeah, can you (Fill in the Blank) for me??And then when you're not there they say to each other:

She calls herself a writer. She hasn't written anything!What she really needs to do is go get her hair done.Yeah, or update her wardrobe.Is she gaining weight?Are people even buying books anymore?

Or some such drivel. (It's not that you're paranoid, it's just you've heard them talk before. Or maybe you are paranoid. Either way.)Either way, I really didn't talk much about my writing, and then when I did, I let others make me feel ashamed for doing something so impractical.That was my mistake. Then for whatever reason, I just started owning it. I'm a writer. I write things. I hope to one day get paid for it, but for now I consider this as me building my resume.

And, yes, here's the horrible, shameful, awful truth:I have been working on my book for FOUR YEARS. Four years. God, I hate to say it. I'm truly embarrassed to admit it. I'm even thinking twice about revealing the truth as I type this. But I'm trying this new thing where I'm just open and honest. It's hard, because I'm so afraid of being judged--but I'm also sick of trying to make everyone on the planet happy except me.And, I like it when people are open and honest, even when it's horribly embarrassing. I LOVE this scene from Love Actually, and wish more people would be this candid:http://youtu.be/yVcieIZb3_UEverything else in my life, I have quit before I accomplished what I'd wanted to. And every time I think it would be easier if I just left this book in a drawer, I can't. I can't quit. I don't care if I don't finish it until I'm 85, I will keep writing this story until it's done. I don't even care if it's a piece of crap. Then I will just start revising.Do I think I'm writing the great American teen novel, and that I will have Rowlings-esque leagues of fans clamoring for autographs?No, But I do know that I'm following the 2nd piece of writing advice I ever got:

Write the book you wish existed.

I mean, somewhere along the line, someone had to tell Stephanie Meyers she was crazy for writing about young vampires in love.I would have read this book (my book, I mean) when I was in this place. The place between being a kid and being a teen. Ready for listening in on adult conversations, for making your own decisions, and ready for that first kiss. For adventure.But I like my magic a little more like the Renaissance Fair than Tales From the Crypt. I was scared to shit of Dracula when I was a kid. There's no way I would have read a book about vampires.

And I know there are tons of other readers out there who prefer their magic on the "happy" side. (Ever heard of Bronies??)And dude, seriously, when was the last time you heard someone say:

"I HATE UNICORNS!"You haven't, because

EVERYONE LOVES UNICORNS.

http://giphy.com/embed/VRcgZakrc21ji?html5=trueWhen I finish my book I'll send NPH a signed copy. Hopefully he'll still be alive by then.Meanwhile, I will be working on my book (and going back to school, but more on that later).Some thoughts that keep me positive and motivated:

• It took JK Rowling 7 years to write Harry Potter.
• It took JRR Tolkien 12 years to write The Lord of the Rings.
• It took Jane Austen 16 years to write Pride and Prejudice.

Not that I'm comparing myself or my story to these fine people and their timeless books!It just makes me feel a little better.But that doesn't answer the question - why do I write?I can't help it. I get so many ideas in my head that if I didn't get them out, I think it would explode. That and the fact that I think everyone needs to hear what I have to say because I'm so farging brilliant. So here I am, slaving away, creating the miracle of literature, bestowing upon you the gift that is my genius.You're welcome.---More Unicorn love HERE.So why is my book still unfinished? I went back to college.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I was listening to a discussion on NPR about retail businesses being open on Thanksgiving day, and how right or wrong that decision may be. One of the things I love about public radio is the fact that they support open debate over many topics, with views from both sides.One person was saying that hey, it's a business decision, it's part of the economy, it's the way things are going now, with such a competitive retail market - stores having to compete with online retailers, yada yada yada.Another was saying yes, but what is it doing to our society when we can't even have ONE DAY where folks can take time off and spend with their families?The response to that was, well, what about all the people NOT in retail who have to work anyways? Police, firefighters, hospital workers, etc. Add to that the fact that many retail workers were jumping at the chance to work the holiday, for the extra pay. Who are we to say they shouldn't work if they want to?Then a comment from a caller came in, so angry and vehemently AGAINST the idea that anyone should work on this holiday, and that it just makes everyone look like greedy slobs, having to make money, or needing to go out shopping for that amazing deal only offered at midnight turkey madness. And how embarrassed she was to call herself an American, and lots of other vicious spewing.To which I say:

Can't we all just get along?

Personally, I think part of the problem with society today (yeah, I'm going there) is that everyone is looking to blame somebody else for everything that has gone wrong in their life, in the country, the world, you name it. The Conservatives blame the Liberals; the Muslims blame the Jews; the Christians blame the Atheists; the Blacks blame the Whites, who blame Everybody Else - and vice, vice, vice, vice versa.

DUDE.

JUST BE NICE TO PEOPLE.

I'm so sick of it. It's like a bunch of kids on the playground, all pointing their fingers at each other:

He did it!No, HE did!She did it first!

Maybe it's having a brother with a tumor in his head that puts it all into perspective. The Jews, Blacks, Conservatives, Muslims - nobody put that tumor there. Not even God. It just is, and it sucks. It sucks that he has to go through a week of heavy-duty physical therapy just to be able to remember how to put his pants on or tie his shoes. It sucks that his wife is so worried and stressed out that she had to be hospitalized as well.So when I hear people bitching about how horrible it is to want to work or shop on Thanksgiving, or, Christians telling people they will "go to hell" if they don't believe in Creationism or have an abortion, or Hamas bombing Gaza because of WHATEVER IT HAPPENED A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. Just fucking love thy neighbor and get over it.So tomorrow, break bread, even if it's with people who irritate you or done you wrong or stole your boyfriend. Just be Thankful you have someone to break bread with. Be Thankful that you have bread to break. Be Thankful that you have the ability to read this, and computer access. Be Thankful that your house didn't get washed into the ocean. Be Thankful that you can sit around the table with those you love. Even if you less-than-love some of them.And be Thankful that you don't have a tumor in your head.And if you do have a tumor in your head, I love you. I'm sending you a big hug.And be nice.Happy Thanksgiving.

Authentic Gypsy Dray Cart For Sale

I went to the AZ State Dressage Championships yesterday to hang out with my friend Peggy and cheer on her stallion, Eclipse:Eclipse and Anne did great and placed in their class. He was the only Gypsy competing, and although there seems to be a bit of prejudice on the part of some of the Warmblood crowd against a short stocky horse competing in  a sport designed for the lean & lanky, most people loved seeing him there. He definitely draws a crowd, and comparatively is so. much. calmer. than his hot-blooded cohorts, you'd never guess by his demeanor that he is (definitely!) a stallion. Nothing phases him. In fact, Peggy was telling me a story about bathing him in the wash rack at home, when a big branch of her Palo Verde tree broke off with a huge crack, and part of it landed on Eclipse's head. He didn't even flinch; just thought he'd gotten an early lunch delivery and started munching away. That's what makes Gypsy horses so AWESOME. :)Anywho, I was on my way home and saw a furniture store having a going out of business sale, so I thought I'd check it out. They are one of those places that just buys containers full of stuff from all over the world, and look what they have - an authentic antique gypsy cart! Pretty cool, huh? I couldn't believe it. They have it marked at a stupidly high price and I told the lady they're crazy if they think they're going to get that much for it. But I still think its cool. The real deal.Personally, I think it's very negotiable. If you are interested, contact me and I will put you in touch with the salesperson.Here are the pics. Click the images below to go through the slideshow. I tried to get as many shots as I could but just using my iphone in poor lighting makes for less-than-stellar images. Try to look closely, though - there is so much detail, the decorative painting, all kinds of little iron finials, and mechanical parts. It even has the shafts intact. There is some type of writing on the back, but I have no idea what language it is, and the store does not know the country of origin. My guess is Romania. Any guesses? Leave a comment! At any rate, it's interesting just to be able to see a piece of history.Have a great week! xo Heidi

  

Jane Says

Last week I was driving around running errands and listening to Jane's Addiction. Remember Jane's Addiction? God, one of my favorite live recordings ever is "Jane Says."

This is the cover to their debut studio album, ironically titled "Nothing's Shocking." At the time, it was a pretty shocking image to me. The sculpture was made by Perry Farrell, after an image he'd seen in a dream, and most retailers at the time refused to carry it. The album was then sold with a cardboard slipcover.I've been listening to them for 20 some-odd years, but the other day it got me wistful. It reminded me of my post-high school, pre-marriage years when my friends and I worked the late shift at restaurants, stayed out watching live bands in dive bars all weekend, and tried to make our Intro to Theater class Monday morning. Before Starbuck's, before everyone had a cell phone, before iPods, and before anyone realized that computers would soon be cool. The days of driving the 300 dollar, 70s-issued muscle car that your uncle fixed up for you. When we were phasing out of the super-teased headbanger concert hair, and going through our grunge hippie phase.I have another little spot on the web, called "Moongroove." It's a very different site, kind of a little happy place for me to zone out, collect images that make me feel good, and share some of my favorite music. One of the pictures I posted recently really made me want  to go to a concert again:

I mean, look at that chick. This image perfectly captures that feeling of having a great time. I used to love going to concerts, and I wanted to go again. But it's not what it used to be. It's expensive! And crowded! And you don't get home til 2:00! And...ugh...it's just easier to stay home, right? Man do I feel old.So I got lucky when I found out that Jane's Addiction would be at the Arizona State Fair. I could go to a concert, the tickets would be cheap, and I'd get home early. Better yet, I invited one of my old-school BFFs. Done!I have to admit, I was a little trepidatious about going...I mean, Perry Farrell's been in & out of rehab how many times? And he's how old? And what's the big deal about Dave Navarro anyway? I was afraid they would just sound...thrashed.OH BOY WAS I WRONG. They were AWESOME! In fact, I couldn't believe how great they sounded. I guess that's one of the good things about going to see a band that made their way by playing live gigs; they just know how to do it. And not only did they sound great, they were fun to watch as well. Dave Navarro just rips on that guitar, and Perry, well, Perry could be his own show. I don't think I have ever seen a concert where the lead singer was enjoying himself so immensely. I mean, he was smiling the whole time. The dude was just having fun and loving life. And you know what? It didn't stop with him. That's the thing about good energy. The whole stadium was having a good time. Everyone was in a great mood. It flowed out of him, and it was contagious.It might have had something to do with the fact that the entire place reeked of weed, but...no, really. It was an awesome show. If you get a chance to see them live, don't give it a second thought. Just go. And have fun.

Jane saysI'm done with SergioHe treats me like a ragdollShe hidesThe televisionSays I don't owe him nothing,But if he comes back againTell him to wait right here for meOr justTry again tomorrowI'm gonna kick tomorrowGonna kick tomorrowJane saysHave you seen my wig around?I feel naked without itShe knowsThey all want her to goBut that's O.K. manShe dont like them anywayJane saysI'm goin away to SpainWhen I get my money savedI'm gonna start tomorrowI'm gonna kick tomorrowGonna kick tomorrowShe gets madStarts to cryShe takes a swing butShe cant hitShe don't mean no harmShe just don't knowWhat else to do about itJane goesTo the store at 8:00She walk up on St. AndrewsShe waitsAnd gets her dinner thereShe pulls her dinnerFrom her pocketJane saysI've never been in loveI don't know what it isOnly knows if someone wants herI want them if they want meI only know they want meShe gets madAnd she starts to cryShe takes a swing manShe cant hit!She don't mean no harmShe just don't knowWhat else to do about itJane saysJane says

monte carlo photo credit

Make Good Art

Please watch Neil Himself, and Make Good Art. I hope this inspires you as much as it did me.http://vimeo.com/42372767?utm_source=Ypulse+Updates&utm_campaign=ba9e633306-YDU5_25_2012&utm_medium=email

Online Art Gallery

This Labor Day, I was lucky enough to be invited up to my BFF's family cabin for the weekend. It's in a small mountain town, just far enough away from the heat and congestion of the city. AND host to an annual craft & artisan fair.I love these fairs. There are so many beautiful things to see, and you have a chance to get to know the people who made them. My problem is, I can never afford anything there! So I figured if I can't directly purchase some of the artwork I saw, the least I can do is help support local artists by telling everyone else about them. That whole "word of mouth blog" idea. :)If I had my own art gallery, I'd be happy to have these pieces in my shop! Keep reading til the end to see my top picks of the weekend.

Heidi's Online Art Gallery

If you love browsing through home decor magazines like me, you may have seen chairs like these adorning some high-end Aspen getaway:Anita Cordes Willis makes them by hand and sells them here: http://riverbottomfurniture.com/If Jewelry is more your speed, you might like these kiln-formed glass pieces handcrafted by Ray Balda:Check out Ray's Facebook page: Kokopelli Art Glass (and click "Like!" - when I asked Ray if I could feature him on my blog, he said only if your readers Like my Facebook page!).  Thanks, Ray.Judy Brooks brooks6@juno.com makes these gorgeous pottery colanders, as useful as they are beautiful:Jo Burke joburke@commspeed.net knits cute handbags and felts the wool in hot water to make them sturdy and long lasting:Want more jewelry? Here's some by Vickie "Bead" Smith:Right next to the fair is a REAL art gallery, Myra's Art Gallery & Studio. It has been a landmark of the Pine, Arizona main drag for many years. Myra is a lovely woman—an artist herself—and was kind enough to show us around her gallery. She is host to some of the most well known artists in the state, and can tell you all about each of them. She allowed me to photograph some to share with you:Please visit Myra's page to see more from these amazing artists and visit their own websites.We went back to the fair and I got my mom some earrings for her birthday:

Here are my top three artists from the craft fair:

Nancy Koski:Nancy is a potter and an artist. She makes original pieces of pottery, then paints beautiful pictures on them by hand. Nora E. Graf:Nora's art is truly one-of-a-kind. She carves and paints dried gourd vases. Simply amazing. I would love to have a few of her pieces in my home.Raymond Judge:Raymond is a navajo artist who makes these tiny watercolors:And he makes jewelry:And he sculpts. Check out this Pronghorn:Please support these amazing artists by visiting their sites, telling your friends about them - and, hey, maybe buy a piece or two!We had such a great time on our weekend away. We even got to load up a bag of used books at the library for 2 bucks!We had a great weekend. And this pretty Coues deer doe said goodbye to us as we left:Thanks for reading! What original artwork have you seen lately?

Meet the Writer - Virginia Nosky

An author interview on the craft of writing.

Featured Writer: Virginia Nosky

Books: The Fall from Paradise Valley; Blue Turquoise, White Shell; Ring of Fire; Pima Road; Kachina

Coming Soon: To a Certain Degree; White River

Buy Virginia's books:

• Amazon; Kindle
• Barnes & Noble; Nook
• Champagne Books
• The Poisoned Pen

Intro, from Heidi:

Virginia is an award-winning author, and one of my earliest cheerleaders from my beginning days at the library critique group. I have to say, she intimidated me at first, being one of those no-nonsense types who would put a huge "X" over an unnecessary paragraph, scratch corrections over my manuscripts, and has a take-no-prisoners attitude when it comes to punctuation and grammatical errors.I learned a great deal from Virginia. She gives amazing feedback, and I knew I was getting better at this writing thing when I started to see that she drew a star in areas of my work. That was a sign that she liked what I wrote. And if I got a star on the front page—whoa! Look out! A star from Virginia is like a nod of approval from the Queen.If any of you are interested in writing romance, take a cue from Virginia. This lady may look polite and proper, but, man can she steam up some pages! And she writes a hundred times better than E.L.James, so if 50 Shades of Grey left you wanting more, pick up a copy of one of Virginia's books—you won't be disappointed!

Virginia Nosky:

On craft:

How old were you when you began to write?All mixed up in my mind are these little plays my sister and I would put together with neighbor kids.  There was very little written down, but these little dramas were full-blown affairs, with beginnings, middle and ends.  They were also fully costumed with whatever our fevered imaginations could come up with.  I remember playing a Maria Montez role—she was a popular sultry movie star—always, it seemed, in harem type costume.  I wore my mother’s tin measuring cups as my bra, over my nonexistent chest. There was a little woods beside our house and once we even built a little fire in a clearing—to dance around. We had a lot of freedom back then.  My point is that I spent a great deal of my play time in a world of glamour and exotic situations.  My imagination was engaged constantly in other worlds.  Making up stuff has always been with me, and I can’t really remember when I started writing it down.  I majored in Communication at Ohio State, worked in broadcasting and advertising. Writing is just there, in my life.Where do you write?When my sons went off to college, my husband took one of their bedrooms for an office, and I took the other one. It didn’t happen suddenly…we just sort of moved their stuff out…like squatters.What helps to inspire you?  Music, maps, journals.I have never liked background music.  Total quiet is best, but I can tune out ambient household noise when I really get into something.  Sometimes I would like to screech at interruptions by my sweet family…but I don’t.  I can’t come out with “Do you realize I’m trying to get this woman in bed with the guy and now, NOW”…etc.  But that scene will be different for the interruption.  That’s true of any artist whose train of thought is broken.  The piece will change. You can only hope it will be as good or better.What stands in your way?  Logistically/creatively?Not much.  A busy schedule is the most disruptive. Or some kind of emergency that requires your attention. It’s hard to be creative when you’re troubled about something.What do you do when you hit a wall?Just going back to reread what I’ve already written just gets everything going.  The worst thing is to get into a corner, where something doesn’t work. But I find those insomniac hours at night can come up with some amazing solutions.  “Sleeping on it” is really good advice.Do you outline? Know how the story will develop?Outline? No. Never. I know how the story begins, how it will end, and there is usually a dramatic scene somewhere in the middle that triggered the whole idea. That’s not to say the story will end like you thought.  Stories develop lives of their own, and sometimes the end will be different than you started out.  A character will assert herself or himself. But it’s important to know where you’re going when you start out.  For that matter the beginning might change a bit.  The best advice I ever read was from Tony Hillerman. Don’t spend so much time polishing and polishing the beginning. You’ll make some changes when you’ve finished.  He said when he started out, he did that.  He wrote the most perfect first chapter in the universe.  It was lapidary in its brilliance and it still nestled unread in a dusty drawer.  That has stayed with me and saved a lot of grief.How do you revise and edit?I edit as I go. I get ideas as I go along and work with them. Then when the book is finished I go back and do it some more. And, as I mentioned, if I’m stalled, it’s a good way to get going again.Do you have any special tools?I work on a desk top and I have an extensive library.  I have books on birds, astronomy, flowers, history, physics, geography, wildlife, minerals, weather, sports, games, food, wine, native plants, survival, Native American healing.  I have maps and word books:  Roget’s, Word Menu, Synonyms, Reverse Dictionary.  I have several grammar books:  The Chicago Book of Style; the Oxford Book of Grammar; Strunk & White. I have a French Dictionary, and Spanish, Italian, a Japanese, Navajo, Portuguese.  I have books of quotations. One book I love is the Book of Everything.  Everything has a name and this book has every screw, spark plug, beam, anchor, sail, knot…well, you name it. And it’s there. I have dozens of books on writing. Then I’ve collected a number of books on Arizona Indian culture, mostly Navajo. If I don’t have an answer in those books, Google is my friend.Do you belong to a critique group?Yes.  I belonged for years to the Scottsdale Writers Group at Mustang Library.  That’s where I met you.  And many lovely people.  My most valuable group is an offshoot of that.  There are five of us and we read much longer excerpts from each other.  Take them home and write serious criticism.  I love them. Every serious writer needs readers to bounce their work off of. We all write different things, but that isn’t a problem, and sometimes it’s invaluable.What kind of research do you do?A lot.  One thing leads to another. You read that something happened.  Then you find you have to know why it happened.  I’m working on a sequel to Blue Turquoise, White Shell called White River.  But in writing about an important incident in the Navajo history, it took place during the Civil War.  And I had to get into that, which I hadn’t meant to. That’s the trouble with history.  Nothing happens in a vacuum.Did something surprise you? Not really. Particularly with White River. Oh, fascinating details crop up, but I had immersed myself so much in the first book, I pretty much knew what was going to happen.How does it feel to write the last line?With Kachina, my first book, there was a huge surge of pride that I had done it. But I face the last line now with a sense of uncertainty. Is this the right ending?  Also a sense of regret.  You do get into the lives of your characters and you can’t stop thinking about them. But you do have to send that baby out into the world.  A book isn’t truly finished until somebody reads it. I always sense that it’s the same with an artist.  When to lay down the brush.

On the business of publishing:

How did you find an agent?I don’t have one now.  But it was endless queries, endless sending out mss. Two of my books I’ve used a Canadian publisher that I met at a conference.  Conferences are a great place to meet editors and agents. They’re sort of obligated to look at a little bit of your stuff.Has self-publishing shaped your career?I’ve had all my books come out with traditional publishers.  I don’t have a problem with self-publishing and I’ve thought about using it to publish my poetry and short stories.  These have been in anthologies, but I may get to it one of these days as the rights devolve to me. One has all that nice control when you do it all yourself.What can you share about marketing?  What didn’t work?It’s ongoing, it’s time-consuming and most writers hate it.  I do.  But publishers don’t do it anymore.  Oh, maybe if you’re ever so famous. I’ve tried a bunch of stuff, even hired a publicist, but it was pretty much a waste of money. I have a great gal who helps me with computer things and we’ve become great friends.  But it’s just getting your name and work in front of the public on and on and on.  Speaking to groups is great, and you can hope that the more you write the more your name will become familiar. All the social media is a must.

About You:

Tricks to make writing easier.It’s not supposed to be easy, but it’s fun most of the time.  When you get a good scene going, you soar.What writers inspire you? Updike, because he notices the smallest things.  Maybe all the good writers do.  Don Delillo, Pat Conroy, T.C.Boyle, Chrisopher Moore, Richard Russo, Barabara Kingsolver. David Sedaris is hilarious, Christopher Buckley. Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard so simple…well, on and on.What do you read for enjoyment?All of the above.  I’m really all over the map in what I read.  I sort of lean to literary, but well- written trash is fun, too.What’s next for you?As I mentioned above, White River has gone off to the publisher.  It will probably be out the first of the year.  I’ve done some short stories, and have put together some contest work. I’m relaxing doing a little romance that’s been around in my drawer for awhile.Where can we find you?  My website is www.virginianosky.com.  I have a trailer on YouTube for The Fall From Paradise Valley. I just did a long interview on web radio with Al Cole, a broadcaster out of Boston. All my books are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChampagneBooks.com/store. Some of them are in libraries around town, but they can always be ordered.  Poisoned Pen book store has several.Thanks Virginia!For those of you in the Phoenix area, Virginia will be giving a  Workshop:"Writing Romantic Scenes" for the  Scottsdale Society of Womens Writers on October 31, 5:30-7:30, at the Chaparral Suites Resort in Scottsdale.Blue Turquoise, White Shell is a contemporary multicultural romance mixed with historical fiction. It has won three First Place Glyph Awards from the Arizona Book Publishing Association.When a privileged east-coast Med school student agrees to work on the Navajo reservation in exchange for getting her Harvard education paid in full, the last thing she expects is to fall for the tribe's newest congressional  Golden Boy, Nicholas Nakai. But what is in her secretive grandfather's past that makes him send Lily to the Rez? You'll have to read to find out!

I am Leo Hear Me Roar (or) Why I Quit My Job

I am a Leo. I totally connect with it. I've always loved cats, the color yellow, and the warmth of the sun on my face. And a big fluffy mane.I'm super-creative, super sensitive, I love being the center of attention. The biggest compliment you could give me is to appreciate something I've made or laugh at something funny I've said. It makes me happy to make others happy. And recognition. Just say,

Hey, Heidi, you did a great job.

In other words: I do it for the applause.

The biggest insult you could give me is to assume that I can't do something. In which case I will most likely treat it as a challenge to prove you wrong.I also have a cat named Leo.In this, my birthday month, a lot of changes have been taking place. First of all, I left my job as a magazine merchandiser. I have to say, it has been a great job for me the past three and a half years. The hours were flexible & the pay decent. I will miss the people at my two stores, the employees as well as the customers. Even though I worked for an outside vendor, the people at the store always made me feel I was part of the team. I absolutely LOVED making sure all of the magazines looked JUST SO: perfectly spaced, stacked evenly, and easy for the customer to browse, and appealing to buy. It helps to be crazy-detail-oriented and slightly OCD when making a magazine rack look so AWESOME.But my greatest pleasure of the job was helping a customer finding something to read. I love selling books.My biggest frustration with my job is that I had absolutely no control over what books we stocked. They came pre-ordered, shipped in cardboard boxes every week. Most were your big-name sellers: James Patterson, Nora Roberts and the like. We did get a few literary treasures, and I did my best to help guide people to new and noteworthy authors, and try new genres (like YA! - see my little YA section in the front there?)But every week, I'd have folks asking for something that we didn't carry. And I'd read Publisher's Weekly, hear about all of these great new titles out there, and on our shelves, in pre-plan-o-grammed slots, stood the same sorry old titles, month after month, collecting dust. Why? Is it someone meeting a sales quota? Does Nora Roberts have evil geniuses hitting the "buy" button at distributing warehouses? Who knows. All I know is, in the great scheme of things, I was simply the schlub unpacking the box in the backroom, and getting merchandise out to the sales floor. And then I'd walk into Barnes & Noble or even (shudder) Costco, and see the titles that PW wrote about that week. I mean, even the book page in People magazine had better titles than we had a t the store. Ugh.Once I had a customer ask me:

Are you the book BUYER?

I wish.Besides my frustration at my limited amount of input, I began to have physical problems. Today, in fact, I am going in for an MRI so the doctor can see a nice pretty picture of the disk in my neck that has bulged out enough to pinch a nerve, causing numbness and tingling through my arm to my fingertips, and a baseball-sized knot in my shoulder. Ouch.Thanks, in part, to:This is how magazines come shipped to the store. Each of those bundles* weighs approximately 25 lbs. They get delivered in these red plastic totes, and each tote weighs 40-50 lbs each. A typical delivery at my biggest store averaged 25-30 totes. I figured on a good day, unpacking new magazines, lifting and stacking the totes, and carrying stacks and stacks of magazines to the checkouts and the main aisle and then packing up all of the old magazines, for about 6+ hours, I would move about 1,500 lbs of merchandise in a day.So, while it is a very good workout, it's also a little hard on the ol' bod. And when my company announced that they were no longer going to have the accounts of the stores I serviced, I figured the timing was just as well. So I decided to move on. But I am very grateful for the experience. I learned so much in the past three years—not only about work, but about people, and a lot about myself.I do have a couple of ideas in mind about where I want my future to go, career-wise, but for the immediate future, I'm going to concentrate on some yoga & physical therapy, get back to nesting, being a mom, playing with my horses and writing a lot. (Insert happy face here)Which brings me to the last thing I wanted to share with you: pictures of our latest outing. You may recognize one of our favorite get-away spots in the mountains.

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*BTW: Shame on Oprah. For some reason, her magazines are some of the heaviest. I like Oprah, I think she does some really great stuff. But for someone who preaches how to make everything better all the time, she should really be printing her magazine on recycled paper. REAL SIMPLE is printed on recycled paper, AND they don't use that heavy-duty plastic wrapping either, and they are the lightest weight magazine I have stocked. THANK YOU, REAL SIMPLE! Rachael Ray also prints on recycled paper. Oprah, your magazine needs to get in shape.

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P.S. In brief: In recognition of one of the true pioneers of the feminist movement, and the founder of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley Brown, who passed away this week at the age of 90.Here's a piece from NPR.

Meet the Writer - Deborah J. Ledford

An author interview on the craft of writing.

Featured Writer: Deborah J. Ledford

Books: Snare, Staccato (more info below)

Buy Deborah's books:

• Amazon

Intro, from Heidi:

I met Deb on my 36th birthday. I had been writing furiously, collecting odd thoughts, dialogue and ideas in various notebooks, and had absolutely no idea what to do with any of it. It was the first time in my life I ever looked at writing as something fun to do instead of a chore, like all of those school book reports. Plus it was about the only thing keeping me sane.At that time, I was coming out of a pretty deep depression, and my therapist (brilliant woman that she is) suggested writing. Just writing. All those ideas floating around in my head, bumping into all the other things that I needed to do, cluttering up the joint—get them out of your head and down on paper! Best advice I ever got.But what to do with these notebooks, now half-filled with half-formed ideas? I looked at my local library flyer and noticed an open writer's group, and the meeting happened to be scheduled on my birthday. I went, as my present to myself. I haven't looked back since.Deborah J. Ledford, affectionately known as Deb by our ramshackle gang of misfit writers, was the moderator then, and for several years she shuffled our papers around the table, monitored everyone's allotted time, and made thousands of edit notes.I learned some of my most valuable writing lessons from Deb, and for that I will be forever grateful:

Get rid of all those WASes and JUSTs!

Just yesterday, I browsed the new releases at Barnes & Noble and picked up a title that I'd been hearing so much buzz about: Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories. It looked promising, and had an impressive imprint (Little, Brown), but after I counted at least 7 "was"es on the first page, I had to put it back. Too bad this promising young talent didn't have Deb to edit his book! It does look like a fun read for middle-grade kids though.I'm honored to have helped Deb edit her two books, Staccato and Snare, and to host her here on my blog. Enjoy the interview! And take notes.

Deb Ledford:

On Craft:

• How old were you when you started writing?

I can’t really remember not writing. I was a shy girl and always had my nose buried in a book, or a pen in my hand. I began to express myself through artwork, starting out painting oil on canvas, scratchboard and pen and ink. My love for movies and rockin’ dialogue is what got me interested in writing screenplays, which then led to novels and short stories (after Hollywood broke my heart).

• Where do you write?

At my dining room table. I need a lot of space to spread out my research materials and other items that keep me motivated. I’ve found that a room with 4 walls, facing a wall does not work creatively for me. The space is wide open and the window where I sit looks out on the front yard.

• When do you write?

My most creative time is in the late afternoon to very late at night. My background is in technical theatre as a professional scenic artist therefore I usually didn’t begin working until after 10:00 PM. I start my day with emails (so many!), then edit other writers’ pages. I find that I need to take a break and begin to switch gears to my own work. Then I’ll read the previous day’s writing and go from there.

• What helps you write—music, pictures, maps, journals, etc.—what gets you into that mindset?

Music, all the time I’m at the keyboard. The songs or artist depend on the scene as well as the characters I’m working on. If it’s a climax I’ll go with a rock group like The Killers, Within Temptation, Muse, and Evanescence. When I’m working on a Native American location I prefer Robbie Robertson and Robert Mirabal. But I’m hooked on contemporary Broadway Musicals and always have a soundtrack going. My current favorite is Next to Normal, Spring Awakening and Book of Mormon.

•  What are some things that stand in your way? Logistically as well as creatively?

The lack of time to write. This year I’m the current President of the Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter which is the Arizona chapter of an international writers organization, and also the lead editor for the 4^th anthology, SoWest: Desert Justice, written by member of our group. These tasks take quite a lot of my time, but I’m honored and thrilled to be associated with so many professionals. Our main goal is to be supportive of one another.

• What do you do when you "hit a wall?"

I try to avoid this! But what works for me is to read what I’ve already written. That usually kick starts me, or at least gives me ideas of what else needs to be implemented.

•  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 write chapter by chapter. Not always consistent with chapters’ timeline. During the “first draft” I focus on one chapter per day. Pound out the highlights, then print it out and make notes on the hardcopy, go back and flesh out those elements, print out again, repeat over and over until I’m quite happy with the chapter. I prefer this method as the version tends to be more of a seventh draft, which is much easier for me to deal with when it comes time to “final” edits of the entire manuscript.I tend to write front to back, but absolutely have to know the first 5 chapters, 2-3 climax points and the ending before I know I’m ready to dive full-force into a new project. It’s also crucial to know the 3-4 lead characters inside and out—complete biography details and most importantly their psychological drive which helps me with their motivation. I need to know that I love the concept and characters because I’ll be living with them for months on end. This process is somewhat the same for writing short stories. I work out 90% of the piece in my head and through notes before I sit down at the keyboard to compose a draft.

• What are some tools that you use? (reference guides, manuals, websites—a favorite pen/notebook/computer)

I’m also a professional content editor, so I need to stay up on current Industry Standards for formatting and what is “acceptable” when approaching agents and editors. I rely on the Chicago Manual of Style and A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker. PublishersMarketplace.com is the best site for researching agents and editors. I work on an Acer laptop, but hook it up to a full-size keyboard and large monitor.

• Do you use critique groups? How did you find them?

Until fairly recently I was the moderator of the Scottsdale Writers Group through the public library. I met loads of excellent writers at this group (including you, Heidi!) and am still in touch with them. I’m a current member of a small intense group with four other highly motivated professional writers. Their advice and support is invaluable and I couldn’t do this without them. I highly advise any dedicated writer who intends to submit their work for publication to find a critique group. After reading our own words for the 100^th time, we don’t see the problems anymore. Objective, fresh eyes are crucial when polishing your work.

On your current project:

• What was your inspiration for this book?

I always wanted to be a rock star, which is where the idea for SNARE originated. Sounds a bit silly, but that’s what is fascinating about being a writer—we can do whatever we want. I was a screenwriter and filmmaker in my previous profession and so was able to be creative on many levels. However no other medium, other than writing, can one be not only the writer but also the casting director, location scout, composer, director, editor, costume designer…essentially everything. Which is why research is so important.

• What kind of research did you do for this book? And, were you surprised by something that you learned in your research?

So much research for STACCATO and SNARE. The first book focused on two world-class pianists and finding the proper classical pieces was instrumental in showing their world. SNARE was much different as the location and mind-set of the Taos Pueblo Indians is what I needed to convey. Once I decided on the Tribe to focus on I came into contact with the communications director on the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. Floyd “Mountain Walking Cane” Gomez read every word of the manuscript as I composed each draft. He either approved scenes, characters and elements, or told me flat out “No, you cannot use this.” (He told me this a lot!) Elements Floyd wasn’t sure about were cleared by the Taos Pueblo Tribal Council.

• How good did it feel to write that last line?

I always get a little down when I finish a novel—not that it’s ever truly finished. I allow myself a few days to grieve, then start thinking about the next project which is usually a new short story to keep me sharp.

On the business of publishing:

• How did you find your agent/editor?

I was very fortunate that my publisher found me. I submitted STACCATO for “The Next Great Crime Writer” competition sponsored by CourtTV (now TruTV) which was featured on Gather.com. STACCATO finished 6^th in the first round of more than 350 entries and was in the top ten for the semi-final round. Fortunately for me my publisher found out about this contest and was looking for talent.

• How has self-publishing shaped your career as a writer? / What is your opinion of self-publishing?

I’m actually not self-published. My publisher, Second Wind Publishing, is a small independent publisher. This has been a good fit for me as I have very specific ideas regarding the overall “look” of my books. Second Wind has allowed me to provide input and final approval of the formatting and cover design for SNARE and STACCATO. Traditional publishers have their own staff to provide these elements. Quite a few of my writer friends have decided to go the self-publishing route—and I highly considered doing so for the third book of my Steven Hawk/Inola Walela series, but I decided to finish the trilogy with Second Wind. I do plan to write novellas in the future featuring characters from my books, as well as fleshing out some of my favorite published, award-winning short stories. I will self-publish these.

• 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.)

It’s never too early to start establishing yourself on the Internet. A website or blog is crucial—somewhere agents/editors can start their legwork on researching you. Yes, you will be vetted, especially when it comes time to a representative requesting your work. It takes loads of time establishing “friends” and followers on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads, but I highly beginning this process even as you’re writing your first novel. Agents and prospective publishes need to be certain you are capable of promoting your work and the Internet is step one in being recognized.I’m with an independent publisher and a majority of the PR and market falls on my shoulders. This is happening more and more, even with big traditional publishing houses. Unfortunately time away from the keyboard, but the Internet truly is the only way to keep your name out there. Name recognition is huge, especially when you are about to release something new and want to get the word out. Do not over-promote. Blatant Self-Promotion (BSP) is a no-no.However, I do not advise spending too much time marketing online. Stick to your main goal: writing. The more you have written the better your chances of succeeding will be. I spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours promoting my debut novel, STACCATO and don’t believe this benefited me much. I scaled my hours online way back with SNARE.Be supportive of other writers, and find other avenues (rather than Facebook, Twitter, etc) where potential readers may be found. I’m still trying to figure out where to find readers so please give a shout out if any of you out there could provide clues to accomplishing this.

About You:

• What is a trick that you've learned along the way that has made the writing process easier?

Stay focused. When I’m working on the first draft of a novel I push for 2,000 words per day. Sometimes this takes a few hours, other times eight. This helps me stay in the head of my characters and on top of what needs to happen next.

• What do you like to read for enjoyment?

Literary fiction continues to be my “candy” and I read everything by Michael Cunningham, Pat Conroy, James Irving, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Isabel Allende. Due to the need to be current with crime fiction I now follow everything by John Hart, Cara Black, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Gardner and Gregg Hurwitz. I also love the British mystery novelist Kate Atkinson, who is quite literary with her lyrical prose. My favorite book continues to be Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Up-and-coming author favorites are historical mysteries by Rebecca Cantrell and Kelli Stanley.

• 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?

Don’t be shy! I lost out for years because I was so timid, preferring to stay on the periphery and watch rather than put myself out there. Go to writers conferences and approach published authors. Essentially hang out at the bar, which is where agents, editors and authors hang out. If you’re a fan of someone approach them.If you’re a crime writer, join Sisters in Crime (SinC). I’ve met so many big named authors by merely stating, “I’m also a member of Sisters in Crime.” Unlike so many organizations you don’t need to be a published author to join. I research who will be attending the conferences and make a point of seeking out authors I know, or want to know. Establishing these relationships are crucial when you reach the point where you are, or about to be published. Willing authors will provide back cover blurbs, which looks great to your publisher and potential readers. I’m also convinced that my relationship with SinC members is what led to becoming The Hillerman Sky Award Finalist for my latest thriller, SNARE.Also: read, read, read. Not only the genre you write. Debut novels are a great resource in discovering what agents and editors are currently publishing.

• What's next for you?

Just about to submit Book Three of the Steven Hawk/Inola Walela series to my publisher. CRESCENDO wraps up the series—which is a bit sad. But I’m excited to move on and am about 10,000 words into the first book of a new mystery series. This one will be set entirely in the Taos, N.M. area and will feature a Native American female city cop and a different cast of characters. Also a Young Adult traditional mystery about a boy and girl who set off on their own to solve a rash of arsons in their small Oregon town. Another exciting project is Book Two of Rubicon Ranch. As with the first book, Rubicon Ranch: Riley’s Story, this is a collaboration with other Second Wind authors.What's the funniest thing you've seen online lately? (we'll take a link or image if you've got it)I absolutely love The Red Pen of Doom blog by the brilliant Guy Bergstrom—especially his “Evil Cat” posts. Favorite video is the dog talking about bacon, and the Mishka the Husky saying “I love you.”

Favorite Visual:

 

• Where can we find you on the Internet?

My personal website is: www.DeborahJLedford.comYou can find all of my books and short stories at my Amazon Author’s Central page.Personal Facebook PageSTACCATO and SNARE Book Page on FacebookTwitter: @djledfordGoodreadsOne rock star sensation. Two men want her dead. Three others will risk everything to keep her safe. Who will be caught in a trap?Native American pop singer Katina Salvo embarks on her first live concert appearance. There’s one problem: someone wants to kill her.Katina and her bodyguard, Deputy Steven Hawk, are attacked during her performance, leaving her to wonder—could the assailant be a dangerous man from her youth? Or her estranged father recently released from prison?Performed against the backdrop of the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, and the mysterious Taos Pueblo Indian reservation, SNARE pays homage to Tony Hillerman Native American mysteries and Lisa Gardner thriller novels.Please feel free to comment or leave questions below. Thanks for stopping by!- Heidi

Frampton Comes Alive, Food, and Divorce.

Remember albums? Listening to a whole collection of songs, from A side to B? When's the last time you listened to Frampton Comes Alive?

My brother John is going through his CD collection and rediscovering the joy of listening to an entire album uninterrupted. Recently I was lucky enough to be there for this classic, and while we jammed to Frampton, I put together a little nosh, and played with a new app: Evernote Food.

Evernote Food is an app for your smartphone. On it, you can document a meal: dinner out with friends, a new gourmet recipe you're trying, or just hanging out with your bro, like I did here. Click to see our amazing meal of crackers and fresh midwestern cheese:

Our Dinner in the Woods

I think the idea of the Evernote Food app is to document more expertly-prepared food, but I used it just to document our time together. Which we don't have often enough.If you've read this post about my brother, you know that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor last December. He and I have lived 1800 miles apart since I was a sophomore in high school. It's been hard to live so far away from one of the few people on the planet who knows you better than anyone else.It's even harder when you know you should be spending more time with them, being a part of their everyday life; a regular face among their crowd of friends gathered for drinks on a Tuesday night for no good reason. You should be a part of that.When somebody in the group says, "Hey, remember that time we ___?" You should remember it because you should have been there. But you weren't because you wound up six states away, one of the cons of your parents divorce.If it sound like I'm a little bitter, I am. Divorce is just one of those things. When you're a kid and it happens, you just have to make the best of it, like this scene from Talladega Nights:But as you get older, and are raising your own family, you begin to think of the decisions your parents made. Right around the time your kids get to be the same age you were when your own parents split up, you start looking at the situation with new eyes.You think, Would I have made the same decision? Would I have done things differently? Would I have split up my family?I don't know. It's over 30 years ago for our family, and the repercussions still echo. At least they do for me and John. It's hard. I mean, when you see people together who are obviously miserable, but are keeping it together "for the kids" sometimes you just want to tell them, oh give up already!But then you see those same kids at the airport, with their backpacks and boarding passes, off to see their other parent. The one they don't live with. The one who carries pictures in their wallet and shows the ladies at church or the guys at the work, "Here's my kid," in a wistful sort of I-wish-I-was-picking-him-up-at-the-schoolbus-stop-instead-of-the-airport sort of way.And you wonder: If this parent knew how it would be, would they re-think that divorce? Probably not. I know in our case it would not have been different. But I just wonder sometimes. It's hard not to. Wonder, I mean.So John and I will do what we've done for so long, and continue to make the best of it. We will visit whenever we can. And unlike some siblings who've been able to grow up together and as adults, do nothing but fight with each other, we cherish our time together. We eat cheese and apples and double-dipped chocolate malted milk balls and call each other disgusting names and rock out. To Frampton.http://youtu.be/DON-4ZubYbgWhat's YOUR favorite listen-all-the-way-through album?  John can add it to his list - Leave it in the comments section below.

Get this App - Clearly

I've been playing around with some apps lately, and I came across one I have to recommend: Clearly by Evernote. I'll be getting more into Evernote in another post, but for now, check out

Clearly

I wasn't too sure about it at first and was hesitant to try it since I don't like to clutter up my mac with things I don't need. But it's so simple and beautiful. here's what clearly does.

It will take a webpage that looks like this:

And make it look like this:

No Clutter, no flashing ads. Easy-to-read content.

And all it takes is putting a little extension button in your browser bar:

So easy. Try it! Your eyes will thank you.Disclosure: I receive NOTHING from Evernote or Clearly. These are just my own un-paid recommendations. If you work for Evernote and want to send me presents, that would be awesome.:)

Meet the Writer - Anne Tibbets

An author interview on the craft of writing.

Featured Writer: Anne Tibbets

Book: Shut Up, contemporary YA fiction (more info below)

Buy it:

• Amazon
• iTunes
• Nook

Intro, from Heidi:

As a new writer, one of the best how-to-be-a-writer sources I found is a fabulous series of author interviews by Steve Bertrand from WGN radio in Chicago. The podcast, Meet the Writers, is sponsored by Barnes & Noble and is available as a free download on iTunes.  There is a hefty archive and if you are curious about the art of writing, I highly recommend a listen.Inspired by Steve, and by my writer friends who are newly published, I thought I'd offer a "New Author" interview platform. Most of the authors that get on Steve's show have already done pretty well for themselves, but what about the newbies? The writers that have been dog-earing copies of The Writer's Market, attending conferences, furiously editing and revising, and telling their critique partners, "I owe you one"?And then, after all of the hard work, time, and countless pots of coffee, these writers finally nab that agent or editor. Something clicked! They got a YES! How exciting!!! Now the real work begins. They have to sell. This is quite possibly the hardest part, and why, if you know anyone who's ever written a book, you should buy a copy, if only to be supportive.Because I see firsthand how tough it is to get started, and because there are still so many of us trying to reach that first step into publication, I want to give my friends the opportunity to tell their stories. I'm being selfish, too, because this is also a way for me to learn all of their secrets...Muah ha ha ha!!So, for our very first Meet the New Writer, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Anne Tibbets. If you are a regular reader, you've heard me mention her before (we go back). She's an amazing writer, and—take note—has done an amazing job of using blogging, book bloggers, and social media to self-market her books.

Anne Tibbets:

On craft:

• How old were you when you started writing?

I started writing professionally in my twenties, although my earliest memory of writing was back in elementary school.  After I had graduated college with a degree in Theater, which is pretty useless in the “real world,” I decided I had done enough starving in college and had no desire to be a “starving artist,” so I moved to Los Angeles with the intent on becoming a screenwriter.  From what I’d heard, they actually made money.  I took odd jobs as secretaries and assistants, even a Page on The Price is Right at one point, and read books on screenwriting, took classes at UCLA Extension, and wrote and wrote and wrote.  Nothing I wrote on spec sold.  Not a one.  Eventually, after years of working in “the biz” I was hired as a writer’s assistant on a syndicated action hour and through the contacts I made there I sold a few scripts.  Soon thereafter I had children, and with their arrival I put my screenwriting career on permanent hold and after suffering through the first few years of toddler-hood, I tried my hat at writing children’s books, and through a lot of trial and error, eventually settled on Young Adult.

• Where do you write?

I have a desk in a downstairs bedroom in my house that we have deemed “The Office.”  I’ve tried writing elsewhere but it doesn’t work well.  I am determined to learn how to write while in public.  But, it takes practice.

• When do you write?

I do the bulk of my writing during the months of September through June while my kids are in school.  From 9 am until I can’t take it anymore, or 2:45 pm, whichever comes first.  During the summer months I work when the kids are at day camp and even hire a babysitter once a week to give me just a few hours of writing time, but they aren’t in camp every week so it’s very sporadic – I find if I don’t write, however, I go batty.  Summer is a very cranky time for me.

• What helps you write – music, pictures, maps, journals, etc, - what gets you into that mindset?

I wish I had a magic formula that works every time that would put me into the mindset to write, but I don’t.  I have Attention Deficit Disorder so the moment I find one thing that works I tend to get bored of it pretty quickly, so I’m forever trying new ways to creatively stimulate my mind.  I read a lot.  Almost constantly.  I listen to various kinds of music and will search for a “theme song” for each of the books I write. I find it helps to keep me grounded in the emotional tone of the piece.For Fantasy books I create maps and write out battle plans using chess pieces to signify characters so I can keep track of where they are during the battle, and I blog quite a bit about the process, as I am always trying to learn from my numerous mistakes.  I’ve tried just about everything, but the #1 thing that keeps me focused is coffee.  Lots of coffee, with flavored creamer and about a bucket full of sugar.

• What are some things that stand in your way? Logistically as well as creatively?

This is going to sound horrible, so I apologize in advance to my offspring, but my kids are my #1 obstacle to writing.  They sap my energy, they try my patience, they interrupt me every 6 minutes (I actually timed it one summer), and they demand my attention – it’s their job and they’re doing a bang up job of it.  However, if I didn’t have my kids I can’t say I would feel as powerfully as I do about my work, so it balances out.  A lack of time is my primary nemesis, and my secondary nemesis is my own distracted self.  I lack focus at times and this bites me in the butt constantly.

• What do you do when you “hit a wall?”

There are many writers out there that insist that in order to be at your peak you must write every day, even if it’s only a few words.  In my mind, writing every day is a recipe for burnout.  When I hit a wall, I take a few days off.  Sometimes, I’ll even take a week off.  I live life, I catch up on housework, I pay attention to my family, I regroup – and then, in a week or few days (depending), I start to feel recharged and I’m ready to go back to writing.  It works for me.  Forcing myself to write when I am so over it only leads to crappy writing and a lot of revision later, so it’s really best for me just to walk away and come back when I’m ready.

• 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.)

I always outline.  Always.  If I didn’t, I would have a hard time keeping on track, and that’s the truth.  I rather admire writers who can just sit down and let the story unfold but I need more focus than that to keep me grounded.  I usually use bullet points - this happens, then this happens, then this happens – I keep track of plot and character arcs.  But it occurs quite a few times while I’m writing that I realize there’s a “hole” in the outline where something is supposed to happen and there isn’t enough build up to it, or as I’m writing I realize it needs to go in a different direction, or that the character is supposed to be a nervous wreck by now and she’s only slightly bothered.  In that case, I’ll go back to the outline and rework it to see if the change fits with my original intention.  If it doesn’t, then I tend to stick to the outline.  It’s my lifeline, but it’s bendable.

• How do you draft/revise? (ie. Do you just get it out in one big “dump,” then revise, revise, revise, or do you revise and edit as you go?)

I’ve tried this both ways.  I’ve dumped an entire book out in one draft, and spent the next year revising it.  Others I have written a scene, revised, written another scene, revised both scenes, and then on and on.  I have yet to determine a solid structure with this.  It honestly depends on how it’s flowing.  First thing I do when I have time to write is I will try to work on new scenes, but if I find I’m stuck with the “dumping” process I’ll spend my writing time revising what I’ve got.  That’s just how I roll.

• What are some tools that you use? (reference guides, manuals, websites – a favorite pen/notebook/computer?)

On my desk sit my favorite computer, an old Mac laptop that overheats if I don’t use my cooling tray, my thesaurus, a dictionary, and a “word” book that lists every word in the English language.  (Psst, there are times when I’m like – “What’s that word, it starts with a ‘ste’…?” and I have to look it up!).  I Google a lot, I search the internet, I watch video clips on YouTube and I cruise book stores and Amazon.com for reference material.  And lately I’ve been trying a recording of a waterfall turned up so loud I can’t hear anything else, but the jury is still out on that particular tool.

• Do you use critique groups? How did you find them?

I have two YA writer buddies that are kind enough to read my work, when they have time. They give awesome notes, and I try to do the same for them.  Although that is technically a “Writers Group,” we are not organized, have no regular meeting times, or “rules,” so we don’t call ourselves a “group.”  We meet socially every now and then to shoot the breeze, and attend writer’s events together.  We met through SCBWI, which, if you are a children’s writer, you MUST join, it’s completely invaluable.

On your current project:

• What was your inspiration for this book?

Shut Up came to me while I was working on a YA Fantasy.  There was a crisis in my family and it called to mind several unpleasant memories that I had buried in the back of my brain from my childhood.  They haunted me for days.  In an effort to purge them, I wrote them down and put them away, but my mind would not let them go.  So I wrote down a few more, then a few more, then a whole lot of them.  Then I realized I had the outline of a book, but the memories by themselves were not solid enough to be an entire book, so I tweaked, twisted, warped and fictionalized it, and from that I ended up with the manuscript for Shut Up.

• What kind of research did you do for this book? And, were you surprised by something that you learned in your research?

Since Shut Up was based on my childhood, there wasn’t much in the way of research that I had to do.  I was there, and I knew most of what happened.  What I didn’t know, I would call my mother and ask her about.  However, after I had changed the book significantly I came to realize the characters had lives of their own and the main character was deeply depressed and suicidal, so I researched childhood depression, the treatment of it, and how the symptoms manifested.  If I was surprised by anything it was the fact that even though my mother knew I was writing a book about my childhood, she still answered my questions.

• How did it feel to write that last line?

I had a horrible time working on this book.  I wish I could say it wasn’t, but the subject matter of depression, is well, depressing.  I’d work for three weeks, stop a few weeks, and work again.  My emotions were all over the place and I often needed alone time to remind myself that I wasn’t Mary, the main character.  So, when I wrote that last line on the last revision on that last day, I cried with relief.

On the business of publishing:

• How did you find your agent/editor?

I found my agent the old fashioned way.  I wrote a book and I researched agents, and then I queried her.  She did not respond right away, but several months later, at which point she sent me a list of her notes on my manuscript and an offer of representation.  I loved her notes so much, and we got along so well on the phone, I accepted.  I am lucky to have her, her name is Bree Ogden and she’s at D4EO Literary, and she’s an absolute doll.

• Has self-publishing shaped your career as a writer?  What is your opinion of self-publishing?

This is a double-edged sword.  I know that if I hadn’t published Shut Up and my YA Fantasy The Beast Call with Premier Digital Publishing, which is in essence, a company that assists authors with self-publication, those books never would have gotten published at all otherwise, given that I had broken so many industry rules.  So, I wouldn’t have a career at all if I hadn’t done that.  However, getting the recognition in self-publishing is very, very difficult, especially now that anyone can self-publish.The market is flooded with tons of manuscripts and no matter how good, or bad, no one can voice an opinion about your work if they don’t even know it’s there.  Self-publishing isn’t hard, it’s getting the word out that’s hard.  And despite my 2,000+ followers on Facebook, and my 1,200+ followers on Twitter and my 13,000 hits on my blog – my sales figures continue to barely exist.  So, I’m a little bitter sweet when it comes to self-publishing, at the moment. As of now, I have not made back my investment, but there are a number of self-published authors who have.

• What can you share with our readers about marketing?  (ie. What, if any, support did you have from your publisher? Costs involved? Things that worked best/weren’t worth it, etc.)

When I published The Beast Call and later Shut Up with Premier Digital Publishing, the most marketing support I received was a blog post on the publisher website announcing the book release, and a Tweet.  That was all.  Every expense, every free copy sent to bloggers and reviewers, my PR firm, my press release, my blog hops, my giveaways, my advertisements on Facebook, JacketFlap and GoodReads, I paid for completely myself.  For a small digital and Print-on-Demand publisher, this is not abnormal.The best things that worked (for me) were the blog hops.  If you are an author and you are invited to participate in a blog hop – do!  Make the time.  GoodReads ads are also cheap and effective, whereas Facebook ads will get you ‘Liked’ but does not generate sales.   Twitter is fun but not an effective marketing tool unless you are attempting to drum up attention amongst the book blogging community.  The only thing I haven’t tried is purchasing print ads in newspapers and magazines, and only because it is very expensive.

About You:

• What is a trick that you’ve learned along the way that has made the writing process easier?

There’s a trick to make it easier?  Ha!  When you figure it out will you tell me?  The only “trick” I can think of is to write something you love.  If you are only writing a certain story because you think it will be popular and sell lots of books then you will get creatively blocked and have a hard time writing the book.  Write a story you love, and it flows easier.  At least, it does for me.

• What writers inspire you?

This is going to sound smug and a little stuck up, but my answer is, “not many.”  I’m not the kind of person who buys into the ‘celebrity’ aspect of the business.  Yes, I loved the Harry Potter series and I think J.K. Rowling is an awesome writer, and would I like to sit with her and have a conversation about process, absolutely!  But, would I ask for her autograph and take my picture with her?  Probably not.  It seems like an awful invasion of her personal space and she’s just a human being, like the rest of us.  I positively LOVED The Book Thief, but if I met Markus Zusak, I don’t think I’d turn to jelly.  I love his work, not him.So, I guess what my answer is, the books I find inspiring are Persuasion by Jane Austen, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore.  If I can’t find a good book to read, I revert back to these, because they are just so incredibly crafted, I aspire to write something half as good.

• What do you like to read for enjoyment?

I go on genre benders.  For a while, I was reading only Sci-Fi, then I moved on to Historical Mysteries, then I would hit all the YA Dystopians, and then move on to High Fantasy. I read almost anything, although I must admit, I don’t find biographies or military books that interesting.

• We all know 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?

I have been fortunate enough to have received this advice before it could have backfired on me, so I’m passing it along to you in the hopes it will prevent a great catastrophe in yours.  The advice: Don’t respond to reviews.  A good one, or a bad one.  Say no more than ‘thank you’ (unless you are personally friends with the reviewer, and even then I don’t advise it). Don’t do it.  You’ll want to.  Believe me.  But it does nothing but fuel bad publicity and creates terrible author backlash, and no matter if the reviewer was unprofessional, totally missed the plot of your book, or was just a raving a-hole, the one who comes out dirty on the other end is ALWAYS the author.There are a group of penguins in the movie ‘Madagascar’ who are trying to escape the zoo, but they must make the appearance before the zoo crowd and when they do, the Captain penguin always tells his crew, “Smile and wave, boys.  Smile and wave.” And I expect the same from you.  “Smile, and wave.”  So zip your lip, I mean it!

• What’s next for you?

I have a Social Sci-Fi awaiting approval from my agent and will soon be submitted to traditional publishing editors.  I hope to have news within six months.  We will see.  In the meantime I am working on a YA Horror and having a great time scaring my own pants off.

• and finally...What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen online lately?

SHUT UPMary's older sister, Gwen, has royally screwed up her life. Not only is Gwen pregnant at seventeen, but she's also decided to marry The Creep who knocked her up.Now Mary is powerless to stop her family from imploding. Her parents are freaking out, and to top it off The Creep has a gross fascination with Mary while Gwen enjoys teasing her to tears for sport.Despite her brother's advice to shut up, Mary can't keep her trap closed and manages to piss off Mom so much it comes to blows.Mary doesn't know what to do, and all her attempts to get help are rejected. When she finally plans her escape, she fails to consider how it could destroy them all.

Anne Tibbets Online:

• blog: Will Write for Coffee
• twitter: @writeforcoffee
• facebook
• A post Anne wrote on how she got her agent, including a look at her successful query letter. Great info!

Bree Ogden:

• blog: This Literary Life
• twitter: @breeogden
• agency bio: D4EO Literary Agency
• formspring

Fell free to keep the conversation going in the comment box below. Thanks for reading.

50 Shades of Grey - Why Readers Will Love It and Writers Will Hate It

I first heard of 50 Shades of Grey when one of my customers asked for it, before it had even been released. The book and its sequels, 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed, have been the biggest literary blockbusters since Harry Potter or Twilight, pushing sales upwards of (reportedly) 10 million copies in six weeks. Since its release, I've had a difficult time keeping copies in stock at the grocery store where I merchandise books, and every week, for every one that sells, more and more copies come in.As the hype grew, so did my curiosity. I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I picked up a copy, along with a young adult fantasy novel as backup. Good thing I got the backup. I can usually tell if I'm going to like a book as soon as I read the first page. Right away, 50 Shades had me rolling my eyes, much like its main character, Anastasia Steele does, a reported 41 times throughout the book with her cohort, Christian Grey.Why readers will love it:

• Cinderella-familiar storyline (regular girl meets extraordinary boy who sweeps her off her feet and showers her with expensive things);
• Easy plot & characters to follow. You don't need to hold a timeline of events & a roster in your head like you had to do with The Millennium Series;
• Why, the sex, of course!

Why Writers will hate it:

• It's an easy read—a little too easy. Nothing flows, It doesn't take you away to another place. More like this happened and then that happened and here's what I was wearing, and OMG he is so HOT!!
• It is rife with repetition. If I had to read one more time how she bit her lip or how his pants hang on his hips just so, or how they call each other by their surnames ("Miss Steele;" "Mr. Grey")...I'm tempted to get out my red pen and edit my own paperback copy, just for the hell of it.
• It is rife with two amateur writing mistakes: 1. adverbs—tons of them—which is a rookie error, usually caught by an editor; and 2. Cliché: the aforementioned Cinderella-esque storyline, punctuated by scenes stolen from Pretty Woman (the bathtub scene; the piano scene). And I'm not the only one who noticed. See this article at The Daily Beast for more.
• keep reading for the #1 reason writers will hate 50 Shades of Grey.

In fact, if I were describing it to someone I'd say it's like Pretty Woman or Cinderella, only Prince Charming is into kinky sex. Really kinky sex. And OMG, he's really hot.I must admit, I got drawn into the steamy scenes—you'd have to be a eunuch not to.  But I would find myself halfway through the page saying, "wait, what? That just doesn't happen..." I mean you have to give her props for imagination, but a lot of it just doesn't play realistically. I could go into gory detail, but it would cause major spoilers, and would be a bit TMI, even for me. (Seriously, how many of you out there had multiple O's your first time? Guys, put your hands down.)And—disclosure—I didn't even finish the book. I tried, but I kept getting so frustrated. Not that kind of frustrated either. One of the main things that bothered me is that here you have this main character who is supposed to be a smart, intellectual woman—however young and sexually inexperienced—making really stupid decisions. Dan Brown does the same thing in his books; writes these incredibly intelligent women, who for whatever reason can't seem to do anything for themselves until the dashing Professor Langdon sweeps in to save the day.Now, I have to say, pretty much my entire life, if I picked up a book and started reading it, that meant I would be reading it 'til the very end, no matter what. I have no idea where I came up with this philosophy. Probably some sort of teacher-infused guilt, or Norwegian stubbornness from somewhere along the line, but I always believed that if you started a book, you HAD TO FINISH IT.But I've gotten to the point in my life where I've decided not to waste my time trying to read a book I don't like. There are SO many books out there that I would like to read. Why sit and stew and turn pages that frustrate the hell out of you, one after the other, when there is a whole pile of books on your nightstand, just begging for their spines to be cracked?At the same time I bought 50 Shades, I also picked up a YA softcover by Kristin Cashore, called Fire. Not that I needed any new books—I have a ton on my shelves that I still haven't gotten to yet (like that's ever stopped me from buying a book). But when I got so frustrated with Miss Steele and Mr. Gray, I picked up Fire, just to take a peek.And that's when I realized I didn't need to read all about the Steele/Gray tryst. Because the other book was so. much. better. And it has nothing to do with genre (50 Shades is adult contemporary erotica fiction; Fire is young adult fantasy fiction), it's all about the quality of the writing. See for yourself in the following excerpts (no spoilers):

Excerpt from 5o Shades of Grey, by E.L. James:

"Ready?" he asks. I nod and want to say, For anything, but I can't articulate the words as I'm too nervous, too excited."Taylor." he nods curtly at his driver, and we head into the building, straight to a set of elevators. Elevator! The memory of our kiss this morning comes back to haunt me. I have thought of nothing else all day, daydreaming at the register at Clayton's. Twice Mr. Clayton had to shout my name to bring me back to Earth. To say I've been distracted would be the understatement of the year. Christian glances down at me, a slight smile on his lips. Ha! He's thinking about it.too."It's only three floors," he says dryly, his eyes dancing with amusement. He's telepathic, surely. It's spooky.

Three adverbs! Really? In little more than one paragraph?! Who edited this?? Okay, Heidi, don't sweat the small stuff, don't sweat the small stuff...

Excerpt from Fire, by Kristin Cashore:

It had been easy once, taking Archer into her bed; not so long ago it had been simple. And then, somehow the balance had tipped between them. The marriage proposals, the lovesickness. More and more, the simplest thing was to say no.She would answer him gently. She turned to him and held out her hand. He stood and came to her."I must change into riding clothes and pull a few more things together," she said. "We'll say our goodbyes now. You must go down and tell the prince I'm coming."He stared at his shoes and then into her face, understanding her. He tugged at her headscarf until it slid away and her hair fell around her shoulders. He collected her hair in one hand, bent his face to it, kissed it. He pulled Fire to him and kissed her neck and her mouth, so that her body was left wishing that her mind were not so stingy. Then he broke away and turned to the door, his face the picture of unhappiness.

Now, I'm sorry, but that is some good f*ing writing. Where James over-explains and over-punctuates her character's every thought, lip-bite and groin-pull, Cashore paints a picture for you to observe from a distance, the characters explaining how they feel with their actions. Kind of goes back to the old "show, don't tell" lesson I learned from my library critique group.Okay, okay, so who am I? Right? Who am I to be sitting up here on my high horse, critiquing something that has been so lightning-in-a-bottle successful?I don't want to knock Ms. James. I don't want to sound as if I think I'm somehow better, or above. I mean, not only did she finish her book, but two more, got them published and is now enjoying great prosperity because of it. I say, good for her! I can't even finish one book, and I'm embarrassed to tell you how long I've been working on it (or not working on it, as the case may be. That's at least part of my problem). And she seems like a pretty cool person. My biggest admiration for her lies in the fact that she negotiated complete control when she sold her movie rights. Now that's a genius, ballsy move. I bow humbly to that. I wonder if she whipped out some handcuffs when talking to Universal, and gave them a little spanking? ;)I wish her all the success in the world. I mean, she's kind of a Cinderella story herself, isn't she? It's a great inspiration to the rest of us schlubs hacking away at our blogs, adding to our page counts and red-penning our own manuscripts. It's proof that with a little talent, and a whole lot of determination, anyone can make it happen. You know what they say, the most successful writers aren't necessarily the best, they are just the ones who didn't quit.And as to that #1 reason writers will hate 50 Shades of Grey? Like most other things creatives hate:

They didn't think of it first.

So...did you read it, or are you avoiding it on principle? Did you love it? Hate it? Read it while hiding in the ladies room? :) Please, let your voice be heard! Converse! Click reply (below).

5 Simple Things I've Learned about Horsekeeping

1. Always have a pair of scissors handy.

You know your old sewing scissors? The ones that, when you bought them on sale with your 40% off coupon at JoAnn's? The ones you told your whole family NOT TO TOUCH, and THESE ARE FOR FABRIC and NOT FOR PRUNING THE BUSHES? The ones your kids ended up using for school projects and your husband used to cut the wire off of something in the garage, and which you will never, ever be able to use for cutting that beautiful fabric again? Don't throw them away.We always keep a pair out in the barn (okay, it's not really a barn, but hey this is Arizona. Barns are hot. It's a glorified shade but we call it a barn. Yes, I know the difference, I grew up in farm country.) Anyway, there's nothing worse than needing to cut open a new bale of hay to feed your horses (which I'm sure are starving), and there is no blade to be found.Stick that old pair of slightly damaged scissors out in your hay, and they will find new life.

2. Always stack your garden hose on a slant.

That way, when you drag it over to water your horses, or wash your car or whatever, it will not get all tangled and bunched up and make you say things like sh*t! and g******it! and son of a bee stinger! And other colorful words that entertain the neighbors.And if everyone else in your family puts the garden hose away like this:Then you may feel the way I do sometimes:

3. Always keep water from spilling.

Some of you lucky people out there have horses who never rub on anything in their stalls and never knock over their feeders or water buckets. My horses will mess with anything in their stalls. And they aren't even kept in their stalls all day - they have free reign to wander about as they choose. When the barn was built, we had automatic waterers installed, so the horses would always have fresh, clean water. This one is dog height:But the ones we had installed in the stalls were just the right height for the horses to use as butt-scratching-posts. And from the repeated leaning on by 1000-lb. animals, the waterers got tilted just enough to leak. All the time. Which resulted in huge mud puddles right where the horses need to stand to drink their water. Horse stalls and standing water do not mix. Hoof fungus, mosquitoes, and the smell are the three main reasons, but I'm sure there's more.So we got these big half-barrel water buckets from the feed store. Which are just the right height for the horses to scratch their hind legs on. And then they discovered how much fun it is to tip over the water bucket when it is about half full. Which goes back to the same old water-in-the-stall problem. It took me a few tries to final figure out how to do it (hint: looping chains around the bucket doesn't work).So I drilled holes in the top of the bucket. Wasn't easy because the loopy do-dads that I bought have wide ends so I basically had to drill two holes next to each other and then widen it further. You probably have better tools than I do, so maybe you'll have an easier time of it. Then I took some Clip-hook do-dads, attached to the loopy do-dads (all very technical here) and clipped the hooks to my fence. Voila! Horsey-no-knock-over. So there.

4. Always, ALWAYS latch gates closed behind you.

None of this, "Oh, I'll be in here for a sec to spray some fly spray/scoop poop/etc." and then swinging the gate behind you without latching it shut. 9 times out of 10, you end up going out a different gate than you came in anyway. But it only takes a second.Do not be deceived by their big-eyed innocent faces. Horses are known escape artists.The minute you turn your back, they are nosing that gate open, and GONE! This is especially important if the place they can escape to is potentially dangerous, as in the photo above—into traffic—or in my backyard, one of the gates leads to a play area where we have a trampoline which is sunken into the ground. My horses thought it would be cool the other day to push on this gate and run around back there, nearly giving me a heart attack.Luckily they just ran around and munched on the pine trees, and avoided the black hole of the trampoline. But it could have been bad.

5. If you give your horse a bath, and you are not dirtier than your horse was when you started, you are doing it wrong.

There is no possible way to bathe your horse and not get wet, dirty and smelly. If you are the type of person who doesn't like to get your hands dirty, don't even think about wanting a horse. Or just be rich enough to have some one else do it for you.But where's the fun in that?Oh - by the way, I just saw the movie BRAVE today. If you are as much of a Celtic folklore geek as I am, you will love it. Pixar did an amazing job, capturing the beauty of Scotland, and weaving a story around a strong, smart female character. AND they have an awesome Shire horse—and whoever was in charge of animating the horses did an excellent job of capturing the character and how they really move. Anyway, just go see it, it's good. Visually stunning.

Here's my LittleFilmReview tweet:

https://twitter.com/heidhorch/status/216676217854771200