Tag Archives: Writing

August 25, 2016 · 2:18 pm

Farmer’s Marketing

  

 

I go to my Local Farmer’s Market once a week as a vendor. I’m not selling vegetables, although we’ve grown quite a lot of veggies on the farm this summer. 

Actually, I use this time to demonstrate hand spinning alpaca fiber. I talk to people who watch me at the spinning wheel as I turn fiber into yarn. I ask about their creative projects. Many knit or crochet or quilt and we have a lovely time as we swap stories. 

From time to time, folks will share in a memory about an elder relative they recall who spun on a wheel a long time ago, and I’m reminded that it’s these kinds of traditions which need to be preserved.  I hope to be able to do that in my work as I honor things handmade,  and it will be my hope to write about artisans and craftspeople with a voice of authenticity. 

Best of luck in your creative projects, too!

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July 8, 2016 · 10:30 am

Busy Hands

There’s a quotation attributed to Benjamin Franklin that I’d like to share, and it’s this:

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.”

So I’ve been busy. 

I’ve been writing AND doing stuff. 

The alpaca have had their yearly haircuts months ago…I have more fiber than I can possibly spin into yarn and I HAVE been making hats, even through the summer heat. 

 

The weather will get cold again and I’ll be ready when it does. 

Vegetables were planted and we harvest something almost every day. What I’m MOST excited about are the jellies: Egarden has produced some fine mints and the blackberry patch has given fruit, so that I’ve made jellies eight or nine times (as of now).

Byron Herbert Reece said, “I am a farmer first and a writer second.” And I get it. I understand. My time is being well spent and I search for balance in creative living every single day. 

Some days produce more words than others, some days give more food or a handmade item, and I have been nourished– either way. 

Happy creating!

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April 19, 2016 · 11:07 am

Come the spring…..

and it is the time when I get distracted and move from one creative activity to another, but more frequently. There’s so much to DO!!

A buddy of mine says that’s a characteristic of “cafeteria artists.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but as long as it involves appreciating a lot of activities through which I have a variety of creative pursuits, yeah….that would be me. 

 

 The alpacas have had their yearly haircuts, which provides me with plenty of fiber for future projects. 

  And out in the experimental garden, I’ve been thinning mints and herbs to see what else I’d like to add for this growing season. I’ve started seeds in the tiny greenhouse (not shown here) and will have a few vegetables to add in a few weeks. 

Big Garden and Little Garden have a more “traditional” method of planting, and by that, I’m referring to the use of a tractor, a tiller and Mr P maintains a lot of the work for that. We produce vegetables and harvest enough to eat fresh foods, share, and save some for later. I grow a few flowers in Big Garden.  

But in Experimental Garden–E Garden– I try different things in different ways, and when something grows, it grows, and I appreciate that. 

My point is this: when I am in E Garden, I take chances. I’ve learned to trust that things will develop and come to be if I’ve done what I can, what I love, the conditions are right for growth, and I nurture the project. And I look for signs and believe in the balance of luck and hard work. 

Happy Creating!

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February 22, 2016 · 9:51 am

Directions and Side Trips

     

New York, New York!

I visited Grand Central Station/Terminal, the New York Public Library and attended the winter conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators(SCBWI). What a GREAT experience; to be surrounded by so many other creative minds!! Check out the website http://www.scbwi.org for more information about the conference. 

 

There have been so many things to think about upon returning home; plans for future projects, works in progress. Yet, I decided I needed to re-examine some of my ideas, but THIS time, with a different focus. 

I picked up a wonderful picture book at the conference by speaker Kate Messner, with artwork by Christopher Silas Neal called UP IN THE GARDEN AND DOWN IN THE DIRT. It will be a wonderful gift for my granddaughter, and I’ll give it to her–right after I finish using it. See, as I began to review some of my own manuscripts, I felt as though I wanted to know if they could move along in a story line, too. The sketches above are my interpretation of the layout for Ms. Messner’s and M Neal’s book. 

I’ve worked this week on sketching at least six other picture books, by other authors/illustrators. It has been a most rewarding creative learning experience. 

From there, I can use my own words to do rough sketches for possible picture book projects. The next steps, at least for me, will be to get professional opinions about the manuscripts. 

Happy Creating, today and every day. 

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January 28, 2016 · 1:53 pm

Heart Made

Making and sharing handmade items for gifts is part of my life and has been for as long as I can remember. 

I have been largely influenced by two grandmothers. One encouraged me to sew and I would make doll clothes using pieces of fabric from her scrap piles. I learned how to remove stitches if they weren’t doing the job and appreciate quality handwork. 

That led me to sewing larger projects–among those were a dress for my first prom, several outfits for formal wear and eventually a design for my wedding dress. It was a simple idea really: chiffon poncho over a crepe flowing, below the knee-length gown with a diagonal hem that pointed down instead of horizontally.  (By then it was the late seventies and my hair was  flowing longer, too.) 

The other grandmother taught me how to crochet, but I never learned how to read a pattern for my needlework. She would encourage me to look at something or visualize how I wanted something to be, and use a series of stitches to make it be that way. And when I taught myself to knit I unravelled almost as much as I created until I felt it was the best it could be. “If you leave it in there and don’t fix it, you will always know it is still in there,” she would say. She was right.  

I hope to pass along the love of making and giving handmade gifts  

 

and when I need those ideas and memories to develop characters in my writing– well, it’s come full circle and I know I’m honoring a heritage of my own. 

Happy creating! 

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November 12, 2015 · 3:50 pm

Good Material

We’ve had several days of rain these last few weeks. 

Wind, too. The windmill went crazy. Pieces here; scraps over there. It is now in the Restoration Stage. 

But the Treehouse escaped damage from every tree that fell in the forest. See? Although just barely visible, we were able to move and cut the surrounding trees and will have wood to use for other building projects. 

  

We’ll haul the wood up to the sawmill we’ve constructed on our property. 

Oh yes. There is now a sawmill. My contribution was to photograph the original sawmill before it was disassembled and then moved. I had to draw and label pieces, as well as make working diagrams in order to be able to put it back together again. 

So the storms have provided us with good building material. We’ll cut the logs here:

  

And build a footbridge and shelter here:

  

We will have good materials for building. 

A creative group of writer friends will be sharing some tips and their knowledge about Writing Middle Grade novels. Check them out if you’d like to learn more:  they are using their collective skills to build something wonderful as they set up their blog tour. 

Check out the Middle Grade Mafia at:

www. middlegrademafia.com and tell them I said “hi.”

Happy Creating!

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October 7, 2015 · 12:15 pm

Contemplation

I wonder sometimes if I try to “overthink” things. If I was one to put a lot of trust in astrological readings, I’d most likely say it was because of my Sign. By nature, it says, I tend to be overly cautious. 

Nah. 

I just like to visualize and get the Big Picture.  I like options. Choices. 

And then sometimes, I prefer to just jump right in. Like this:

    

And get all dirty and mess about as I create something new. I do so with enthusiasm.  I feel comfortable “writing by the seat of my pants,” and I enjoy a good splash in a muddy puddle as much as any kid. 

And then I look for signs; I choose keep my Creative Heart open and receive both ideas and inspiration. 

  

Happy creating, today and every day. 

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October 1, 2015 · 5:54 pm

Rolling Up My Sleeves To Get To Work

  

Fall is in the air and along with this cooler weather come even more creative distractions. Festivals and celebrations abound, and with leaves changing colors in the higher elevations–you know when those mountains call, I feel as though I must go. 

I. Am. Driven. To. Distraction. 

To celebrate October and to rein my creative self IN, I am making myself a creative promise:

I will Write. I will Draw. I will Create. I will read and make music, attend writing conferences or take classes, and make an extra effort to keep my You-Know-What in this seat working on my current Work In Progress. 

  

There are lots of writers, illustrators, agents and editors who have tips and tricks on how to work through some of the pitfalls of “procrastination,” and I’ve heard many of them speak to this at conferences. 

Here’s what I know: I’ve gotta write my book. It won’t write itself. I’m the only one who can tell the story I want to tell. And I really REALLY want to tell this story! 

So I’m rolling up my sleeves to get busy. 

Happy Creating to you, too!

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September 22, 2015 · 1:59 pm

Places of Creative Inspiration

  

Have you ever been to a specific place and felt a kind of “one-ness” with your creative spirit? 

It’s kind of like going somewhere and feeling like some part of you, or maybe one of the characters in your Work-In-Progress could’ve lived or visited there. You KNOW this place.

And if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to experience such a thing, well, when you do, it might feel as though you’ve been given a gift of insight. 

  

This view is from the outside of the building in the first photo. 

This is a shelter underneath a rocky outcropping. People LIVED there a longgg time ago.

  

And this last photo is of something I’ve    placed on a different creative spot, to celebrate the beginning of Fall. I’ve built a scarecrow on a site which was the location of a local crafts person’s blacksmith shop somewhere between 1930-1940. 

  

 

These are all stories I’d like to share, and honor those creative people whose voices will guide me. 

The photographs are my visual shorthand for time, setting and character, and when I look at them–I’m THERE!.  Best of luck to you on your creative journey, too.

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September 10, 2015 · 9:03 am

Color, Character and Function

  

Several of my characters in a current writing project are part of me and people that I’d wish I’d known when I was younger. I am getting to know them now. We are having a wonderful time, and I must say–not every one really understands what writers or illustrators mean when they say their characters “speak” to them, or if they mention an idea came to them in a “vision.”  What a pity, I think, for those who cannot imagine. 

I needed a carrying case for one of the dulcimers. Well, one of my characters said she needed one too, so we made one together. She’s a colorful lady herself, and pretty outspoken. We hand stitched the pieces and spent WAY too much time trying to figure out a way to join the sides together without the seams showing. 

That project is completed now, and while my character may finish a few of her household chores today, like ironing, she could just as easily make some tea and music. 

I’ll get something creative accomplished today and hope you will, too. 

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