Creativity Friday: School’s out….

… and Thea is now officially a kindergartener. The above photo was taken right after her preschool graduation celebration — look how pleased she looks! And now she is home until she begins summer camp in about two weeks. As for myself, my hours in the studio have been limited in the meantime. I’ve had to tie up a number of projects now that summer is upon me.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s what at this moment:

~ The first draft of The Novel (aka THE LILY MAID) is officially set aside for the next few weeks until my schedule frees up. The first draft is complete at 105,000 words — whew! That written, I still have a number of plot points and character arcs that require refining. I’m hoping that the time away will help me clarify my thinking as well as better judge what I have so far. Right now, I am careening between enthrallment and despair over all I’ve written. C’est normale, so I’ve been told. This is the longest manscript I’ve ever worked on — and fiction to boot! — so THE LILY MAID is brave new world territory for me.

~ I’m excited about e-books for the iPad. Toward that end, I’m moving forward on designing and producing THE BOOK OF GODDESSES e-book as well a a number of others: PERSEPHONE AND THE POMEGRANATE, SACRED ANIMALS, and more. So far, I’ve set up my publishing imprint with Apple’s iBooks, purchased my isbns, and am slowly mastering the finer points of the ePub digital format. (Apple’s iBooks only distributes ePubs, unlike Amazon’s Kindle which uses a proprietary format.) I’m finding ePub design to be a strange, slippery amalgam between website programming and book design. Much of what I’m learning as an e-book designer feels counterintuitive to me. But then again, it’s all new.

~ Related to above: I have a blog post on my experiences incubating about my discoveries and challenges designing for the ePub format so far. I hope to have that up once I have a chance to catch up in the studio, in a week or so. The short version is that my intention is to create the most beautiful, inspiring, and user-friendly e-books available despite the constraints of the medium. Here’s a peek at my e-book imprint logo, which will go within the front matter for each digital publication.

~ I’m considering making some of my more text-heavy books available for Kindle, such as THE BOOK OF GODDESSES. It seems as though people are wedded to one format or the other, based on what e-book device they own. For example, I’m amazed at how many people downloaded DOOMED QUEENS on their Kindles. However, I’m wondering if this is worth my effort, since the Kindle only handles black and white books at this time. I’d include all the art from my books, but obviously they’d be reproduced in black and white. Opinions? Thoughts?

~ We also have a new exhibit planned for next month at the gallery. I’m very excited about it since it will be curated by my husband, anthropologist Thomas Ross Miller. ON THE ROAD OF BONES will feature native Siberian and American photographers documenting Russia’s Old Kolyma Highway, built by prisoners of Stalin’s infamous gulag.

~ Next Friday (June 25) is our monthly tarot salon. Live in the NYC area? I hope you’ll stop by for a glass of wine, some chocolate and a reading. More information here.

And how is your summer shaping up so far?

• Filed under The Novel, be-mused, creativity, goddesses, new projects, publishing, the world around me | 2 Responses

The Book of Goddesses: the music composition!

Tomorrow evening marks the world premiere of composer Robert Paterson’s new music composition The Book of Goddesses. It will be performed by by the MAYA trio in a free concert that includes live video by Mark Alan Johnson incorporating images from my book of the same name. (The composition is based on my book of the same name.) There is a free wine reception after the concert — it should be a great evening!

Here’s information about the concert:

Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Time: 8:00pm – 9:30pm
Where: Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South (West 4th St bet. Sullivan and Thompson Sts.), New York, NY

MAYA, the trio of John Hadfield, percussion; Jacqueline Kerrod, harp; Sato Moughalian flute, will be presented by JudsonArts, at 55 Washington Square South, New York, in a program of new works, featuring four world-premiere performances on Tuesday, June 8 at 8 PM. Admission is free.

The concert is a co-presentation of JudsonArts, Michael Conley, Director, and Perspectives Ensemble. Generous support for these commissions came from The New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the American Composers Forum, and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Additional support for the performance comes from the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and The Foundation for Iberian Music.

PROGRAM

different voices together (2010) • Premiere • Yotam Haber
(commissioned for MAYA by the Jerome Foundation) (b. 1977)

The Book of Goddesses (2010) • Premiere • Robert Paterson
(commissioned for MAYA by the NYS Council on the Arts) (b. 1970)
I. Sarasvati
II. Xi Wang Mu
III. Aphrodite
IV. Brigit
V. Estanatlehi
VI. Xochiquetzal
VII. Oya
VIII. Yemayá
IX. The Muses

Theoretical Wall (2010) • Premiere • John Hadfield
Sisters (b. 1976)

ASKLEPIOS (2010) • Premiere • Gabriel Erkoreka
(commissioned for MAYA by the Spanish Ministry of Culture) (b. 1969)
Bolgar Gypsy Horo trad. Hungarian Romani/
Kalman Balogh
Arr. Gregg August/MAYA

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If you live in the NYC area, I hope you can make it! I plan to attend with my family — exciting!

• Filed under be-mused, events, friends and colleagues, goddesses, the world around me | One Response

Creativity Friday: Inspiring a Novel*, part 2 ~ and book giveaway winner!

First off, congratulations to Jana! You’ve won the DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL book giveaway. I know you’ll enjoy this wonderful novel by Mary Sharratt — I adored it. I’ve contacted you by e-mail with instructions on how to claim it. If you don’t receive the e-mail, please leave me a comment on this post.

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It’s been about a month since my last The Novel update. Right now, I’m up to just past 90,000 words. That sounds like a lot, but only about 65,000 of them are “set”, meaning that they actually make sense within the context of the book; the other 25,000 are akin to loose sketches for scenes that may or may not end up included. To be honest, I’m not sure how The Novel may end — I ratchet back and forth between two endings, uncertain which fate feels more satisfying or appropriate for my heroine. It’s also become complicated since my characters have taken on a mind of their own. But, on a more definitive note, I finally have a title that I’m happy with which I’ll reveal in my next newsletter.

Previously I had written about two inspirations which have found their way into The Novel. The first was the paintings of John William Waterhouse— one character is based very loosely on Waterhouse and Whistler. My second inspiration post was about Schubert’s last string quintet, D. 956 which is performed during an important scene.

Here’s a third inspiration:

This drawing of the Lady of Shalott is a woodcut from the Moxon Tennyson, which featured the work of several prominent PreRaphaelite artists including Holman Hunt (above), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Millais. The history of the Moxon Tennyson is an interesting one. Tennyson was reluctant to allow his poems to be published with illustrations. However, publisher Edward Moxon won the poet over by enlisting the talents of the PreRaphaelites for this uber-deluxe and expensive edition. He also arranged for the book’s illustrations to be prepared for publication by the Dalziel Brothers, perhaps the best engravers of their day.

Regardless, the book was a financial failure, though it’s now considered one of the most important illustrated books of the Victorian era. An English friend informed me that sometimes you can find illustrated pages from the Moxon Tennyson for sale in used book and print stores. He was kind enough to gift me with two of them, one which is of Rossetti’s version of the Lady of Shalott. I treasure them both.

Here’s my description of the Moxon Tennyson from The Novel:

I picked up the Moxon, opened to the Holman Hunt — a slice of paper fell out to indicate the illustration, annotated in pencil. “Note the supernatural elements,” he wrote.

The woodcut was a strange fey thing… Imagine, if you will, a tall woman standing as bent over as a Celtic tree, with huge piles of her dark hair floating above her, as if her tresses were held aloft by a hurricane force wind. Though she could be called beautiful, the gaze on her determined face was both intense and frightening. She stood inside a circle-shaped loom, which was set ankle-height — even I knew it was impractically close to the floor for any real weaver to use. The loom looked as though it had been transformed into a web, within which the Lady of Shalott was trapped like a fly.”

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* This is part of an ongoing occasional series of posts about inspiration for the two books I’m working on right now. The first is a novel set in Victorian England during the Aesthetics Movement. The second book is a follow up to DOOMED QUEENS.

• Filed under The Novel, be-mused, new projects, the art world | No Comments

How do designers choose a typeface?

Here’s a handy dandy flow chart to demystify the process for you. Click here or below to view the chart in its entirety.

Fun and not that far off base!

(A tip of the hat to Michael McWatter’s digital design blog for bringing this graphic to my attention.)

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Only two days left to enter the DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL book giveaway! The winner will be announced on this blog on Friday.

• Filed under art and words, be-mused | No Comments

Publishing Monday: What the heck is NaPiBoWriWee?

Remember my old friend NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month), which inspired me to launch myself full blast into The Novel? Turns out that NaNoWriMo has a younger sibling with a longer name and shorter focus.

NaPiBoWriWeek — or National Picture Book Writing Week — challenges children’s book writers to pen seven picture books in seven days. The brainchild of author Paula Yoo, this is the second anniversary of the event. It begins at midnight on Saturday May 1, 2010 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Friday May 7th. So if  you’re tempted to participate, you’ve got a week to gear yourself up!

The semi-official rules:

Just write 7 complete and separate picture books in one week. Each picture book must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. There is no required minimum word count because picture book lengths can vary from 50 words to 2000 words, depending on the genre.

Caveat: This is NOT to say writing a picture book is easy. On the contrary, it’s EXTREMELY difficult and challenging to write a?complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, an original plotline, and a unique character with a compelling voice for the picture book genre. Every word has to count. Every image and every action has to speak volumes in terms of theme and deeper meaning… while still being kid friendly, fun, and appropriate for the tone of the book (be it a quiet literary picture book or a hilarious, laugh out of loud funny picture book).”

The complete rules are posted here on Paula’s blog.

While I won’t be participating in NaPiBoWriWee, I can vouch for the effectiveness of NaNoWriMo in pushing me off the high dive into my novel (80,000 words and counting). I’d been dreaming of writing a novel someday — but too often that day never arrives in our overstuffed over-busy lives.

The great thing about events such as NaNoWriMo and NaPiBoWriWee is that they offer us an excuse to put down our excuses and just do it. I know that a number of visitors to this blog have picture book aspirations. So, what are you waiting for?

If you do decide to participate in NaPiBoWriWee, let me know in the comments here. I hope you meet your goal! I’ll be watching and cheering you on!

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Our last Creativity Friday features an inspiring interview with Mary Sharratt, author of the acclaimed and bestselling DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL — it’s a truly wonderful novel. Plus there’s a giveaway of one copy of the book! To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is post a comment here.

• Filed under The Novel, be-mused, creativity, events, giveaways and raffles, publishing | One Response